EJDFoodSci – Improving flavor quality and stability of beers
PROJECT IS COMPLETED
Period: 2016 - 2020
As partner of EJDFoodSci, a Horizon 2020 MSCA-ITN, the University of Copenhagen tackles one of humanity’s oldest technologies: Brewing. The local team seeks to improve the beer flavor quality and stability with focus on understanding the effects of using different malts.
EJDFoodSci is a Marie Skłodowska Curie Innovative Training Network (ITN) consisting of 6 European universities and 4 companies. The 8 employed PhD students are all enrolled as a double degree at two of the universities. The objective of the EJD program is to educate a group of young scientists in a collaborative research environment composed of European leaders in the field of malting and brewing technology. The PhD students are exposed to a multicultural and multidisciplinary training program that provides them with a broad education in malting and brewing technology, hands-on instruction in the use and servicing of high-tech analytical and testing equipment, alongside with valuable managerial skills. The University of Copenhagen is the main host of two out of the eight PhD students and the second university of another one.
The overall scientific objective of EJDFoodSci is to reduce the environmental impacts of malt and beer production by reducing energy inputs; it also seeks to improve the flavor quality and stability of beers through the application of state of the art, interdisciplinary scientific knowledge to the novel malting and brewing production processes we propose to develop. To remain competitive on the international market, improvements in the shelf life of beer (currently limited by flavor stability) must be delivered. In Copenhagen, the research focus lies on trace metals with pro-oxidative effects in beer as well as the influence of various degrees of malt roasting and kilning on the oxidative stability.
- Development of novel raw materials of high potential to be used in malting and brewing
- Introduction of innovations in malting and brewing technology, including lowering of the heat input during kilning, reducing the time of wort boiling and introducing new techniques during fermentation
- Improvement of the sustainability of malting and brewing operations through interactive processing, decreased energy usage and reduction of CO2 emissions
The research methodology will couple innovative malting and brewing process developments (using state of the art pilot malting and brewing facilities) with high quality analytical techniques specialised in the analysis of wort quality, yeast vitality, fermentation performance, beer quality and flavour stability.
Rosa Santella
PhD-student
Ingredient and Dairy Technology
Marcus Pagenstecher
PhD-Student
Ingredient and Dairy Technology
Birthe P.M. Jespersen
Associate professor
Ingredient and Dairy Technology
- University of Agriculture in Krakow, Poland
- The University of Nottingham, UK
- Ghent University, Belgium
- TU Berlin, Germany
- KU Leuven, Belgium
- VLB Berlin, Germany
- FlavorActiV, UK
- The Carlsberg Group, Denmark
- Boortmalt, Belgium
Funded by:
Project: EJDFoodSci
Period: 1st of September 2016 - 31st of August 2020
Grant donor: The European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 722166
FOOD grant: DKK 3,837,074
Total grant: € 2,078,486
Mogens L. Andersen