Rettberg, N., VLB Berlin, Berlin, GERMANY
Technical Session 1: Omics
Sunday, June 04, 2017
10:15–11:30 a.m.
Caloosa Ballroom
Consistency is a major concern of industrial brewing. In order to ensure stable beer quality, multiple instrumental, as well as sensory techniques, are applied. Whereas sensory is able to provide a rather comprehensive picture with respect to taste and smell, data of instrumental analysis (depending on brewery size) can be rather fragmentary. In order to fully assess relevant chemical properties of beer, numerous targeted methods, ranging from simple (bitterness, foam, color, carbonation, haze, etc.) to sophisticated (terpenes, esters, carbohydrates, etc.), might be applied. However, product characterization remains rather incomplete, and data is frequently unable to reflect variations detected in sensory. In contrast to common targeted methods of analysis, (untargeted) metabolomics aim at a comprehensive characterization of substances present in a sample. Powerful instrumental assays combined with bioinformatics enable a detailed study of (bio) chemical processes, as well as the detection of potential variations between sample sets (e.g., fresh vs. old). In the last decade the significance of metabolomics has been underlined by valuable research in crop, food, and life sciences. The number of beer-related publications is increasing accordingly. Through the eyes of a practical brewer, the application of metabolomics in quality control appears to be promising. Especially its objective of being comprehensive seems helpful to overcome the major drawbacks of classical targeted analytics. In order to evaluate the power and efficiency of metabolomics in quality control, a metabolomics platform (HS-SPME-GC-MS and LC-Q-ToF-MS) was applied to samples of a single brand of pilsner beer produced at four different production sites. The data set, collected over a trimester of production, is compared to results from standard and special beer analysis, as well as from sensory evaluation. By this, time- and production site-related variations in volatile and non-volatile metabolite profiles were linked to changes in quality characteristics of the brews. Thus, the paper will answer the question, which significant gaps can be bridged by metabolomics and which value can (yet) be added to quality control in brewing, respectively.
Nils Rettberg (born 1983) is a trained brewer and maltster, holding a diploma in biotechnology with a focus on brewing science from TU Berlin (Germany). Initiated by his diploma thesis on “Flavor Active Epoxydecenals from Lipid Oxidation” he developed a deep interest in the analysis of molecules that make beer taste either terribly good or horribly stale. From 2011 to 2014 Nils performed his doctoral thesis on “Comprehensive Analysis of Hop Secondary Metabolites.” Simultaneously, he was a research associate at TU Berlin (Chair of Bioanalytics) and VLB Berlin (Research Institute for Special Analyses), where he was involved in both research and teaching. In January 2015 Nils became head of the VLB Research Institute for Special Analysis. Since October 2015 Nils has been in charge of the VLB Research Institute for Instrumental Beer and Beverage Analysis.
