Dynamic optimisation of the aroma production in brewing fermentation

Ioan-Cristian Trelea (1) , Mariana Titica (2) , Georges Corrieu (1)

1 GMPA - Génie et Microbiologie des Procédés Alimentaires
2 CESAME - Centre for systems engineering and applied mechanics [Louvain]

Several key compounds for the final beer flavour (higher alcohols, esters, vicinal diketones) are produced during the alcoholic fermentation phase. The paper demonstrates the possibility of obtaining various desired final aroma profiles and reducing the total process time using dynamic optimisation of three control variables: temperature, top pressure and initial yeast concentration in the fermentation tank. The optimisation is based on a sequential quadratic programming algorithm, on a dynamic model of the alcoholic fermentation and on an aroma production model. The robustness of the optimal control profile with respect to model uncertainty is discussed.

Keywords: Constrained non-linear optimal control; Model uncertainty; Beer; Aroma compounds

Domains: Chemical and Process Engineering; Automatic; Food engineering

Ioan-Cristian Trelea, Mariana Titica, Georges Corrieu. Dynamic optimisation of the aroma production in brewing fermentation. Journal of Process Control, 2004, 14 (1), pp.1-16. ⟨10.1016/S0959-1524(03)00007-6⟩. ⟨hal-01537106⟩