Antioxidant activity and typical ageing compounds: their evolutions and relationships during the storage of lager beers

Summary Five commercial lager beers were used to investigate the evolution of antioxidant activity and ageing compounds during storage. The relationships between antioxidant activity and ageing compounds were clarified by principal component analysis ( PCA ). Results showed that total phenolic content ( TPC ) and antioxidant activities of beers evaluated by different assays gradually decreased by 16.08–22.71% (average of 18.56%) and 1.99–78.79% (averages of 24.44–70.50%), which was accompanied by 100.50–269.35% (average of 178.77%) and 11.11–57.14% (average of 28.73%) of increases in total ageing compounds and thiobarbituric acid ( TBA ) value, respectively, during 6 months of storage at 25 °C. Results from PCA elucidated that there were negative correlations between antioxidant activities and ageing compounds of beers during storage, and satisfactory discrimination among beers with different storage time could be achieved on the basis of antioxidant activities and typical ageing compounds selected.