ESTIMATION OF CARBOHYDRATES IN WORTS AND BEERS BY GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY

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Abstract
Modifications of existing methods using trimethylsilyl ethers for estimating wort and beer carbohydrates are described. Samples to which a known amount of phenyl β-D-glucopyranoside is added as internal standard are quickly dried in vacuo at 40° C. prior to trimethylsilylation and chromatography. Peak areas of separated sugars are measured relative to the standard and are computed as the concentrations present in the original samples by way of calibration factors, obtained by similar treatment of known amounts of pure sugars. Standard deviations of less than 5% are obtained for glucose, maltose and maltotriose from twelve replicate analyses of a given wort. The technique, applied to a number of worts and beers of varied composition, compares favourably with existing methods of estimating individual sugars in worts and beers.