Dietary antioxidants are believed to be effective in the prevention of oxidative stress related diseases (eg. cancer and cardiovascular diseases). Polyphenols are widely recognized as potent antioxidants as they can scavenge reactive oxygen species (ROS). The hop plant (Humulus lupulus L.), used in a variety of health applications and indispensible as a beer ingredient, is an interesting source of polyphenolic antioxidants including tannins, flavonol glycosides and prenylated flavonoids. In addition, also hop oil and hop acids (including downstream products) have been reported as potent antioxidants. In this investigation, the radical scavenging activity of hop products (including different extracts and downstream products) was investigated using two different antioxidant assays: the ORAC to study the peroxyl radical scavenging capacity and HORAC to investigate the hydroxyl radical scavenging capacity. Quercetin and a grape extract containing oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPC) were used for comparison. The peroxyl radical scavenging capacities of prenylated flavonoids were highly analogous to quercetin and OPC equaling 5–10 Trolox equivalents. The hydroxyl radical scavenging capacities of Xantho-FlavTM products correlated with the concentration of xanthohumol and pure xanthohumol (> 95 %) corresponded to about 60 Trolox equivalents, which is 10–20 times higher than that of quercetin and OPC.

Addition of stabilisation products in the upstream brewing process is a very convenient way of physico-chemical stabilisation without the need for extra filtration or the risk of beer losses. Therefore, in this study the use of appropriate stabilisation products upstream the brewing process, more specifically at the end of wort boiling, have been evaluated in relation to improved colloidal stability. Applications of PVPP (Polyclar 10, ISP) and gallotannins (Beerotan Q, BFTI) have been investigated. The lowest gallotannin levels (wort boiling: 5 g/hL; contact time in boiling kettle: 3 minutes) are already sufficient to obtain enhanced stability due to adequate removal of haze- sensitive proteins. Furthermore, the addition of 10 g/hL PVPP has an explicit effect on the amounts of polyphenols, which results in an improved colloidal stability.

Technology and social conscience

One of the largest and most modern malthouses in the world is located in a country of tropical climate, where barley cultivation remains an option for few farmers: in the southern region of Brazil, in Paraná State, the Agrária Cooperative has recently inaugurated Agromalte’s expansion. Founded in the 1950s by Danube-Swabian immigrants, the cooperative has shown that the investment in agricultural research and technology was responsible for making Agromalte a synonym for top quality malt.

The use of 100 percent unmalted barley

Significant changes in the brewing industry have forced breweries to enhance productivity and position themselves with new and innovative products in a competitive market. At the same time there has been a growing awareness of social responsibility, with breweries focusing on the need to reduce their carbon foot print and support their local community. One way to address these goals is the full or partial replacement of malt as a brewing raw material by other cereals such as barley.

Yeast Propagation Manager (YPM)

Intensive yet flexible yeast propagation is the basic requirement for successful yeast management. Short propagation cycles and high cell counts with maximum quality and production safety constitute stringent requirements for such a process and its control. The following article presents a highly flexible and user-friendly software solution for the targeted control and optimisation of yeast propagation. The product was developed by the company Gimbio in cooperation with Esau & Hueber and is based on a virtual system manager, the so-called Yeast Propagation Manager (YPM). It is already being successfully used at the AB-Inbev site in Munich (Franziskaner Weissbier, Löwenbräu and Spaten).

There is more to hops than simply á-acids

This has been covered at length time and again; however, in purchasing and sales talks as well as in negotiations over contracts and specifications, one could come away with the impression that awareness of this topic is virtually non-existent in the industry.

Adventures in dry-hopping with German aroma varieties

Brewers in Germany are wondering why the national per-capita consumption of beer has declined 30 percent in the last twenty years even as consumption of alcoholic beverages, based on pure ethanol, has remained nearly constant. Could it be that German consumers are bored with beer, at least with the options they have? Despite an abundance of breweries and a rich brewing tradition, after all, commercial beers in Germany are becoming increasingly similar and interchangeable. Even in the U.S. craft brewers’ scene, the once-revered German beers, though still recognized for technical perfection, are gaining a reputation for uninspiring uniformity.

"Table"

“Omics” technologies comprise genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics; the last three fields are pooled within the notion “functional genomics”. In this review, these techniques which concentrate on aspects of the “course from gene to metabolites” are surveyed especially with regard to bottom-fermenting brewer’s yeasts.

Gushing is one of the most unsolved problems in brewing. This is a very severe quality defect. Efforts are being made to reveal the identity of gushing components. The beer defect of gushing is a temporary brewery problem that is primarily caused by fungi derived factors. In this work the influence of humulones, pure linalool and hop oils on natural occurring gushing and an activated carbon (AC) induced gushing of commercial brews was tested. The experiments proved that linalool significantly reduces the gushing volume. Hop oils (linalool) decreased the gushing tendency of beer. Gushing, induced by activated carbon, is suppressed by the addition of linalool and humulones..

Primers for a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) method to specifically identify beer spoilage caused by Lactobacillus spp. including Lactobacillus brevis, Lactobacillus lindneri, Lactobacillus backi and Lactobacillus paracollinoides were developed. These LAMP primer sets were designed from target sequences in the 16S rRNA gene or the spacer region. To identify beer spoilage strains in the species, we also developed a LAMP primer set to detect highly specific genetic markers. The LAMP primer sets in this study distinguished the target species or beer spoilage strains from other lactic acid bacteria in 40–60 min. Thus, the LAMP method may be useful for direct detection and identification of Lactobacillus spp. ....