CHED 236 |
| Hops are the key bittering agent in beer; they also incorporate antimicrobial activity in order to allow beer to have a longer shelf life. There are two main groups of chemicals found in the hop that enable hops to have these abilities, these chemicals are the α and β acids. There three main types of α-acids, which are humulone, cohumulone, and adhumulone; there three main types of β-acids, which are lupulone, co lupulone, and adlupulone. All of these acids are susceptible to oxidation in the presence of air, and elevated temperature speeds up this process. Due to this fact, it is important that hops are not subject to these conditions during transport to the brewery. Three different varieties of hops were selected for this experiment and they were subjected to three different temperature environments, which were 12.5°C, 30°C, and 50°C for a total of 10 days. In each of these temperature ranges the hops were in an either N2 or air atmosphere in order to mimic various scenarios of transport conditions. The α and β acids were extracted in ethanol and reconstituted in methanol for HPLC analysis. The goal of this experiment is to see the rate of degradation of the various α and β acids in these conditions in order to see to what extremes hops can undergo during transportation before becoming usless. Results will be presented. |
|
Undergraduate Research Poster Session: Analytical Chemistry
11:00 AM-1:00 PM, Monday, April 7, 2008 Morial Convention Center -- Hall A, Poster
Division of Chemical Education |