The Secret Of Beer Aroma

Good beer not only tastes delicious, but also smells charming.

With the good development trend of craft beer, more and more friends join the craft brewing team. Some enthusiastic friends often don’t know when they share the taste and aroma of craft beer with customers because of the limitation of professional knowledge. Taken. Today, the editor will sort out the relevant knowledge of beer aroma and share it with you.

One: Understanding of beer aroma

The aroma of beer should be understood from two aspects, one is the type of aroma, and the other is the perception of aroma.

1. The type of aroma

The aroma of beer can be divided into four types:

The first is the "brewed aroma" shown by the yeast metabolism to produce a large amount of volatile esters and other flavor components;

The second is to add fragrant hop particles or hop oil to obtain various types of "hop fragrance";

The third type is the characteristic aroma exhibited by the use of raw materials and auxiliary materials and aroma substances;

The fourth type is the post-processing "modification fragrance" or "compensation fragrance" to improve the aroma characteristics and the degree of fragrance.

The four types of aromas may have different aroma characteristics, and may also have different aroma perception levels. The beer brewing process needs to determine the respective aroma types according to the flavor characteristics of different beer products.

2. Degree of aroma perception

The degree of aroma perception can be described by some characteristic terms, such as: "soft", "refreshing", "outstanding", "stimulating" and "flat" and so on.

The aroma of beer is not a manifestation of a single aroma, but belongs to "composite aroma" or "mixed aroma". However, because of the needs of the flavor characteristics of the beer variety, the degree of 1 to 2 aromas will be more obvious. However, it is required that these 1-2 kinds of more obvious aromas are only different in degree, and should not be too irritating. This is the basic standard for controlling the degree of beer aroma perception.

Second, the control of beer aroma

1. The softness of the aroma

Aroma is the characteristic of a beer variety. First, consider the soft and comfortable feeling. It should not be too prominent or irritating, let alone present uncomfortable strange aromas. The basic manifestation of "softness" is "scent but not strong, fragrant and decent." Use good-flavored hop varieties, add hop oil extract in the boiling process, control the appropriate ester content and alcohol-ester ratio during the brewing process, and most of them can get a relatively soft and comfortable fragrance. Adding some hop essential oils in the post-processing stage of beer can compensate for the aroma, but if you choose an unsuitable variety of hops essential oil, or the amount of addition is too high, or the addition process is improperly controlled, it is easy to cause the irritation of the aroma that is not soft Therefore, the method of "aroma modification" can be used to improve the aroma of beer. We must pay attention to the research on how to obtain a balanced and soft aroma.

2. Coordination and fullness of aroma

The coordination of aroma is the result of the mixing and mutual promotion of many aroma components in beer. A monotonous aroma or an overly prominent aroma can make people feel uncomfortable and have a bad stimulus. In order to obtain a coordinated aroma, you can use the methods of "matching aroma", "enhancing aroma" and "adjusting aroma" to improve the coordination and fullness of beer aroma.

First of all, we must pay attention to the aroma characteristics of the brewing "liquor base", and pay attention to the principle and process of "matching aroma". For example, the "compatibility" of different floral and fruity fragrances will promote or reflect different effects in terms of aroma coordination.

Secondly, we must pay attention to the effect of "flavoring", "flavoring" can definitely improve the perception of aroma, but this flavoring effect must be the improvement of the overall softness and comfort of the beer rather than highlighting a certain aroma.

The third is to pay attention to the role of "fragrance". The biggest difference between "fragrance" and "matching" and "enhancing aroma" is the individual adjustment of the beer's existing aroma, which is a typical aroma blending. This blending can be carried out with some aroma additives, or with beer with different aroma degrees, in order to obtain uniform aroma characteristics.

3. Persistence of aroma

The content of many aroma components in beer are in trace form of ppb (ug/L), but the existence of multiple aroma components with different boiling points and similar aroma characteristics can satisfy the characteristic of "lasting aroma" of beer. .

Secondly, the content of aroma components in beer is very important for the persistence of aroma, and 20ug/L linalol has a very obvious aroma. It must be understood that a long-lasting and coordinated body aroma effect has a more important value for the aroma characteristics of beer.