Enhanced extraction from malt and hops in an innovative beer-brewing technology based on hydrodynamic cavitation processes

Controlled hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) technologies are arising as new standards in a growing number of industrial applications, often synergically with conventional processes. Extraction of bioproducts, water remediation, waste and biomass processing, creation of ultra-stable nanoemulsions, represent few of the fields benefitting from HC technologies in terms of effectiveness, efficiency and process yields. In the field of production and processing of beverages and other liquid foods, sometimes HCbased technologies can completely replace conventional ones with distinct advantages. For example, HC processes alone can achieve food-grade sterilization, pasteurization and homogenization, as well as enhance the extraction of valuable bound bioactive compounds. In the case of beer-brewing, the main objectives of the use of HC processes in the mashing and hopping steps were the removal of long-established production stages such as dry milling of grains and wort boiling. Moreover, other objectives were the enhancement of the extraction of major constituents of the beer wort, such as starch and, ultimately, fermentable and unfermentable sugars, as well as of valuable bioactive compounds such as polyphenols and flavonoids, from malt and hops. Finally, an important objective concerned the proof of the scalability up to the industrial level, as well as the integration of the HC-based brewing plant into an operational craft brewery.