Open Beer Samples

CRAFTING A PLEASANT NA IPA A Major Qualifying Project Submitted to the Faculty of Worcester Polytechnic Institute in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree in Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering by: __________________________________ Ryan R. Lima __________________________________ Matthew J. Morais __________________________________ Susan M. Ross Date: 3, March 2017 __________________________________ Professor Stephen J. Kmiotek, Advisor Worcester Polytechnic Institute This report represents work of WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its web site without editorial or peer review. For more information about the projects program at WPI, see http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Projects. 1 Abstract The goal of this project was to craft a pleasant tasting non-alcoholic beer from Wachusett’s Green Monsta IPA. Experiments were developed for ethanol absorption that utilized the techniques of an oil layer, freezing, and heating. Results showed use of castor oil, corn oil, and coconut oil as a boundary layer have promise, but require further stimuli to lower ABV beyond 4%. Freezing was successful in removing adequate ethanol to form a NA beer, but the quantity produced from this technique was insufficient to be deemed feasible. Heated trials showed a continued downward trend in ABV, but exhibited degradation in color and aroma. Future research is to be guided towards the effect of pressure and chemical oil composition. 2 Acknowledgements This project was significantly influenced by the support and guidance of our project advisor, Professor Stephen Kmiotek who made the completion of this project possible. We would like to thank you for all the time you dedicated to helping us by giving us guidance, resources, and encouragement. We appreciate your insight and direction when our results didn’t turn out as expected. We would also like to thank Worcester Polytechnic Institute for allowing us to use their equipment and providing provisions for any needed equipment. 3 Executive Summary This project sought to produce a non-alcoholic IPA of sufficient quality to be enjoyable in taste, color, and aroma. Due to the addition of heat, most common forms of separating alcohol from ethanol/water solutions is not viable since the heat destroys the flavonoids and gives the beer a burnt or stale flavor. Online literature suggested that the addition of an oil layer over the beer would allow the ethanol to diffuse freely into the oil, while also preventing air contact and locking in the flavonoids. Several kinds of oil were researched and tested for their ethanol removing efficacy. The first experimental trial tested seven oils open to the air to note any differences in separation rate. Castor oil showed most promise, as literature pointed to the use of castor oil in ethanol separation. Contrary to expectations, most alcohol concentrations were unwavering aside from the control, suggesting further information was required. To further explore whether air was impacting the ability for ethanol to diffuse through the oil, another trial was run with some beers being capped and others not. A noticeable difference appeared in rate of separation, however it was theorized to be due to pressure differences, rather than air. To determine if adding small amounts of heat could yield a faster separation without spoiling the beer, some heated trials were run with the beer suspended above a heat plate. This produced a much darker appearance, but did increase the rate of separation. Lastly, freeze trials were run due to an idea formed while reading about how freezing beer can increase the ethanol content. The theory was that if part of the beer was increasing in ethanol, the other part must be decreasing, so exploring how this happens could yield valuable data. Freezing the beer was most successful at reducing the ethanol concentration near non-alcoholic standards, but at the cost of nearly 98% of the beer that was put in. This method did a much better job of increasing ABV, so it is recommended that other paths be explored. Overall, the performance of the oil layer was underwhelming, but this may be due to an incomplete knowledge of the chemical interactions between fatty acids and ethanol. Additionally, the pressure within the vessel may lead to significant changes in separation rates due to better contact or less air contamination. We recommend further exploring the science behind oil composition and how that could affect ethanol transfer before continuing with experimentation of this method. 4 Table of Contents Abstract 2 Acknowledgements 3 Executive Summary 4 Table of Contents 5 List of Figures 7 List of Tables 8 Chapter 1: Introduction 9 Project Goals and Objectives 9 What Beer Was Used 9 Chapter 2: Background 10 Oil Background 10 Canola Oil 10 Castor Oil 11 Coconut Oil 11 Corn Oil 12 Mineral Oil 12 Olive Oil 13 Vegetable Oil 13 Table 2: Summary of physical properties of selected oils 14 Freeze Background 14 Gas Chromatography Background 15 Aspen Background 16 Chapter 3: Methodology 17 Open Beer Samples 17 Heated Trials 17 Freeze Trial 18 Open and Capped Beer Samples: Replacing the Oil 19 GC Troubleshooting 20 Chapter 4: Results and Discussion 21 Open Beer Samples 21 Heated Trials 22 Freeze Trial 23 Open and Capped Beer Samples: Replacing the Oil 25 5 Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendations 26 Conclusions 27 Recommendations 28 References 29 Appendix 31 Appendix A- Open Beer Samples 31 Appendix B- Heated Trials 35 Appendix C- Freeze Trial 39 Appendix D- Open and Capped Beer Samples: Replacing the Oil 40 Appendix E- Aspen 47 6 List of Figures Figure 1: Final setup for open air experiment .............................................................................................................. 17 Figure 2: Final setup for heated trials with castor in the 250mL flask and coconut oil in the 10 dram vial ...... 18 Figure 3: Melted beer samples taken every fifteen minutes. Samples run from left to right with respect to time. .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 19 Figure 4: Final setup for open and capped, oil replacement experiment. ................................................................ 20 Figure 5: Summarized data of open beer samples ....................................................................................................... 22 Figure 6: Summarized data of heated beer samples .................................................................................................... 23 Figure 7: Summarized data of frozen beer samples .................................................................................................... 24 Figure 8: Summarized data of the re-frozen beer samples ......................................................................................... 24 Figure 9: Summarized data of capped beer samples ................................................................................................... 26 Figure 10: Open beer experiment data for no oil ........................................................................................................ 31 Figure 11: Open beer experiment data for canola oil layer ........................................................................................ 31 Figure 12: Open beer experiment data for castor oil layer ......................................................................................... 32 Figure 13: Open beer experiment data for corn oil layer ........................................................................................... 32 Figure 14: Open beer experiment data for coconut oil layer ..................................................................................... 32 Figure 15: Open beer experiment data for olive oil layer ........................................................................................... 33 Figure 16: Open beer experiment data for mineral oil layer ...................................................................................... 33 Figure 17: Open beer experiment data for vegetable oil layer ................................................................................... 33 Figure 18: Heated beer experiment data for castor oil layer ...................................................................................... 35 Figure 19: Heated beer experiment data for coconut oil layer .................................................................................. 35 Figure 20: Data on oil replacement for second open beer experiment with castor oil layer ................................ 40 Figure 21: Data on oil replacement for second open beer experiment with corn oil layer................................... 41 Figure 22: Data on oil replacement for second open beer experiment with mineral oil layer ............................. 41 Figure 23: Data on oil replacement for capped beer experiment with castor oil layer .......................................... 43 Figure 24: Data on oil replacement for capped beer experiment with corn oil layer ............................................ 43 Figure 25: Data on oil replacement for capped beer experiment with mineral oil layer ....................................... 44 Figure 26: Data on capped beer experiment with coconut oil layer not replaced .................................................. 44 Figure

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