Rapid Quantification of Flavor-Active Sulfur Compounds in Beer

Sulfury notes that did not correlate with measured dimethyl sulfide concentrations were identified during organoleptic panel assessments of beer. This initiated the development of a method by which these compounds could be detected, identified, and quantified. An in-bottle purge-and-trap sampling technique was successfully coupled to a capillary gas chromatograph with a sulfur chemiluminescence detector. Analyses of beer then generated sulfur compound profiles that correlated with the sulfury notes detected by the panelists. This method should be a valuable quality control tool for flavor-active sulfur compound profile measurement and for subsequent control of unwanted high concentrations of these compounds.