The effect of buckwheat adjunct on the technological profile of unhopped wort

Abstract

Recently, there has been increasing interest of using nonconventional starch adjuncts, such as buckwheat, not only due to its distinctive taste but also to increase the polyphenol content of the beer, and thus, its antioxidant capacity.The objective of this study was to examine technological profile of sweet wort made with unmalted buckwheat adjunct substitute. Wort was prepared in five variants: 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 30% of buckwheat adjunct substitute. The results showed that partial replacement of barley malt with buckwheat adjunct in higher amount of 20% and 30% had a negative effect on the saccharification, filtration time and led to decrease of extract content of wort. The colour of the congress wort with higher addition of buckwheat increased, on the contrary, the turbidity decreased. On the other hand, substitute with buckwheat adjunct positively increased total polyphenols, flavonoids and phenolic acids content of examined wort. The highest content of total polyphenols (197.10 mg/g), flavonoids (71.96 mg/g) phenolic acids (46.97 mg/g) was found in samples with 30% buckwheat adjunct. The results demonstrate that the unmalted buckwheat as starchy adjunct in application up to 15% did not negatively affected wort technological profile and can be recommended in the production of the unhopped worth without adjustment of mashing process.