The effect of wort aeration on fermentation, maturation and volatile components of beer produced on an industrial scale

The aim of the study was to determine the effect of the initial beer wort aeration on the process of fermentation, maturation, content of the volatile components of beer and abundance and vitality of yeast biomass. The experiments were performed on an industrial scale, with fermentation and maturation performed in fermentation tanks with a capacity of 3800 hL. The wort was aerated with sterile air in quantities as follows: 7, 10 and 12 mg/L. During fermentation and maturation, the changes in the content of the extract, yeast growth and vitality and more importantly volatile components were investigated. The experiments showed that differentiated aeration has a significant impact on the course of fermentation and metabolic changes. With the increase in wort aeration, the content of acetaldehyde decreased and the concentration of higher alcohols increased. On the other hand, the contents of esters and vicinal diketones did not change. The level of aeration did not affect the final quality of beer. Copyright © 2017 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling