Abstract:With the aim of developing new beer products, the addition of black fungus polysaccharides to facilitate beer brewing was assessed on the basis of traditional brewing technology, the findings of which could contribute to extending the deep processing industrial chain of edible fungus polysaccharides. Response surface optimization analysis was performed for the black fungus polysaccharide fermentation process, and the optimized black fungus polysaccharide beer was assessed based on the determination of different physicochemical indices and volatile components. The results revealed that the addition of 0.20 kg/L of malt, 17 g/L of hops, and 20 g/L of polysaccharide resulted in a sensory score of 92.65 and diacetyl content of 0.048 mg/L in the resulting beer, enhancing its overall flavor and taste. Measurements of the physical and chemical properties of the beer indicated a chromaticity value of 15.5 EBC, an alcoholic strength of 4.3%vol, a foam retention of 319 s, a raw wort concentration of 11.23 °P, a true fermentation degree of 48.6%, and a total acid content of 2.34%, which are all in accordance with national standards. Furthermore, a comparison of flavor components with those of commercially available beers and hierarchical clustering heat map analysis indicated the detection of 73 aroma components in seven different beer samples, with polysaccharide beers displaying a higher number of characteristic aroma components. On the basis of a range of different evaluation criteria, our findings indicated that black fungus polysaccharide beer outperformed other beers in terms of taste, safety, and number of aroma components. These findings could provide a theoretical basis for the application of functional constituents in brewing.
