AtcoLoeis, 9 (1), 5558, 1997 46 Technological innovation and improved beer quality S, Burnt, R. Zitont Dipartimento di Scienze degli Alimenti, ‘ham 26 lees por cupta in FH). In spe sul of genet erganeerng nase ike adapt the Scteralrescreh Iaboruores hate studied the posabiles of eat and have ted to develop the sytem tt a ail se Wort of higher tin momma extset sly by 1%) re fe iter gen belre pct, obsing concave singe tio of mle bat negative tate ch thon of prec atts ‘dvi! into two min groupe The tay Our th at 2 yr bet conn Kal a ral nce (18 ten er capi in ne wed ar ot hk th hgh hg re enzyme poeta exert ve m stesin to the brewer's needs. This spre few years und any radon processes have been props te tha end. Tea [San ausptation of existing brewing tor Fer Dniversita di Udine, Italy ial, er 6 "mals with nsprowed colo, fiona saa i relice the energy nee ofthe wort bog press ‘series syst lees buoogy hie lt po could lead tr spfetion of the brendng proces tobilsation for beer fermentation sad mation Tals. high anit brewing an een anise Se 1 cand sutnequentiy dited wih deoxygenated water nol beer has een cosa st eg ha bes ing force Beh adion processes with the an of Hiking ethanol product, Te new {echnologis are an indieeahte tal he development of thee new prot After tea and mincral water, beer is the most widespread drink in the world: It is also by far the best known alcoho Iie drink and prodiced in dhe greatest quantities, Each year, between { billion 200 million hectollres of beer are Consumed, way ahead of wine, the second most widely Consumed alcoholic drink at around 250 million hectoly tres, Over recent decades, the beer market hae changed Fadically both sn consumption and in prodiiction techn Tony: In Taly, where consumption of alcoholic drinks has been steadily declining. beet isthe fhich in the Space of twenty year from 1175 Stmption trom 12. to 26.2 lites per capita. However, withtrespect 10 other European countries, Tay brings up the reat with the lowest consumption. France for exam ple, traditional wine producing county like lay, co fhimes about 40 Heres per capita, Comparing consump tion of beer with that of wine, another hmerestng trend becomes apparent. While in 1970 the ratio hemeen wine and beer consumption was about I to 10 (1137 against T13 litres per capita) the ratio i now just above f to 2 (58.5 against 26.2 les per eapita) (Table 1). This clearly shows the considerable shite in consumption heavily Penalising the wine sector in favour of beer but also bther lowaleohol or sleoholfree drinks (soft drinks and tmineral water). After the strong market growth diaring Ming dn: Dr: Stefan Bat, Dipartimento di Scienze deg Alien Univer Calne, Via Margo 9 S100 Udine, ay the 1980s, however, the beer industry is now for the first Given this station, itis easy to understand the impor tance of technological innovation as an instrument for further improving product quality, fundamental for the success: and consbldation ofa product on the market The entire beer production process hax bsen alfected by emeral technological development covering both malt production phases and manulsctare of tne heer nel Rewarding walt production (Fig. 1) selected vanities of batley are now available with charaeterstics favourable for the maliing process Ii important to remember that the raw material of mals arley and that this influences hot the quantity and quality of the extrscts then used for beer production, Particular characteristics are den ded of the 10% of the world batley harvest destined for beer manufacture. These inchide diseave resistance homogencous kemel, high stare content, tngh; adhe rent husks, low raw protein and peglacan coment, cane OF germination or low dormancy threshold, high enzyme {ind low polyphenol level-As 4 result of work begun in the 19504 and 1960, excellent varieties of baniey have been developed sand during the last orenty years.a good compromises been reached between yield per hectare Sha beer quali, The quality of the end provucl ota nied wing tistichors and polyatichous winter barley fas improved, but not yet to such an extent that they can replace the distichows spring barley taditionally used for beer production Modern pneumatic multing technologies allow the stoc- Tichnolagical inmowation and imped ber quality 5BTamed Alcoholic beverage consumption in Ktaly (liters per capita)" Yes Wine Beer (pure alcoho 17a 113 18 1976 1039 Bs 18 1980 29 167 19 1985 750 219 13 1990 