Arabinoxylan from non-malted cereals can act as mouthfeel contributor in beer

Niels A Langenaeken; David P De Schutter; Christophe M Courtin

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2020.116257

Arabinoxylan from non-malted cereals can act as mouthfeel contributor in beer

Carbohydr Polym. 2020 Jul 1:239:116257. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2020.116257. Epub 2020 Apr 10.

Authors

Niels A Langenaeken¹, David P De Schutter², Christophe M Courtin³

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Food Chemistry and Biochemistry and Leuven Food Science and Nutrition Research Centre (LFoRCe), KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 20, 3001 Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address: Niels.langenaeken@kuleuven.be.
² Fund Baillet-Latour, Brouwerijplein 1, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address: David.deschutter@ab-inbev.com.
³ Laboratory of Food Chemistry and Biochemistry and Leuven Food Science and Nutrition Research Centre (LFoRCe), KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 20, 3001 Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address: christophe.courtin@biw.kuleuven.be.

PMID: 32414445
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2020.116257

Abstract

A satisfying mouthfeel is essential for the production of non-alcoholic, low-alcohol beers and light beers. This paper highlights the importance of non-starch carbohydrates as mouthfeel contributors in this context. Beers were brewed with a substitution of 20 % barley malt grits by non-malted barley, rye or oats compared to a control. For the beer brewed with rye, both a 53 % increase in arabinoxylan content and an increase in the average degree of polymerization from 29 to 50 were observed. Compared to the control beer (1.48 mm²/s), viscosity was the highest for the rye beer (1.85 mm²/s). Multivariate data analysis underlined the role of arabinoxylan content and degree of polymerization as determinants of beer viscosity. A sensory panel distinguished a low-alcohol rye beer as the one with increased fullness compared to a 100 % malt beer. These experiments suggest that rye addition can be used as a strategy to increase the beer fullness.

Keywords: Arabinoxylan; Barley; Beer viscosity; Dextrin; Mouthfeel; NABLAB; Oat; Rye; β-Glucan.