The Effect of Sound Frequency and Intensity on Yeast Growth, Fermentation Performance and Volatile Composition of Beer

This study investigated the impact of varying sound conditions (frequency and intensity) on yeast growth, fermentation performance and production of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in beer. Fermentations were carried out in plastic bags suspended in large water-filled containers fitted with underwater speakers. Ferments were subjected to either 200–800 or 800–2000 Hz at 124 and 140 dB @ 20 µPa. Headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used to identify and measure the relative abundance of the VOCs produced. Sound treatment had significant effects on the number of viable yeast cells in suspension at 10 and 24 h (p < 0.05), with control (silence) samples having the highest cell numbers. For wort gravity, there were significant differences between treatments at 24 and 48 h, with the silence control showing the lowest density before all ferments converged to the same final gravity at 140 h. A total of 33 VOCs were identified in the beer samples, including twelve esters, nine alcohols, three acids, three aldehydes, and six hop-derived compounds. Only the abundance of some alcohols showed any consistent response to the sound treatments. These results show that the application of audible sound via underwater transmission to a beer fermentation elicited limited changes to wort gravity and VOCs during fermentation.