Wheat Hydrocolloids and Their Importance for Brewing

Wheat is often used as a raw material in the brewing of special styles of beer. Hydrocolloids naturally present in wheat are called pentosans. They constitute approximately 2% of wheat flour. Arabinoxylans (pentosanes) and β-glucan are common compounds in wheat and are mostly found in the cell wall. Hydrocolloids are commonly used to retain moisture in bread and baked goods. Besides the moisture content, they affect the texture and retrogradation enthalpy of starch molecules. In the baking industry, they can be useful and improve the dough properties, but in the brewing industry, they are commonly designated as problematic compounds. Namely, to a certain extent, they can improve the foam stability; however, they can hinder the filtration process. This review paper aims to give an overview of non-starch compounds and their properties and to emphasize the significance of these macromolecules in the malting and brewing industries, especially in wheat varieties. The objective of this review is to gather information by searching different databases with scientific papers to broaden knowledge on arabinoxylans and β-glucans in brewing.