Rapid method to assess the colloidal haze stability of beer

Due to a rising globalization in food and beverage industry, consumers expect a long chemical-physical beer stability without an appearance of haze. The analysis of the chemical-physical stability, however, often represents a long process when the classic forced aging test is applied. In comparison, alcohol-chill or formaldehyde test can be performed in a shorter analysis time, but barely gives information on the real beer stability. For this reason, the aim of this work was to develop a rapid measurement method determining colloidal stability. To accelerate the haze formation, an oxidizer was added into beer and 3 temperature changes of 0 and 60 °C were carried out. An optimal amount of 1 mL hydrogen peroxide per 500 mL beer (0.06 %) was determined. After 26 h, the haze increase could be examined using a scattering light angle measuring device. The comparison of this haze increase and the warm days of the classic 0/60 °C forced aging test resulted in an exponential function with R² = 0.87 (n =3 8, samples of 10 breweries), whereas 3 non-stabilized beer samples had significantly higher haze increases. Furthermore, stability could be classified comparing warm days and haze increase in low stability (0 - 4 warm days): > 1 EBC haze increase, medium stability (5 - 8 warm days): 0.1 - 1 EBC haze increase and high stability (above 8 warm days): < 0.1 EBC haze increase. Due to the good comparability, the new method gives fast and practical information on the haze stability of beer within two working days.