A model to simulate the overall ageing score impact of temperature and time on the sensorial quality of lager

摘要

Overall ageing scores (OAS) are used by expert beer tasters to distinguish between the different aromas and tastes, in order to assess the sensorial quality and flavour stability of beer. Flavour instability is an important issue to brewers owing to the increased global demand for beer and the difficulties of controlling beer quality in remote locations when exported. In this paper, the idea was developed and a model constructed that is able to estimate the OAS as a function of temperature and time. The study highlights not only the exponential impact of temperature on lager quality, but also the importance of the time of exposure (nonlinear effect). Further, a hypothetical case study was performed in which the OAS was determined of a lager exposed to the temperature conditions in an important Belgian beer import market. The results indicate that in cities with a mild climate (e.g. UK and Germany), lager beer will suffer quality degradation to a limited extent. Temperature in warm climate cities (e.g. Italy and China) will significantly reduce the shelf life of lager beer in a short time frame, stressing the importance of flavour quality and stability. The model can be used in both industry and research when developing commercial decisions. (C) 2019 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling