It has previously been shown that reactive oxygen species (ROS) can influence and determine the long term flavour stability of a beer. ROS react with various beer components contributing to beer staling. This paper continues our research into investigating the influence of raw materials and brewing process conditions on the impact of the long term flavour stability of beers. Various breweries were benchmarked in terms of malt source and quality, wort production and fermentation processes to determine their impact on beer flavour stability. Worts/beers at various stages of production were analysed for free radicals, reductant and anti-oxidant levels using electron spin trap techniques, measuring hydrogen peroxide, aldehydes, total thiols and various other parameters. The study showed that modifications and improvements to current process conditions reduced ROS levels and there by improving beer flavour stability.
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