Understanding the structure-function relationship of carbohydrates in beer mouthfeel

The prime goal of this research is to gain mechanistic insight into the contribution of carbohydrates to beer mouthfeel. This study will focus on several carbohydrates to investigate the impact of carbohydrates on beer properties in general but will focus on arabinoxylan more particularly to gain more fundamental knowledge on the impact of molecular weight distribution and degree of substitution of carbohydrates on fluid dynamics. These insights can be used to alter the mouthfeel of innovative beers, like no-alcohol, low alcoholic or light beers. A reversed approach will be applied in order to gain more insight into beer mouthfeel. First, the link between physical properties, like viscosity, lubrication, surface tension, film-forming capacity and mouthfeel scores needs to be established. Subsequently, the impact of chemical composition and structural nature of carbohydrates on these physical properties will be considered. In the last phase, these learnings will be used to suggest process adaptations in order to modulate the chemical composition of beer, hence physical properties and thus the mouthfeel perception.

Keywords:Beer mouthfeel, Carbohydrates, Fluid dynamics, Rheology, Tribology

Disciplines:Food physics, Food sensory sciences, Fluid mechanics and fluid dynamics