Technical Session 20: Finishing and Stability Session
Tomoyuki Nakahama, Suntory Liquors Ltd., Ohra-gun, Gunma, Japan
Co-author(s): Seisuke Takaoka, and Haruyoshi Sotome, Suntory Liquors Ltd., Ohra-gun, Japan
ABSTRACT: Beer filterability is one of the most important
indicators concerning productivity, cost, and quality for most
breweries. Although analysis for improving beer filterability has been
carried out for a long time, the technique for completely controlling
beer filterability has not yet been established. Thus, we have analyzed
the factors concerning beer filterability in our brewery looking for the
critical control factor. As a result of a long-term investigation, we
have finally found that the critical factor is the amount of
micro-particles (under 3 µm in diameter) in lager beer. If other
factors, for example beta-glucan, etc., are controlled, beer
filterability can be explained by the amount of micro-particles. In the
analysis of the behavior of micro-particles in the brewing process,
normally micro-particles are decreased during cooling to –1.0°C after
VDK rast, but in the case of bad filterability, most micro-particles did
not decrease at all. Furthermore, from the result of component
analysis, it was found that the micro-particles consisted of not only
beta-glucan but also protein. In order to maximize filterability we
designed the malt recipe and mashing conditions considering both
cytolysis and proteolysis. We also constructed the filterability
prediction technique from the amount of micro-particles by utilizing the
advantage of the simple and rapid measurement method. Using the
predictive results, filterability can be stabilized by optimizing the
filtration design so it contributes to the improvement of productivity
and the reduction of production costs.
Tomoyuki Nakahama is a
senior assistant brewmaster in the Suntory Tonegawa brewery. The main
subject of his work is development of brewing technology. He graduated
from Tokyo University with an M.S. degree in agricultural chemistry, and
he was engaged in functional analysis of unique genes and proteins
(sPLA2s) in a Japanese traditional mold, A. oryzae. He joined
Suntory Ltd. in 2006. He now works on improvement of the filtration
process, especially for the optimization of brewing conditions.
VIEW PRESENTATION 67
