Keep beer fresher

Scientists in Venezuela have announced a progress in a thousand-year effort to preserve the beer that beer drinkers love more than all other features of this drink.

Their research has identified the key substances involved in making beer tastes for a long time or has an oxidizing flavor.

In this new study, Adriana Bravo and colleagues point out that previous attempts to keep beer fresh often focused on protecting beer from exposure to air during the brewing process.

Researchers identified alpha-carbonyls as important compounds that reduce the taste of beer.(Photo: iStockphoto)

However, that focus only brought about a relatively small improvement in efforts to preserve the flavor of beer.

The study identified a group of highly unknown substances called alpha-carbonyls, which are also "culprits" that reduce the flavor of beer when beer is left on for a long time.

The study also shows that it is possible to reduce the level of these substances by adding ingredients that prevent their formation, so that the taste of beer can be longer.

Reference article: Formation of alpha-Dicarbonyl compounds during beer storage - Adriana Bravo and colleagues. Journal of Food Chemistry and Agriculture, No. 28, 2008.