Nutritional variation in the process of brewing pilsner beer

Abstract

The beer has very interesting nutritional qualities containing principally indigestible polysaccharides which possess great benefits to be used by humans as soluble dietary fiber, nitrogenous compounds and antioxidants. The polyphenols in beer are known for their antioxidant properties, but also have other functions that are discussed in this chapter. Some beers are rich in soluble nitrogen, free amino nitrogen (FAN) and peptide nitrogen and others are rich in carbohydrates. However some of these nutrients are lost during the beverage preparation. This chapter deals with the composition variation during the different stages of a pilsner beer obtained in a pilot scale, from the mashing to the refining processes: filtration and stabilization. It also presents the study of commercial pilsner beers. They have a high concentration of polysaccharides, in second place proteins and in a lesser extent polyphenols. However beer components are not retained in the same proportion: the protein retention is greater than the polysaccharides, whereas that the polyphenols are practicaly unretained. The stabilization process is usually done with silica gel (SG) or polyvinylpolypyrrolidone (PVPP). The treatment with both SG and PVPP removes very little protein, although SG is slightly greater than with PVPP, the contrary happens with polyphenols. The final beer composition from the pilot scale is in the range of commercial beers analyzed. This study hopes to contribute to the understanding of the effect of refining processes on the nutritional value of the final beer.