Caramel in the Brewing Process
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International Standards
The World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations (UN) Joint Evaluation Committee on Food Additives (JECFA)1, the European Union and United States recognize four classes of caramel color. Furthermore, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) identifies caramel color as GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe)2. These authorities specify caramel’s purity standards3, and D.D. Williamson’s caramels meet these standards. All beer caramels are in Class III; however, not all Class III caramels are stable in beer. Hence, D.D. Williamson performs a test on each batch of its beer caramels (300-series) to ensure stability in beer. Class III caramels that are not beer-stable result in beverage turbidity.
1 JECFA Compendium of Food Additives Specifications, Vol. 1, 1992
2 United States Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Title 21, Section 182.1235
3 Food Chemicals Codex, Fifth Edition, Effective 2004
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A valuable brewing ingredient for more than a century, caramel contributes to the character of beer on every continent. Caramel provides color, flavour, and consistency in beer. It also has applications in a variety of related products including cider, shandy, and nonalcoholic malted beverages. Caramel, by weight, is the world’s most widely-consumed coloring ingredient in foods and beverages.
What is Caramel?
Caramel results from the controlled heat treatment of carbohydrates, typically glucose syrup. The glucose and food-grade catalysts are used to facilitate the browning process and provide stability. The finished beer caramel, a long polymer chain, is a positively-charged colloidal solution and thus stable in beer, which is also positive (because of proteins). Caramel is inert, physically stable when stored properly, and bacteriastatic if not totally sterile. In terms of product range, with increasing color intensity, the hue (see Hue Index in top table on back) of beer caramel will trend from pale yellow to reddish brown (amber) to gray brown.
Brewery Applications
Each brewery may have its own particular caramel application method; in general, brewers add caramel either at the wort boiling stage (if large volumes are required) or at the end to standardize color lost in batch processing. Brewers can make small adjustments to final beer color by caramel’s late addition, sometimes after final filtration, to ensure consistency of color in the finished product. The dosage of beer caramel varies by type. Traditional ales contain 0.02% or more to add color and some flavour character. Certain dark beers, including some stouts and bocks, may rely on higher caramel dosage. Lagers require minimal caramel amounts, typically less than 0.01% of the final beer, for color consistency.
Brewing Advantages
Advantages of using caramel – apart from its stability as a beer color – include its ease of addition in metered volumes, its cost effectiveness compared to other coloring choices, and its unique flavour.
Beer Caramel Specifications
The table below outlines D.D. Williamson’s best-selling beer caramels. The company also manufactures a dozen specialty beer caramels not included in this product list.
DDW
Product |
Color
Intensity1 |
Color
I.O.B.2
(Typical) |
Color
EBC’s 3
(Typical) |
Hue
Index4
(Typical) |
Percent
Solids |
Global DDW
Facility |
Feature |
| # 300 |
80 – 90 |
24,500 |
22,000 |
5.6 |
74% |
USA, Swaziland |
popular in North America |
| # 301 |
106 – 111 |
31,500 |
29,800 |
5.5 |
66% |
USA, UK |
most widely-used beer caramel globally |
| # 303 |
127 – 133 |
35,000 |
34,000 |
5.5 |
65% |
USA, Swaziland,UK, China |
available globally |
| # 304 |
70 – 80 |
20,500 |
19,000 |
5.6 |
74% |
USA |
for malta or pilsner |
| # 306 |
70 – 80 |
20,500 |
19,000 |
5.6 |
74% |
USA |
provides a sweet porterine flavour |
| # 310 |
55 – 65 |
17,000 |
16,000 |
5.7 |
74% |
USA |
Emkamalt; yellow tone |
| # 373 |
140 – 150 |
45,000 |
42,000 |
5.4 |
64% |
UK |
general purpose dark |
| # 377 |
50 – 60 |
15,000 |
12,000 |
5.7 |
35% |
UK |
low solids for direct addition |
| # 385 |
170 – 180 |
48,000 |
45,000 |
5.3 |
69% |
UK |
DDW’s darkest beer-stable liquid |
| # 641 |
180 – 200 |
52,000 |
49,000 |
5.4 |
97% |
Swaziland |
beer-stable powder |
Specialty Brewing Syrup Specifications
Brewing syrups are carbohydrate blends, usually glucose and sucrose, lightly boiled to contribute flavour and condition to finished beer. These “burnt sugars” range in fermentability from 60% to 92%. The syrups demonstrate an increase in sweetness with increasing fermentability. They can be used as kettle adjuncts where some residual sugars contribute mouthfeel and flavour after fermentation. Alternatively, if brewing syrups are added to traditional unfiltered beer at packaging, as ‘primings’ they can contribute condition (sparkle) to the finished product. In the case of pasteurized beer, the whole character of the brewing syrup passes into the finished beer to contribute palette fullness and some sweetness, depending on the adjunct used.
DDW
Product |
Color
Intensity1
(Typical) |
Color
I.O.B.2
(Typical) |
Color
EBC’s 3
(Typical) |
Fermentability 5 |
Percent
Solids |
Global DDW
Facility |
| # 731 |
1 |
40 |
40 |
80% |
80% |
UK |
| # 732 |
2 |
120 |
105 |
80% |
79% |
UK & USA |
| # 733 |
2 |
100 |
100 |
92% |
78% |
UK |
Test Methodology
1 Color Intensity = Darkness = Absorbance of a 0.1% (w/v) solution of caramel in deionized water measured in a 1-cm cell at 610 nm wavelength x 1000
2 Color I.O.B. = Institute of Brewing = Absorbance of 0.1% (w/v) solution at 530 nm x 100,000
3 Color EBC’s = European Brewing Convention units = Color I.O.B. x EBC factor
4 Hue Index = Redness = Log((ABS @ 510 nm)/(ABS @ 610 nm)) x 10
5 Fermentability % = DP1% + DP2% + DP3%