Shimadzu’s Total Support for Beer Analysis

Significance of the Topic

Comprehensive beer analysis is crucial for ensuring product quality, safety, and consistency in a competitive market. From raw materials to packaging, monitoring key parameters such as color, bitterness, alcohol content, and contaminants supports regulatory compliance and process optimization.

Objectives and Study Overview

This article reviews Shimadzu’s analytical solutions for beer analysis, covering methods to evaluate major quality attributes, troubleshoot brewing issues, and support laboratory setup for craft and industrial breweries.

Methodology and Instrumentation

• Spectrophotometry (UV-Vis) for color (ASBC Beer-10/EBC) and IBU (Beer-23).
• Gas chromatography with FID for alcohol content (ASBC Beer-4D/AOAC 984.14).
• Headspace GC-ECD for diacetyl and VDKs monitoring fermentation progress.
• HPLC-RID and ELSD for carbohydrate profiling (glucose to DP10).
• UHPLC-PDA for hop alpha acids and iso-alpha acids analysis.
• Ion chromatography for inorganic anions (EPA 300.1) and water characterization.
• GC-MS/MS for pesticides in hops and volatiles in water (EPA 524.3/525.2).
• Atomic absorption and ICP/OES-MS techniques for heavy metals.
• UHPLC-MS/MS for multi-mycotoxin detection and metabolomics profiling.
• Tensile testing for packaging pull-tab strength.

Key Findings and Discussion

Shimadzu instruments enable accurate routine measurements and advanced profiling across the full brewing chain. Spectrophotometric assays cover color, bitterness, and polyphenols. Chromatographic and mass spectrometric methods detect trace alcohols, VDKs, pesticides, mycotoxins, organic/inorganic contaminants, sugars, organic acids, amino acids, and metabolic enzymes. Metabolomics and chemometric tools facilitate beer classification.

Benefits and Practical Applications

• Quality assurance and regulatory compliance.
• Process optimization and reduced fermentation times.
• Ingredient contamination screening and raw material selection.
• New product development using metabolomic insights.
• Packaging performance testing for consumer safety.

Future Trends and Applications

Emerging trends include integration of multi-omics data, AI-driven quality control, green analytical chemistry approaches, and real-time in-line monitoring for fully automated brewing processes.

Conclusion

Shimadzu offers a complete suite of analytical solutions, from UV spectrophotometers to triple quadrupole mass spectrometers and IC/TOC analyzers, supporting every stage of beer production and quality control.

Instrumentation Used

• UV-1800 UV-Vis Spectrophotometer
• GC-2014/GC-2010 Plus with HS-10 Headspace Autosampler
• Nexera X2 UHPLC and Prominence HPLC Systems
• GCMS-TQ8040 and LCMS-8050 Triple Quadrupole MS
• TOC-L Total Organic Carbon Analyzer
• AA-7000 AAS, ICPE-9800 ICP-OES, ICPMS-2030
• EZ-X Tensile Tester

References

• ASBC Standard Methods for the Analysis of Brewing Materials and Beer
• European Brewery Convention (EBC) Analytical Methods
• Shimadzu Application Notes and Brochures (2012–2017)