Is Wheat Beer Acidic or Alkaline?
Wheat beer (prepared) is neutral: PRAL close to zero: hardly shifts your acid-base balance.
Classification
Hefeweizen sits at −0.2 per 100 ml, which makes it neutral. Malt and yeast put some potassium and phosphorus into the beer, and the two roughly cancel out. Hardly any protein remains. Even half a liter barely shifts your balance. What the PRAL doesn't capture is the alcohol and the 42 kcal per 100 ml, and those add up over a one-liter stein (Maß).
In the Drinks category, wheat beer (prepared) ranks #54 of 80, sorted from alkaline to acid-forming. More alkaline options include Radler (beer with lemonade) (−0.2), Mineral water, still (−0.2), Mineral water (−0.2). More acid-forming are Tonic water (−0.2), Iced tea (lemon, sweetened) (−0.2), Orange soda (−0.2).
Acidic or alkaline: PRAL, not pH
On this site, acidic and alkaline refer to the PRAL (potential renal acid load). It estimates what a food leaves behind once it has been digested: a positive value is acid-forming, a negative value is alkalizing. That is different from the pH of the food itself: a lemon tastes sour, yet its PRAL is −4.0, so it is alkalizing. Your diet does not change your blood pH. It does change how much acid your kidneys have to deal with.
Goes well with
Frequently Asked Questions
Is wheat beer acidic?
It depends on what you mean by acidic. The pH describes the food itself, for example how sour it tastes. The PRAL describes what it leaves behind after digestion: Wheat beer (prepared) has a PRAL of −0.2 per 100 ml, so it counts as neutral in your daily acid-base balance.
Does wheat beer count in the acid-base balance at all?
Hardly. At −0.2 per 100 ml, wheat beer is in the neutral range between −0.5 and +0.5. You can eat it without shifting your balance.
Wheat Beer logged, balance checked.
Basentracker adds up every meal automatically and shows whether your day is in the alkaline range. The same values as on this page, all 977 foods, photo scan, recipes.
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Compare all Drinks: Drinks table. Common questions are answered in Acidic or Alkaline?, and the PRAL calculator adds up a whole meal.
Source: Basentracker food database (PRAL according to Remer & Manz, calculated from protein, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and calcium per 100 g). This information does not replace medical advice.