Carbohydrates in Brewing. I. Determination of Fermentable Sugars and Oligosaccharides in Wort and Beer by Partition High-Performance Liquid Chromatography. M. Uchida, K. Nakatani, M. Ono, and K. Nagami, Suntory Ltd., Osaka 618, Japan. J. Am. Soc. Brew. Chem. 49:0065, 1991.

Partition high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to simultaneously determine individual fermentable sugars, linear oligosaccharides, and branched oligosaccharides in a wort and a beer. Resolution and precision were progressively increased by keeping all HPLC equipment (including the mobile phase) at a constant temperature. Degrees of polymerization (DP1-DP10) were measured in less than 30 min with a single method that was sufficiently simple, rapid, and reproducible for routine analysis in the brewery. Applications of this method for monitoring the fermentable sugars and the oligosaccharides formed during various mashing conditions and for evaluating mashing and fermentation conditions in different beers are also discussed.

Keywords: Analysis method, Beer, Branched oligosaccharide, Carbohydrate, Fermentable sugar, Linear oligosaccharide, Wort