A study of beer bitterness loss during the various stages of the Romanian beer production process

Beer is one of the oldest known alcoholic beverages produced by a yeast fermentation of a cereal extract that was germinated in water beforehand. The bitter taste of beer comes from the group of substances introduced during wort boiling, which are the extracted components of hops. The aim of this study was to determine some characteristics of beer (original extract, alcohol content, colour, pH, total acidity, carbon dioxide and bitterness values) during the three stages of the beer production process in a typical Romanian brewery. Measurements were carried out on 60 samples of beers, 10 measurements for each step of the process examining wort, unfiltered fermented beer and bottled beer (final product) from two different types of beer (light and dark). Statistical process control of the beer was performed. Losses in the bitterness units during the production process were between 24.7 and 41.54%, reported in terms of final product. Copyright (C) 2013 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling