*5.3.4 Hops*

Hops (*Humulus lupulus* L.) are almost exclusively consumed by the brewing industry. Although hops are only a minority ingredient, they have significant impact on the sensory properties of beer [65]. It contributes not only to bitter flavor but also with the particular character of the selected hop variety [66]**.**

This is mainly due to its particular chemical composition in: the hops resins, the hop oil and hop polyphenols [70].

**Figure 3.** *Effect of roasted barley addition on beer sensory properties.*

In the closing years of the twentieth century, the hop became an icon of the "craft beer revolution" that swept across the United States. The "hopped up" vats created more flavorful and aromatic beers, making them more akin to European specialty varieties than anything seen in United States markets since before prohibition. The hops also became an effective marketing tool [39] from a nutritional and health point of view. It had recently come to light the effect antiviral and anti-HIV of xanthohumol, a phenylated flavonoid isolated from hops [66]**.**

#### **5.4 Perspective on health and nutrition**

This section also includes a part on special or craft beers, which meet the **new consumer requirements** related with health and nutrition. In this context, it should include categories such as [66] light or low-calorie beers, low alcohol or nonalcohol beers, gluten free beers and functional beers.

#### *5.4.1 Light beers*

Light beer is a relatively new product on the market. Light beers contain at least onethird less calories than conventional beers [71]. However, these products are not widely accepted in Europe compared to North America and Australasia because of their lack of fullness in the taste and low bitterness compared with conventional beer. **Enhanced hop character and addition of a low level of priming syrup** have been proposed to the production of a low-calorie beer with a well-balanced and full beer flavor [38].

From a nutritional point of view [71], light beer contains less carbohydrate than regular beer, low alcohol beer or non-alcoholic beer. Surprisingly, light beer presents more calorie supply than such beers. This may be explained considering that light beer has a significant amount of alcohol (3%) providing a high calorie value.

#### *5.4.2 Low alcohol beers*

Low-alcohol beer is a beer with very low- or no-alcohol content. The alcohol by volume (ABV) limits depends on laws in different countries. In recent years, there has been an **increased market share for low alcohol beers**. This is mainly due to health and safety reasons and increasingly strict social regulations [72]. The alcohol-free beers also claim beneficial effects of healthy beer components with a simultaneous effect of the lower energy intake and complete absence of negative impacts of alcohol consumption.

According to Blanco et al. [73], the dealcoholization processes that are commonly used to reduce the alcohol content in beer have negative consequences to beer flavor. Several processes (physical and biological) have been developed for the production of low-alcohol or alcohol-free beer [74]. The physical processes include thermal and membrane processes such as thin-layer evaporation; falling film vacuum evaporation; continuous vacuum rectification; reverse osmosis; and dialysis. The biological processes include cold contact process (CCP); arrested fermentation; and use of special yeasts (*S. ludwigii*).

Overall, the taste defects in alcohol-free beer are mainly attributed to loss of aromatic esters, insufficient aldehydes, reduction or loss of different alcohols, and an indeterminate change in any of its compounds during the dealcoholization process or as a consequence of incomplete fermentation [73].

#### *5.4.3 Gluten free*

The market segment for gluten free (GF) products continues to grow rapidly and gluten free beers are a niche market with **increasing demand** [75, 76].

**93**

*Craft Beers: Current Situation and Future Trends DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90006*

that 10 of the tested beers contained less than 20 ppm gluten.

by enzymatic process were proposed by Fanari et al. [78].

enzyme activity for degradation of the rice components.

on the malting, mashing, fermentation conditions [78].

bacteria (probiotics) in the human gastrointestinal tract.

and optimization of a filtration process will be required.

rising consumer recognition and acceptance of probiotics [38]**.**

*5.4.4 Functional beer*

**5.5 Use of new technologies**

Beer is considered unsuitable for people suffering from gluten intolerance, but with some modification and removal of proteins which occur during traditional beer processing. The majority of the precipitated protein remains in the spent grain after the lautering process and only a small proportion of gluten passes from malt to sweet wort. A study conducted by [77], in twenty-eight commercial beers, found

There are different alternatives for the reduction of gluten levels below the legislative gluten-free threshold (≤20 ppm) (EC No. 41/2009, 2009), on a daily basis, including precipitation and enzymatic hydrolysis. Deglutinization treatments

Furthermore, gluten free beers can be produced **using gluten free cereals and pseudocereals**. Currently only sorghum, rice, maize, millet, and buckwheat appear to be successful GF beer ingredients, while others have only shown adjunct possibilities. Among cereals, Teff is gaining a lot of popularity in GF beer production. **Teff** grain nutrients are promising and it is also an excellent GF alternative for people with celiac disease and other gluten allergy. Though the α- and β-amylase activities of teff malt are lower than that of barley, it has sufficient level of enzyme activities to be used as a raw material for malting [79] and GF beer production. Mayer et al. [80] has also prepared a GF beer from **all-rice malt** with sufficient endogenous

A third approach is the production of yeast fermented beverages based on fermentable sugars/syrups [75]. The search for new gluten-free brewing materials is still in its infancy and researchers in this field of study are continuously researching

There is also scope for positioning low-calorie beers as a source of good carbohydrates, such as the soluble fiber and prebiotics derived from the β-linked glucans and arabinoxylans in the cereal walls [81]. Because these carbohydrates are neither metabolized by the brewing yeast nor they do not contribute toward calorie count but exert health benefits. Prebiotics are dominantly oligosaccharides that are nondigestible to human being but selectively stimulate growth and activity of beneficial

Further, β-glucans could enhance stress tolerance of intestinal lactobacilli, which may have a positive impact on survival of probiotics. Nonetheless, high molecular weight b-linked glucan materials may have a negative impact on filtration efficiency

Probiotics are not limited to bacteria, and there is a well-known probiotic yeast strain of *S. cerevisiae* var. *boulardii*. A novel unfiltered and unpasteurized probiotic beer could be produced by fermenting wort with a probiotic strain of *S. cerevisiae*. A new category of functional beer could be the specialty beer of the future, given the

Emerging technologies as high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) and ultra-high pressure homogenization (UHPH) open new possibilities in beer production. Both technologies are considered as cold techniques allowing the control of microorganisms in beverages [82]. Even when some temperature increasing is produced that can be quantified in 2–3°C/100 MPa in HHP [83] by compression adiabatic heat and until 100°C but just for 0.2 s in UHPH because of intense shear forces and impact [84]. The use of HHP is able to eliminate yeasts at pressures of 400 MPa-10 min

*Craft Beers: Current Situation and Future Trends DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90006*

*New Advances on Fermentation Processes*

**5.4 Perspective on health and nutrition**

*5.4.1 Light beers*

*5.4.2 Low alcohol beers*

alcohol beers, gluten free beers and functional beers.

fermentation; and use of special yeasts (*S. ludwigii*).

or as a consequence of incomplete fermentation [73].

In the closing years of the twentieth century, the hop became an icon of the "craft beer revolution" that swept across the United States. The "hopped up" vats created more flavorful and aromatic beers, making them more akin to European specialty varieties than anything seen in United States markets since before prohibition. The hops also became an effective marketing tool [39] from a nutritional and health point of view. It had recently come to light the effect antiviral and anti-HIV

This section also includes a part on special or craft beers, which meet the **new consumer requirements** related with health and nutrition. In this context, it should include categories such as [66] light or low-calorie beers, low alcohol or non-

Light beer is a relatively new product on the market. Light beers contain at least onethird less calories than conventional beers [71]. However, these products are not widely accepted in Europe compared to North America and Australasia because of their lack of fullness in the taste and low bitterness compared with conventional beer. **Enhanced hop character and addition of a low level of priming syrup** have been proposed to the

From a nutritional point of view [71], light beer contains less carbohydrate than regular beer, low alcohol beer or non-alcoholic beer. Surprisingly, light beer presents more calorie supply than such beers. This may be explained considering that light beer has a significant amount of alcohol (3%) providing a high calorie value.

Low-alcohol beer is a beer with very low- or no-alcohol content. The alcohol by volume (ABV) limits depends on laws in different countries. In recent years, there has been an **increased market share for low alcohol beers**. This is mainly due to health and safety reasons and increasingly strict social regulations [72]. The alcohol-free beers also claim beneficial effects of healthy beer components with a simultaneous effect of the lower energy intake and complete absence of negative impacts of alcohol consumption. According to Blanco et al. [73], the dealcoholization processes that are commonly used to reduce the alcohol content in beer have negative consequences to beer flavor. Several processes (physical and biological) have been developed for the production of low-alcohol or alcohol-free beer [74]. The physical processes include thermal and membrane processes such as thin-layer evaporation; falling film vacuum evaporation; continuous vacuum rectification; reverse osmosis; and dialysis. The biological processes include cold contact process (CCP); arrested

Overall, the taste defects in alcohol-free beer are mainly attributed to loss of aromatic esters, insufficient aldehydes, reduction or loss of different alcohols, and an indeterminate change in any of its compounds during the dealcoholization process

The market segment for gluten free (GF) products continues to grow rapidly and

gluten free beers are a niche market with **increasing demand** [75, 76].

production of a low-calorie beer with a well-balanced and full beer flavor [38].

of xanthohumol, a phenylated flavonoid isolated from hops [66]**.**

**92**

*5.4.3 Gluten free*

Beer is considered unsuitable for people suffering from gluten intolerance, but with some modification and removal of proteins which occur during traditional beer processing. The majority of the precipitated protein remains in the spent grain after the lautering process and only a small proportion of gluten passes from malt to sweet wort. A study conducted by [77], in twenty-eight commercial beers, found that 10 of the tested beers contained less than 20 ppm gluten.

