Etzer Chicoye

FLAVOR PROFILING OF BEER USING STATISTICAL TREATMENTS OF G.L.C. HEADSPACE DATA

Using a salting-out concentration method, gas chromatographic headspace volatile profiling of beer was achieved on Porapak Q. The percent-of-total-peak-area (PTPA) data obtained were applied to beer flavor problems using several statistical treatments. Correlation of headspace profiles of 310 pairs of beers with corresponding triangular taste-panel results was found using t-statistics calculated from PTPA differences and pooled standard deviations obtained from a computerized database. Product uniformity was effectively evaluated with the aid of stepwise discriminant analysis. Regression analysis of acetaldehyde PTPAs and panel scores for staling flavor showed that acetaldehyde could be valuable as an index of beer staling.