Expert: Ed Westemeier - 3/20/2006

Question
Thank you for your prompt reply. I tasted some homemade bear which was brewed from non-alcoholic bear by a friend. She simply added suger and yeast to the NAB and waited for few days. The taste was not so good but the stuf gives a little buz. It seems that with some refinement and adjustment to the additives and environment, the outcome may improve in quality.If you can work out the right recipe, alot of kuwaiti bear lovers will be grateful to you.


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Followup To
Question -
I am a beer lover. Unfortunitely, I live in Kuwait, a dry country. However, non-alcoholic beer is sold in all supermarkets. do you have a recipe for brewing alcoholic beer from non-alcoholic beer?
Answer -
Sorry, I'm afraid not. Non-alcoholic beer is made either by removing the alcohol from normal beer, or brewing it in a way that uses just enough ingredients for a little flavor, but not enough to produce a normal alcohol level. There is no way to increase the alcohol level of non-alcoholic beer without simply adding alcohol. You would need to add pure ethanol, at a level of about 15 mL per bottle.

Answer
I think you answered your own question with the comment "The taste was not so good..."

Of course, it would be easy to put water, sugar, and yeast together and have them ferment into alcohol and carbon dioxide, then add it to the NA beer. But I don't think you would get anything enjoyable out of it. If all you want is a recipe for producing a "beer" level of alcohol, you can use about 1/2 kg of cane sugar in 4 liters of water. Using a good quality yeast, you should get about 5% alcohol within 3-5 days. Best of luck, but personally, I don't think it's worthwhile. The flavor will very likely be unacceptable.