A comparative study of two analytical methods for fat content determination in brewer's grits

Abstract

The fat content of brewer's grits is an important determinant of product grade and suitability for beer production, even though the content is relatively low, ranging from 0.5 to 1.5%. Fat content >1% is often considered undesirable due to its possible impact on beer quality. Traditional chemical analyses for determination of fat content cannot be applied practically to process control because they are too time-consuming. The implementation of a rapid and simple near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) method depends heavily on its reliability and accuracy in relation to the approved method. This study was conducted to investigate the extent of the differences between values obtained using reference and NIRS methods for determination of fat content in brewer's grits. Conventional statistical evaluation, as well as extensive statistical analyses that included descriptive statistics, multivariate analysis of variance, discriminant analysis, analysis of variance, and profile analysis, were applied. Significant differences between methods were not observed. Better precision and similar accuracy compared with the reference method showed that the NIRS method could be used for process analysis with a high level of reliability. © 2009 American Society of Brewing Chemists, Inc.