This research aims to evaluate the use of a miniature, portable gas chromatograph (GC) for use by the brewing industry to analyze the ethanol content in beer. While gas chromatography is a useful technique for analysis of various analytes, including ethanol, it can be prohibitively expensive and difficult for industries not expressively involved in using such analytical methods. The miniature GC is much less expensive than a traditional GC, is portable, and requires little to no chemistry background to run. Data can be analyzed on a personal laptop instead of a PC with expensive, usually unintuitive software. However, to date its use has been limited to educational applications. A new method for ethanol analysis has been developed, optimized, and compared to a traditional GC method – specifically the standard method from the American Society of Brewing Chemists, which utilizes GC with flame ionization detection – to assess the validity of data and results obtained from the portable instrument.

Analysis of ethanol in beer using portable gas chromatography

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