New approach to the production of xanthohumol-enriched beers

Xanthohumol is a hop polyphenol with proven positive effects on human health. The aim of this work was to use special malts (roasted malt and melanoidin malt) for the preparation of high‐gravity sweet worts with an extremely high xanthohumol content. The solubility of xanthohumol was higher in sweet worts prepared from roasted malts than from Pilsen or melanoidin malts. This sweet wort (xanthohumol ~20 mg L−1) was used for the preparation of xanthohumol‐rich beer. The importance of melanoidins in xanthohumol solubility was also examined. Isomerization reactions occurring at increased temperatures is one of the main reasons for the loss of xanthohumol in the brewing process and therefore the most appropriate temperature for addition of xanthohumol products to sweet worts was determined. The influence of filtration and stabilization materials (diatomaceous earth, polyamide sorbents and tannic acid) on the concentration of xanthohumol in enriched beer was also examined. Only a small effect of these materials was shown in xanthohumol‐rich dark beers, with the exception of tannic acid, which removed a significant amount of this polyphenol. Copyright © 2013 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling.