Beer should ONLY be beer. Application Summary Compendium

Significance of Topic

Beer quality, safety and consistency are critical for producers, regulators and consumers. Analytical methods that deliver rapid, accurate and cost-effective testing of beer constituents, contaminants and process parameters support quality assurance, regulatory compliance and process optimization throughout brewing.

Objectives and Study Overview

This compendium reviews diverse analytical approaches applied to beer analysis. Key goals include:

• Simultaneous quantitation of multiple beer components
• Rapid screening of contaminants and process markers
• Evaluation of method robustness, correlation and throughput
• Demonstration of instrumentation workflows from sample to result

Methodology and Instrumentation

Various technologies and platforms are employed across the studies:

• Ion Chromatography (Dionex ICS-5000+): carbohydrates, alcohols, organic acids, inorganic ions with conductivity or pulsed amperometric detection
• Photometric Enzymatic Analysis (Thermo Scientific Arena, Gallery series): acetaldehyde and β-glucan assays, SO₂, free amino nitrogen (NOPA)
• FT-NIR Spectroscopy (Antaris II): rapid determination of alcohol, original gravity, real and apparent extract via PLS models
• HPLC/On-Line SPE (UltiMate 3000 with Hypersil GOLD column, VWD-3400RS): isohumulone isomer separation in untreated beer within 10 min
• GC-MS/MS (TSQ 8000 with TRACE 1310 GC and TraceGOLD TG-Wax MS column): high-sensitivity nitrosamine profiling
• HPLC with UV and Coulometric Array Detection (Dionex UltiMate 3000, Acclaim C18): targeted and metabolomic assays of polyphenols, bitter acids
• UHPLC-HRAM (Accela UHPLC, Orbitrap MS, Hypersil GOLD aQ column): multi-mycotoxin screening and quantitation
• ICP-OES (iCAP 7200 with Qtegra ISDS): direct elemental analysis of major nutrients and contaminants in beer

Main Results and Discussion

All reviewed methods demonstrated strong analytical performance:

• Ion chromatography provided multi-analyte capability, reducing instrument count and cost.
• Enzymatic acetaldehyde and β-glucan assays correlated tightly with LC and fluorometric methods, with high repeatability (≤2% variation) and minimal sample prep.
• FT-NIR delivered <20 s data acquisition with R² > 0.99 for primary beer parameters.
• Online SPE-HPLC enabled direct injection of untreated beer, resolving cis/trans isohumulones in a 10-minute cycle.
• Discrete photometric SO₂ and NOPA methods matched established EBC/ASBC protocols while automating reagent handling.
• GC-MS/MS achieved low-level nitrosamine detection with AutoSRM and TraceFinder quantitation for routine safety monitoring.
• HPLC-EC/UV workflows quantified individual phenolics and bitter acids and supported chemometric differentiation of beer samples.
• UHPLC-Orbitrap full-scan analysis identified and quantified 32 mycotoxins at trace concentrations after simple protein precipitation.
• ICP-OES template methods provided fast, digestion-free determination of Ca, Mg, K, Na, Al, As, Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, Sn, Zn.

Benefits and Practical Applications

These unified approaches offer:

• Accelerated time-to-result and high throughput
• Minimized sample preparation and reagent waste
• Automation and integration of multi-analyte assays
• Compliance with brewing industry standards
• Enhanced data quality for QA/QC, process control and regulatory reporting

Future Trends and Potential Uses

Emerging directions in beer analytics include:

• At-line and inline sensors coupled to process instrumentation
• Advanced chemometric and machine learning models for predictive quality control
• High-resolution mass spectrometry for non-targeted profiling and authenticity verification
• Miniaturized and portable detectors for brewery-floor monitoring
• Green analytical chemistry with reduced solvent and reagent consumption

Conclusion

This compendium highlights the versatility of modern analytical platforms for comprehensive beer analysis. By integrating rapid spectroscopic, chromatographic and mass spectrometric techniques with discrete photometric assays, brewers and laboratories can achieve holistic quality and safety assessment from raw materials to finished products.