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I have noticed that several craft breweries advertise their beer as non-pasteurized. Generally speaking pasteurization is rapidly heating something then chilling and sealing it to kill and ward off bacteria. All breweries use this technique prior to pitching yeast. I suspect the breweries making the "non-pasteurized" claim do so because they don't re-pasteurize after the yeast is pitched?? The claim of being non-pasteurized seems misleading to me. Is there a chemist or someone in the forum who can clarify this topic for me?

Technically it isn't beer until it has been fermented

What CorneliusAlphonse said.

Plus, it is a legitimate distinction, not a marketing slogan, because pasteurization really is a practice that is by used by some breweries to increase shelf life/stability, which has potentially negative effects.

I suppose so, but 99.9% of what makes up the "non-pasteurized beer" is pasteurized...

But without the boiling, you don't add hops. Without boiling, you don't have beer.

pasteurized beer is definitely a thing, as it involves heating the beer up to kill the yeast after fermentation.

thanks, appreciate the response.

AFAIK pasteurization is an alternative to boiling (try some post-fermentation boiled beer!). Boiling beer to kill bacteria is not pasteurization (only ~140F?), so not all beer is pasteurized.

Good read here re: raw ale. Still technically pasteurized, as the mash temperature is higher than pasteurization temperature.

http://www.garshol.priv.no/blog/331.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yes very interesting. I may try one of these someday. Thanks for submitting.