Development, characterization and shelf life of craft wheat beer

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the production of beers brewed using raw materials of local origin. Many micro-breweries have been established in Italy, particularly in Sardinia, where some have started to use Sardinian wheat to produce a beer that has a regional connection. In an attempt to make this product more original, new strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, isolated from sourdoughs, were selected. Beer aging influences the characteristics of beers and is usually considered a quality problem. Recently, the rise of globalization has led to the need of broadening the market and exporting craft beers beyond the local territory. For this reason, transport and storage time have increased with a consequence need to increase the shelf life of craft beers. The research activity carried out during these three years focused on three main topics: 1) Characterization of an Italian durum wheat beer, and comparison with two other wheat beers from different countries. 2) Comparison of two craft durum wheat beers, one brewed with an autochthonous sourdough yeast and the other with a commercial yeast. 3) Assessment of craft durum wheat beers during aging. The use of durum wheat and autochthonous sourdough yeast could provide an additional element of originality to the existing production, thus creating a further link with the territory that could have major repercussions from an economic point of view.