Flavour-improved alcohol-free beer – Quality traits, ageing and sensory perception

D. C. Gernat, E. R. Brouwer, R. C. Faber-Zirkzee, M. Ottens*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)
46 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The increasing popularity of alcohol-free beers (AFBs) fosters the industry interest in delivering the best possible product. Yet, a remaining sensory defect of AFBs is the over-perception of wort flavour, caused by elevated concentrations of small volatile flavour compounds (i.e. aldehydes). Previously, molecular sieves (hydrophobic ZSM-5 type zeolites) were found most suitable to remove these flavours by adsorption with high selectivity from the AFBs. In this work, a flavour-improved beer is produced at pilot-scale using this novel technology, and its chemical composition, sensory profile and stability are evaluated against a reference. Aldehyde concentrations in the flavour-improved product were found 79–93% lower than in the reference. The distinct difference was confirmed with a trained sensory panel and could be conserved even after three months ageing at 30 °C. Future work will focus on the process design to scale up this technology.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)450-458
JournalFood and Bioproducts Processing
Volume123
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020

Keywords

  • Adsorption
  • Ageing
  • Alcohol-free beer
  • Aldehydes
  • Sensory evaluation
  • Wort flavour
  • Zeolite

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