Histamine and tyramine in beers. Changes during brewing of a Spanish beer

Abstract

A preliminary study of the evolution of histamine and tyramine during a brewing process was carried out. A clear formation of tyramine was observed during the main fermentation (from 2·5 to 40·5 mg/litre), but histamine formation was negligible in this same period. Good correlations ( p < 0·001) were found between formation of tyramine and alcoholic content, and between this amine and apparent extract during the main fermentation. In addition, a statistical comparison was done of the biogenic amine contents in 64 samples corresponding to the four types of beer established by the Spanish law on the basis of their extract of original wort and their alcoholic content. No significant statistical differences were found between the histamine and tyramine contents in the four types of beer (p = 0·05).