P-27

Prediction of the sensory characteristics of bottled beer related to instrumental measurements.
Otoniel Corzo and NELSON BRACHO. Department of Food Technology, Universidad de Oriente Núcleo de Nueva Esparta, Boca del Río, Venezuela.

Beer flavor will not be the same if stored at different conditions because of the changes in its components. Beer quality is determined through sensory evaluations by a trained panel but this quality assessment could be accomplished by evaluation of physical chemistry components. Our objective was to predict the sensory characteristics of bottled beer related to its composition, the temperature and intervals of time of storing. Beer was elaborated with two concentrations of oxygen (0.02 and 0.20 ppm) in a local industry, and 384 bottled samples of each one were taken and stored at 5, 28 and 60°C. Initially and at intervals of seven days during sixteen weeks, the content of carbon dioxide, pH, color, turbidity, TBA, and bitterness were instrumentally evaluated. Simultaneously eight trained panelists evaluated grade of oxidation, quality of bitterness and sensory stability. Data was divided into two blocks; one was used to find the models of prediction and the other was used for validation of these models. Since the data present multicolinearity, a multiple linear regression by principal components was used to estimate the coefficients of the model. These models explained 86-88% (p less than 0.01) of the changes of the sensory characteristics. The general expression was Y equal B(o) plus summation B(i)X(i) where Y is the sensory characteristic, B(o) and B(i) are constants, and X(i) is the conjunct of oxygen concentration, carbon dioxide concentration, pH, color, turbidity, TBA, temperature and time during the storage. The models of prediction were validated by an algorithm written in Matlab language These results suggest that sensory characteristics of bottled beer would be predicted by instrumental measures of its composition and storage conditions.

Nelson Bracho has a master degree in Statistics from the Universidad Simón Bolivar. He has taught Quality Control at Universidad de Oriente for 15 years. He is the advisor of investigations about quality and quality control in food and food processes.

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