Effects of wort clarifying by using carrageenan on diatomaceous earth dosage for beer filtration

Abstract

Diatomaceous earth makes a great contribution to the amount of brewing waste. In this work, attempts were made to reduce the dosage of diatomaceous earth used during beer filtration, via the application of carrageenan at the stage of wort boiling. Carrageenan was added to the boiling wort (50 mg/l) and, after fermentation, the beer was filtered using different doses of diatomaceous earth (0.05-0.40 g/l). The filtration performance of beers obtained from carrageenan-pretreated wort was compared with the filtration of reference beer. It was found that beer produced from wort treated with carrageenan, had a significantly lower haze before filtration compared to the reference beer (other quality parameters showed no significant differences). The reference beer had a higher haze after filtration with 0.40 g/l of diatomaceous earth than the carrageenan pre-clarified beer after filtration with 0.05 g/l. It was concluded that the use of preliminary clarification of wort with carrageenan allows for a significant reduction of the diatomaceous earth application while maintaining high clarity of beer.