Riboflavin in Beer and in the Brewing Process

Abstract

The riboflavin content has been estimated by the microbiological method in a number of beers of different types. The level of riboflavin has been followed in various stages of the brewing process by the same method and it has been found that:—(1) There is possibly a small loss of riboflavin during mashing. (2) There is no loss of riboflavin during boiling with hops. (3) There is an increase in Riboflavin of over 100 per cent. during top fermentation. This production of riboflavin by yeast is a property of many strains of S. cerevisiae. (4) The determination of riboflavin in malt has been investigated, and acid extraction has been shown to lead to high results. Section I. Contains the results obtained. Section II. Is experimental and contains: (1) A description of the methods employed. (2) Experiments on the effect of hop resins on the microbiological method as applied to beer. (3) Experiments on the estimation of riboflavin in malt.

The Horace Brown Memorial Lecture* a Century of Brewing Microbiology

“…Here it may be interjected that the nutritional exactingness of lactic acid bacteria, which has been applied since 1939 as an analytical tool in the microbiological assay of vitamins in foodstuffs, was applied from 1943 onwards by Hopkins and his co-workers (1943-48), Tullo & Stringer (1945) and Norris and his co-workers to the materials of brewing and to beer itself, revealing inter alia that beer in the diet makes an appreciable contribution to the human intake of some vitamins of the B complex.…”