was 21 10 1991 oa 219 10 1992 oo 259 10 1993 38.8 2.1 og v9 385 262 og BARLEY DELIVERY BARLEY STORAGE | CLEANING | and WEIGHING ‘Waie)) ——> [STEEPING] <— Ai) Water) —> [GERMINATION] +A Ficus 1 Plow eg 56 8. Buxarn etal t KILNING]4—C Hot Air ‘ CLEANING WEIGHING MALT t BREWERY: oF the malting process. ping and germination «ete to be completed in seven ays (one day of steeping and six of germination), red ing time lot during Hodting/wntoading and cheaing of Steeping tanks and germinators to & minimuns and sea ting in & considerable reduction in costs with Fespect to traditional malting stems. Optimum use of the dryer i iso extremely important. in this context, the increased elficicncy of tworevel dryers should be noted, offering higher chergy savings. The powibiliy of =piloting> the bischemical germination proces (ase of additives, UR Control, forced aeration, ie.) enables probleme ancl: {ed with the raw materials tobe at lest paral resolved Inore rapidly than with tradi sete However fundamental this might be, whieh cat take tang years. Production criteria are fuily applied, partly a A result of the high level of process automation, Apsrt iiom representing 4 quality guarantee, this sso further reduces cons due to dhe lower requirement for mana Regarding other sources of starch for beer making {Ginmalted cereals, represented in Hay aimost exchisively by iirc), the ne of extern telsnologien enables these Fw materia to be subjected to starch gelatinisation pee ting presting efficiency" Duting beet production (Fig. 2), the technological and process improvements so farintroduced involve all phar Kcr Irom must produetion to packaging of the finished Product. Right from the fist operation involved in pro> Exssng the'raw materal nthe brewery, malt siceping modern technol utente pay fusing arantecing an opimum compromise between extract Sield and wort Biterabiigy Tradigional two roller mils have been replaced by modern milly with a large and ‘able nuunbcr ofadjestabe rollers to optimise te pro- ets, halaneing the percentages of ground product (htsk, Course git fine git, Hout) secording to the ystem used {o filter the spent grains (auter tun or press Biter). In recent yeas, wel grinding has also become common, At Sell as maintaining the megriy of the husks (glumes) {his also reduces the risks of dst explonions thus hel ping to make the working conironnent hea Wine next wort production phase has beens the uubject of humerous sudles mainly wlmed at reducing energy conta by introdcing improvements, pariealarly ering separ som of wort from dats a the sme, me ung the ost financially advantageous possibilities for using this 2 food Tor Hvestock. Caent wore filtration techniques thing ture have resulted in high yields (ust 16 below that obtained in the laboratory), allowing Altration of 1 12'hrews/ di. At present this technology i characterised by a completely aon wh igh elas and Hhexbiity mes, The wort obtained are of high quali clean with low oxygen and suspended sold levels. Up tl a few year aie, seven to Sight working eyeles weit considered Sv stantarc Tie enhanced pertormance ls due to tech ological Improvement (eg optimisation of mixing inns. procedures wed ta load and ulead the wort, geo Inet of te fake bottom, ete.) and application of sot Te able to react wit great sensiity to rapidly changing parameters during the filtration process" As well the Sotidighidl separation system using radio Lawter ther technologies have been developed. These involve tse of advanced high yield press filters whieh as well 36 sarantceing a high quality fal product can also futher feduce cons (eg. les Water necestary (0 wish spent grains) irrecent years, considerable progress has alo been ‘made in wor boiling processes. particularly in tert of reduced costs, Currently almost 60% of primary cnesgyCD —> BA] y 1 — MASHING: ‘WwoRT SEPARATION, ¥ Sweet wor 7 [BOILING] v Hopped worl a WORT CLARIFICATION, ¥ [COOLING and AERATING] GD — mt Cereal Aunts] ‘Spent grain] OS) —> FERMENTING y Green bese ¥ ices AD -> [CLARIFICATION i + PACKAGING ¥ BIOLOGICAL STABILIZATION Ficus 2 An overview of brewing, fom malt ng wo beer can be saved by using hot water obtained through vapour ‘compression. Studies conducted on phenomena linked to heat transmission during this detieate phase of beer production have led to optimisation of the process, As far AS equipment is concented, excellent results have been ‘obtamed by using kettles both inside