Flavour-improved alcohol-free beer – Quality traits, ageing and sensory perception
Deborah C. Gernat (TU Delft - BT/Bioprocess Engineering)
E. R. Brouwer (Heineken Supply Chain)
R. C. Faber-Zirkzee (Heineken Supply Chain)
M. Ottens (TU Delft - BT/Bioprocess Engineering)
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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.
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