Study of the influence of brewing water on selected analytes in beer

Abstract

Brewing water is one of the basic raw materials for beer production and knowledge of its composition and pH is essential for the proper conduct of the entire brewing process. In this study, it was observed how the composition of water influences OG values, content of B vitamins, organic acids and iso-α-acids. For brewing, synthetic water was prepared by adding chemicals to deionized water. Models of hard (pH 8.47 ±0.08) and soft (pH 7.68 ±0.23) synthetic water were used for brewing pale bottom-fermented lager beers. Samples of wort, hopped wort, young beer and beer were collected during beer production. HPLC-DAD was used for B vitamins and iso-α-bitter acids quantification. Determination of organic acids was done by ion chromatography with conductivity detector. Obtained data were statistically processed with ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) and interval of confidence was set to 95%. According to the statistical analysis, water composition affects analytes content during beer production and in the final product. Hard water seemed to be a better extraction buffer and its composition (pH) positively affected some processes during brewing technology. One of them was obtaining higher OG values compared to soft water. The beer made from hard water also contained more B vitamins. Composition of brewing water had no influence neither on concentration of organic acids nor on iso-α-acids in conditions of homebrewing.