Determination of volatile compounds in different hop varieties by headspace-trap GC/MS--in comparison with conventional hop essential oil analysis.

A headspace (HS)-trap method in combination with gas chromatography (GC)-mass spectrometry (MS) was developed for the determination of volatile constituents in hops. The highly sensitive HS-trap system reduces the detection limit by using up to four trap enrichment cycles. Seventy hop samples of different varieties and cultivation regions, from the 2008 harvest, were examined using the HS-trap-GC-MS method and the established "European Brewery Convention" (EBC) method for hop essential oil analysis. Twenty-one different volatiles were quantified for each hop sample. For all compounds, except caryophyllene oxide, a strong correlation was found between the results of the HS-trap method and the EBC method. Experiments have revealed that the EBC method using steam distillation is not appropriate for thermolabile compounds, such as caryophyllene oxide, due to decomposition during boiling. The HS-trap method is fast and sensitive, requires small sample amounts and minimal sample preparation, and is easy to apply.