Lesson 4 - Wort and Beer Analysis
This lesson looks at how to analyse the composition of wort and beer. It covers the current methods for each analysis, outlining the basics of how they are undertaken. It then explains the methods and standards used to ensure that analysis is both precise and accurate. Finally, it discusses how laboratories collaborate so that proficiency levels can be determined.
Preface
The laboratory is where we go for answers and to gain a more technical understanding of how our process is performing. While production is often busy and noisy, laboratory conditions are controlled. This control provides accurate data which gives us reliable information about what we brew.
This lesson explains how the key attributes of our wort and beer are measured. It also discusses the statistical basis of how specifications are set, and how results are validated. It then looks at how labs use collaborative schemes to ensure their performance is up to standard.
The first part of the lesson details the methods used to analyse the key parameters of wort and beer. We start with analyses used principally on wort. Next, we cover those undertaken on both wort and beer. Then we consider those which are applied principally on beer. We cover well over 40 methods so this will be a simple explanation of the basis of each test; you will not be expected to perform any of them.
The following publications describe standard methods for all of the brewing analyses. Each analysis has a code number and the methods included within them are updated periodically, with obsolete methods archived. Labs can use these standards to reference an analysis and to ensure they are up to date.
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Analytica EBC (European Brewery Convention) https://brewup.eu/ebc-analytica
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Mitteleuropäische Brautechnische Analysenkommission (Central European Commission for Brewing Analysis) MEBAK collection https://www.mebak.org/en/the-mebak-collection-of-brewing-analysis-methods.html
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American Society of Brewing Chemists (ASBC) Methods of analysis http://methods.asbcnet.org/
If this lesson stimulates your interest, anything else you need to know about undertaking the analyses covered, as well as other methods available, can be found in these. Your brewery may have a subscription to at least one, so you may be able to access the methods free of charge when in the brewery.
We now begin with the methods of analysis for wort.