Beer dealcoholization by lyophilization: Study on the ethanol content and aroma compounds

Abstract

Lyophilization process has been successfully applied in food industry for food preservation, creation of new products or additives. In this case we have applied this technique to dealcoholize beer, studying the evolution of ethanol content and the main aroma and flavor compounds. To our concern this process has not been tested as a possible dealcoholization process in beer yet. It is well known that dealcoholization processes have drawbacks related to the decrease in the flavor quality of the final product, by losing crucial volatile aroma compounds as well as the ethanol and, evidently as ethanol itself contributes to the beverage flavor. Six different commercial lager beers from Spain and other European countries were lyophilized at -55ºC and 0.2 mbar during 3, 8 and 16 hours analyzing the regular beer and lyophilizates produced by HS-SPME-GC-MS. Comparison in the aroma profile was carried out using standard calibration curves of 11 characteristic volatile compounds: esters, acids and high alcohols.