Delphine Callemien

Structure, Organoleptic Properties, Quantification Methods, and Stability of Phenolic Compounds in Beer—A Review

Beer composition changes through storage, altering the quality of the product. In the past decade, many papers have been devoted to the compounds responsible for aged-beer off-flavors, mainly trans-2-nonenal, methional, and dimethyltrisulfide. Due to their huge antioxidant activity, polyphenols have often been described as key compounds for limiting beer staling. Yet phenolic structures also evolve through storage. Low-molecular-weight phenols like 4-vinylsyringol can impart off-flavors in aged beer, whilst flavonoids strongly influence astringency, haze, and color. The instability of stilbenes, prenylchalcones, and derived flavanones could also modify their health potential through storage. After reviewing the structures and properties of all phenolic compounds found in beer, this paper will try to assess the impact of their degradation through aging. Extraction procedures for their quantification and treatments for their removal are also described.

Use of thiolysis hyphenated to RP-HPLC-ESI(-)-MS/MS for the analysis of flavanoids in fresh lager beers.

Proanthocyanidins are well known for their involvement in haze and colour development during beer ageing. New methodologies are needed, however, to understand what happens to them in the bottled beer. For the first time in the brewing field, thiolysis was hyphenated to RP-HPLC-ESI(-)-MS/MS to investigate these flavanoids. Thirty minutes at 40°C followed by 10h at room temperature emerged as the best conditions for complete depolymerisation. NP-HPLC-ESI(-)-MS/MS was used to quantify and isolate fractions from monomers to trimers in a Sephadex LH20 acetone/water (70/30, v/v) beer extract. Unsurprisingly, a lower dimer/monomer ratio was evidenced in PVPP-treated beers than in silica gel-filtered beers. Most beer dimers are procyanidins B3 (two catechin units) whilst most trimers are prodelphinidins (catechin in terminal units and gallocatechins or catechins in extension units). Gallocatechin appeared to come mainly from malt. Despite the absence of chromatographic peaks corresponding to oligomers above trimers, an apparent degree of polymerisation close to six was calculated in the total LH20 extract. Still higher mean degrees of polymerisation (mDPs) were calculated for malt and hop, indicating selective extraction or depolymerisation from raw materials to beer. The main part of beer polyphenols is composed of complex undefined structures not degraded by toluene-α-thiol.