High Speed Analysis of Iso-α-Acids, α-Acids, and Humulinones in Beer and Usage of Multi-Data Report

User Benefits

- Iso-α-acids, α-acids and humulinones in beer can be analyzed simultaneously in about 5 minutes by using high speed analysis conditions. - The multi-data report creation function of LabSolutions can automatically output quantitative values and graphs without manual data transcription.

Introduction

Iso-α-acids are bittering components in beer which are formed by heating and isomerization of the α-acids contained in hops in the brewing process. Humulinones are also bittering components, and are formed by peroxidation of α-acids. International Bitterness Units (IBU) are generally used in measurements of the bitterness value. The IBU value is calculated based on the results of solvent extraction of the bittering components in beer and spectrophotometric measurement of absorption at 275 nm, which is near the maximum wavelength of iso-α-acids. Although this is a simple method, overestimation is possible if the sample includes substances that have ultraviolet (UV) absorption at 275 nm. A high performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) measures the absorption after separation with a column, so each component can be quantified more accurately. This article introduces a simultaneous analysis of iso-α-acids, α- acids, and humulinones in five types of beer using a Nexera XR high performance liquid chromatograph, referring to EBC 9.47 (EBC: European Brewery Convention). IBU was also measured with a UV-1900i UV-Vis spectrophotometer and compared with the results of the HPLC. Use of high speed separation conditions and the multi-data report creation function of LabSolutions are also introduced.

June 28, 2010 GMT