Non-Starch Polysaccharides in Wheat Beers and Barley Malt beers: A Comparative Study

Non-starch polysaccharides (NSPs) in beers attract extensive attention due to their health benefits. The aim of this work was to investigate and compare NSPs including arabinoxylan, arabinogalactan, β-glucans, and mannose polymers in wheat and barley malt beers as well as the influence on its quality. NSPs in wheat beers (1953-2923 mg/L) were higher than that in barley malt beers (1442-1756 mg/L). Arabinoxylan was the most abundant followed by arabinogalactan. In contrast to barley malt beers, wheat beers contained more mannose polymers (130-182 mg/L) than β-glucan (26-99 mg/L), indicating that more arabinoxylan, arabinogalactan, and mannose polymers came from wheat malt. The substitution degree of arabinoxylan in wheat beers (0.57-0.66) was lower than that in barley malt beers (0.68-0.72), while the degree of polymerization (38-83) was higher (p < 0.05) than that in barley malt beers (38-48), indicating different structures of arabinoxylan derived from barley malt and wheat malt. NSPs, especially arabinoxylan content, positively correlated (p < 0.01) with real extract and viscosity of beers. Furthermore, wheat and barley malt beers were well separated in groups by principal component analysis.