and outside the heating boiler. These allow correct mixing of the wort, improving the quality of the beer produced. During boiling, hops are added 10 the wort to make the beer aromatic and bitter. In all breweries, hop by-pro- ducts are now widely used. These represent an important clement for the quality of the final product and have many advantages with respect 10 hop cones including. improved preservation, higher yield, more precise co trol of biuterness and tie possibility of using them after fermentation, ‘The brewing industry is committed to research into deve- loping new varieties of hops which as well as improving heer quality are also more Fesistant to diseases (similar to those affecting vines) allowing treatments to be cut back and duis also reducing the environmental impact of the crop. After boiling comes wort fermentation. The eval genetics and molecular biology han enabled! selection o Seast strains ever more in line with brewers” needs and ble o guarantee high quality beer. An wmnderstanding of the biochemical mechanisins and physiological require: tents of yeast has aso led to technological developments fel pan of fermentation i she Brewing inehiatys The first and most important evolution regards fermentation vessels, Une about twenty or thirty years ‘ago, these were almost entirely open. Today they have ineen replaced by vertical esindricaconical tanks, These are used not just Yor primary fermentation, but also Tor ‘ageing and niaturing the beer, considerably shorten Product throughput times with consequent prodction fost savings, During the 1960s, primary fermentations Tasted about 7-10 days and ageing and maturing bt 40- 79 cays depencing om the type of heer. Today a Bnished prorkict can he obtained in 3-4 weeks". This shows the Importance of technological development to the fermen tatton process. The posabilty of using bioreactors to com inet Rermeneation with immobilised yeasts is slso exttes incly interesting. This technology, alzeady proposed for the brevsing industry at the beginning of the 1970s"= (alehough the first patents date back more than 80 years), currently heing further developed sand expert zentai ress show that ft would enable processes to be automated and quality characteristics o be standardised as well as reducing production costs" Anhough mot yet widely used on an industrial scale (itis used in New Zeatand), 8 major innovation ean be expece ted to come from this technique during the next few years, Technologies involving the use of immobilised yea Aare already used industrially Phase (Sinebrychol Brewery, Kerav Extremely flexible equipment allowing both tra ‘natuting oF continaons maturing ith smmobilied yeast Procestes for producing alcollvee heer with immniobi sed yeas aero being adie, but so far the results In many Halton breweries, the «high gravity» system is, how used, This has heen known for about thirty year but permitted in Taly onty since 1990, Icinvolves proxi tion of more concentrated wort (e.g. 12-18"P Brougl down to 7-13°P) which elther before or after ferme tion (the latter being more common) i dilated to bring ito the requiced degree Plato, maintaining the organo: leptic characteristics of the heer with # considerable fetluction in production cost, ‘There nave ako been a number of technological innova- tions in produet stabilisition. Cold becr salisation ae din alternative to pastewrisation i attracting consicerable interest in the brewing secton being considered 4 -mil technology», ie an operation allowing the organoleptic characteristics of the prorluct to be preserved ay far posh crillsing» filtration techniques are therefore widely ined. These invoive a number of possible technological Solutions Onembrane candles, ceramie filters, membrane plates, ete) which although extremely valid from a atic {iy technical point of view often run up against much, Iigher total costs Guan with traditional heat pasteurisa ion. Tn addition, heat exchangers and the automation of conirol systems now ensure that U carried out without compromi In the Tight of this and bearing tn ate of technology, it could be id that this s perhaps morc ‘estion of principle than real technological cifferences favour of one techinique rather than another, In recent years, the brewing industry has also wimessed, the widespread use of tangential filtration systems, employed mainly to recover the heer from the yeast Ficknological innussation and impor bee pality 57