Effect of Wort Boiling System and Hopping Regime on Wort and Beer Stale-Flavor Aldehydes

The main factor responsible for the sensory aging of beer is the increase in off-flavor aldehydes during beer storage. In pilot brews (200 L) of pale lager beer with different hopping regimes and wort boiling systems, 15 carbonyls were monitored using the GC-MS method. Factor analysis revealed several groups of aldehydes with similar behavior during wort boiling. The concentration of most of them decreased with atmospheric wort boiling and increased with the time and energy-saving pressurized boiling system. Wort clarification was a critical step because of the increase in carbonyl concentration, with the level of most carbonyls being higher in the final wort compared to sweet wort. The hopping regimes only affected the level of 3-methylbutan-2-one in the wort. The concentration of carbonyls decreased significantly (30–90%) during fermentation, except for trans-2-butenal, which increased by 59% on average, likely due to the release from imine complex. The concentration of free aldehydes in the fresh beers was similar for all variants used, but the pressurized wort boiling system could result in lower sensory stability of the beer due to the release of aldehydes from inactive complexes formed during fermentation. This aspect requires further investigation.