There are different alternatives for the reduction of gluten levels below the legislative gluten-free threshold (≤20 ppm) (EC No. 41/2009, 2009), on a daily basis, including precipitation and enzymatic hydrolysis. Deglutinization treatments by enzymatic process were proposed by Fanari et al. [78].

Furthermore, gluten free beers can be produced **using gluten free cereals and pseudocereals**. Currently only sorghum, rice, maize, millet, and buckwheat appear to be successful GF beer ingredients, while others have only shown adjunct possibilities. Among cereals, Teff is gaining a lot of popularity in GF beer production. **Teff** grain nutrients are promising and it is also an excellent GF alternative for people with celiac disease and other gluten allergy. Though the α- and β-amylase activities of teff malt are lower than that of barley, it has sufficient level of enzyme activities to be used as a raw material for malting [79] and GF beer production. Mayer et al. [80] has also prepared a GF beer from **all-rice malt** with sufficient endogenous enzyme activity for degradation of the rice components.

A third approach is the production of yeast fermented beverages based on fermentable sugars/syrups [75]. The search for new gluten-free brewing materials is still in its infancy and researchers in this field of study are continuously researching on the malting, mashing, fermentation conditions [78].

#### *5.4.4 Functional beer*

There is also scope for positioning low-calorie beers as a source of good carbohydrates, such as the soluble fiber and prebiotics derived from the β-linked glucans and arabinoxylans in the cereal walls [81]. Because these carbohydrates are neither metabolized by the brewing yeast nor they do not contribute toward calorie count but exert health benefits. Prebiotics are dominantly oligosaccharides that are nondigestible to human being but selectively stimulate growth and activity of beneficial bacteria (probiotics) in the human gastrointestinal tract.

Further, β-glucans could enhance stress tolerance of intestinal lactobacilli, which may have a positive impact on survival of probiotics. Nonetheless, high molecular weight b-linked glucan materials may have a negative impact on filtration efficiency and optimization of a filtration process will be required.

Probiotics are not limited to bacteria, and there is a well-known probiotic yeast strain of *S. cerevisiae* var. *boulardii*. A novel unfiltered and unpasteurized probiotic beer could be produced by fermenting wort with a probiotic strain of *S. cerevisiae*. A new category of functional beer could be the specialty beer of the future, given the rising consumer recognition and acceptance of probiotics [38]**.**

#### **5.5 Use of new technologies**

Emerging technologies as high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) and ultra-high pressure homogenization (UHPH) open new possibilities in beer production. Both technologies are considered as cold techniques allowing the control of microorganisms in beverages [82]. Even when some temperature increasing is produced that can be quantified in 2–3°C/100 MPa in HHP [83] by compression adiabatic heat and until 100°C but just for 0.2 s in UHPH because of intense shear forces and impact [84]. The use of HHP is able to eliminate yeasts at pressures of 400 MPa-10 min

but Gram-positive bacteria needs 600 MPa-10 min and spores remain unaffected even with these pressures [85]. Also it has the drawback of being a discontinuous technology. UHPH is now currently highly developed being a fast technology with a good industrial scale-up with equipment that are working at a flow of 10,000 l/h (https://www.ypsicon.com/). Moreover, UHPH is a continuous technology and able to produce sterilization due to the extreme impacts and shear forces produced when the fluid pumped at 300 MPa cross the depressurization valve [84]. In beer production theoretically is possible to pump the beer at 300 MPa and release the pressure until 4 bar, later is possible to make a sterile iso-barometric bottling. The intense de-polymerization produced by UHPH can also disaggregate colloidal particles improving the beer structure and stability. Potentially it is possible to produce the mechanically lysis of the yeasts formed during fermentation increasing the amount of small size polysaccharides.

Other interesting technology that can be quite useful in beer production and sterilization is pulsed light (PL). This technology produces high energy light during a very short time (few μs) with a strong capacity to inactivate microorganisms and spores allowing sterilization [85]. The light is applied by flash lamps with a range spectra of 160–2600 nm with an intensity 105 folds the sunlight intensity at the seaside level. Power peak can reach 35 MW. PL technology is also a cold technology being a gentle process with sensory quality of beverages. This technique can be applied continuously during beer processing previously to packaging. It is also possible to use this technology to sterilize bottles or packages.

The use of these new technologies opens new possibilities in the processing and preservation of beer. UHPH and PL can be applied in a continuous way being efficient and easily implemented at industrial scale. Both sterilization technologies have a gentle repercussion in sensory quality of beverages.

## **6. Future trends**

The development of new craft and special beers will be focused in the improvement on sensory properties and differentiation. Moreover, health care connotations are essential and should be supported by traditional processes but improved with both new biotechnologies and emerging processes.

### **Author details**

María Jesús Callejo\*, Wendu Tesfaye, María Carmen González and Antonio Morata Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain

\*Address all correspondence to: antonio.morata@upm.es

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

**95**

1994. pp. 37-52

*Craft Beers: Current Situation and Future Trends DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90006*

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