Differentiation and classification of beers with flame atomic spectrometry and molecular absorption spectrometry and sample preparation assisted by microwaves

The characterization of beer samples has a lot of interest because their composition can affect the taste and stability of beer and consumer health. Flame atomic absorption spectrometry was used to determine Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Mg, Ca and Al. Sodium and K were determined by flame atomic emission spectrometry. A sample preparation method was developed, based on treatment with HNO3 and H2O2 in a microwave oven. This has many advantages over the methods found in the literature. The combination of the results of atomic spectrometry and the spectrum obtained by molecular absorption spectrometry provides information on the inorganic and organic components of the samples. The application of chemometric techniques to chemical composition data could be extremely useful for food quality control. The metal concentrations, the molecular absorption spectrum, the pH and conductivity of each sample were subject to analysis of variance and linear discriminant analysis. Twenty-five different beer samples were used to differentiate and classify different types of beers. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.