Kvasny Prum. 2005; 51(2): 47-51 | DOI: 10.18832/kp2005003

The importance of amino acids in brewing industry and new methods of their determination.Peer-reviewed article

Hana ČÍŽKOVÁ, Pavel HOFTA, Irena KOLOUCHOVÁ, Pavel DOSTÁLEK

Ústav kvasné chemie a bioinženýrství, Vysoká škola chemicko-technologická v Praze

In the article, the importance of the amino acids in the brewing industry from the view of a suitable composition of nitrogenous compounds of hopped wort extract and the ensurance of an optimal course of fermentation is resumed. The aspect of the participation of free amino acids in the production of both metabolites important from the view of organoleptic properties and the compounds adversely affecting the organoleptic profile of beer during storage is underlined. In the article, a brief characteristic of amino acids as chemical compounds is given. The overview of amino acids determination includes conventional methods based on spectrophotometric measurements as well as the latest methods, employing HPLC, GC, GPC and HIC. Prime attention is paid to the method of free amino acids determination by means of Waters AccQ*Tag derivatization and subsequent determination of these derivates after their isolation on reverse phase by means of fluorescence detection. The method was applied for the determination of free amino acids in beer. In the article, the conditions of amino acid isolation are given and their quantification is documented on the analysis of real samples of pale lager beer.In the article, the importance of the amino acids in the brewing industry from the view of a suitable composition of nitrogenous compounds of hopped wort extract and the ensurance of an optimal course of fermentation is resumed. The aspect of the participation of free amino acids in the production of both metabolites important from the view of organoleptic properties and the compounds adversely affecting the organoleptic profile of beer during storage is underlined. In the article, a brief characteristic of amino acids as chemical compounds is given. The overview of amino acids determination includes conventional methods based on spectrophotometric measurements as well as the latest methods, employing HPLC, GC, GPC and HIC. Prime attention is paid to the method of free amino acids determination by means of Waters AccQ*Tag derivatization and subsequent determination of these derivates after their isolation on reverse phase by means of fluorescence detection. The method was applied for the determination of free amino acids in beer. In the article, the conditions of amino acid isolation are given and their quantification is documented on the analysis of real samples of pale lager beer.

Keywords: amino acids, determination, HPLC, beer

Published: February 1, 2005