Chemical concepts involved in beer production: A review

Abstract

Beer is one of the oldest alcoholic beverages consumed by humanity, having been discovered about 7.000 years ago. When consumed in moderate quantities, beer can bring similar health benefits to wine. Despite the great economic, cultural and scientific importance of beer, there are few reports in Portuguese literature focused on the topic. In this sense, the main objective of this paper is to gather information in the scientific literature about the chemical aspects involved in brewing, as well as the analytical techniques used in their characterization, authentication and control of the productive processes, and the biological activities that compounds of beer ownes. Beer is produced basically by four essential ingredients: water, malt, hops and yeast. These ingredients are handled in seven steps: milling, mashing, boiling, fermenting, conditioning, filtering, and packaging. At the final stage of production, manufactures can evaluate physicochemical properties of the beer, of which it is highlighted alcohol content, bitterness, color, and pH. In the identification of beer compounds, as well as in the authentication and control of production processes, can be used analytical techniques such as infrared (IR) spectroscopy, hydrogen nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR), mass spectrometry (MS) and gas Chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS). In addition, studies on the biological activities of compounds present in the beer reveal an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antitumor potential, among others, noting that moderate consumption of the beverage can bring benefits to the health of consumers.