Non-Starch Polysaccharides in Wheat Beers and Barley Malt beers: A Comparative Study

Non-starch polysaccharides (NSPs) in beers attract extensive attention due to their health benefits. The aim of this work was to investigate and compare NSPs including arabinoxylan, arabinogalactan, β–glucans, and mannose polymers in wheat and barley malt beers as well as the influence on its quality. NSPs in wheat beers (1953–2923 mg/L) were higher than that in barley malt beers (1442–1756 mg/L). Arabinoxylan was the most abundant followed by arabinogalactan. In contrast to barley malt beers, wheat beers contained more mannose polymers (130–182 mg/L) than β-glucan (26–99 mg/L), indicating that more arabinoxylan, arabinogalactan, and mannose polymers came from wheat malt. The substitution degree of arabinoxylan in wheat beers (0.57–0.66) was lower than that in barley malt beers (0.68–0.72), while the degree of polymerization (38–83) was higher (p < 0.05) than that in barley malt beers (38–48), indicating different structures of arabinoxylan derived from barley malt and wheat malt. NSPs, especially arabinoxylan content, positively correlated (p < 0.01) with real extract and viscosity of beers. Furthermore, wheat and barley malt beers were well separated in groups by principal component analysis.