Effects on flavour of innovations in brewery equipment and processing: A review

Although the requirements for valid flavour assessment are well known, brewers fail to insist on their application. Of several hundred papers consulted, only two or three measure up. There is adequate sensory evidence for the following effects of innovations in brewing. (1) It is possible to produce a malt that combines low colour with high antioxidant effect. (2) In full-scale brewing, elaborate techniques to exclude oxygen during mashing, milling and lautering are harmless though hardly worth any extra cost. (3) Deep fermenters and/or pressure fermentation produce less estery flavour. (4) The improved foam obtained via nitrogenation comes at the cost Of a certain loss of flavour. (5) If dissolved oxygen levels can be kept low enough, pasteurization is possible without any flavour damage. The paper reports probable flavour effects of a number of other innovations, but the evidence for those is incomplete because of inadequate sensory testing and reporting.