Technological and quality aspects of brewers wort clarification with the use of carrageenan

Abstract

W pracy przedstawiono wyniki analizy parametrów jakościowych brzeczek poddanych wstępnej klaryfikacji z zastosowaniem karagenu. Celem przeprowadzonych badań było określenie wpływu stosowania karagenu na jakość brzeczki oraz przebieg procesu jej fermentacji. Karagen dodawano do wrzącej brzeczki słodowej w postaci wodnej zawiesiny w ilości 50, 100 i 200 mg·l⁻¹. Uzyskane wyniki pozwoliły stwierdzić, iż zastosowanie karagenu do wstępnej klaryfikacji w stężeniu 50 mg·l⁻¹ zdecydowanie poprawia klarowność brzeczki piwnej o ekstrakcie 10%. Jednakże nie miało to istotnego wpływu na przebieg fermentacji. Zastosowanie karagenu spowodowało obniżenie barwy brzeczek z ok. 11 EBC, w przypadku brzeczki kontrolnej, do ok. 7,5–8,0 w brzeczkach klarowanych karagenem w ilości 50 i 100 mg·l⁻¹.Colloidal stability of beer is one of the key factors ensuring a good visual impact of the product on the customers. Traditionally, it used to be achieved by a long period of maintaining beer at low temperature, in the process called lagering. Nowadays there is a rising interest in application of various types of auxiliary materials to ensure the colloidal stability of beer. Carrageenan is a type of linear polysaccharide extracted from red seaweeds. It is used as an auxiliary material used to facilitate clarification of wort at the stage of brew house operations. In the study we analyzed the quality parameters of wort and beer, after applying the clarification with the use of carrageenan. The aim of the work was to determine the effects of carrageenan added in various amounts, on the wort quality, course of the fermentation process and some physico-chemical parameters of the product. Carrageenan was added to the wort during boiling, in the form of an aqueous suspension, in order to allow for an equal distribution of the polysaccharide within the volume of the wort. It was added to reach the amount of 50,100 and 200 mg·l⁻¹. We found that the use of carrageenan in a concentration of 50 mg·l⁻¹ was the most appropriate for clarification of wort, in terms of the clarity and the amount of trub created. The haze of wort clarifi ed with carrageenan (50 mg·l⁻¹) was more than three times lower than in the reference sample (10 EBC haze units as compared with ca. 34 EBC). At the same time the amount of trub created was the lowest at this dose of carrageenan. Higher amount of carrageenan caused an excessive creation of the trub, which in consequence may lead to severe losses during industrial wort production. The application of carrageenan caused a decrease of wort colour, giving a 7.5–8.0 EBC (in case of 50 and 100 mg·l⁻¹), as compared with ca. 11 EBC in the reference wort. No significant impact on the course of fermentation was noted. The attenuation of wort clarified with carrageenan was the same as the reference wort, around 72%