125th Anniversary Review: Advances in analytical methodology in brewing

Abstract

Comprehensive sets of chemical, microbiological and sensory methods have long been available to characterize individual beers and explore the relationships between raw materials, process conditions and the outcome of the brewing process. Although the majority of major brewers are increasingly using quality assurance as opposed to quality control as the basis of operation, the need to use chemical analyses is still perceived as an essential prerequisite to brewing. The requirement to meet the various legislative codes and the need to manage the consistency of international brands arising from several individual breweries make the possession of robust analytical procedures essential. In many breweries there is a trend towards devolving traditional analytical tasks from central quality control laboratories manned by dedicated technicians to satellite stations, where the analyses needed to support production are performed directly by process workers. Parallel to these changes is a desire to achieve a greater understanding of the complex relationships between beer analysis and overall quality, in particular, the identification of markers that allow for the identification of processes such as beer ageing. This review summarizes the ways in which brewing analytical methods and the suppliers of analytical apparatus are evolving to meet the needs of the current modern industry. © 2012 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling.