Abstract highly hopped and dry hopped beer production and consumption has increased steadily for the last twenty years, following the rise of craft breweries in the United States of America and the trend they set over the world. This overuse of hops offers some environmental, technological, and economic challenges for the beer industry. Researchers have been studying several ways to make beer more ecofriendly by promoting reuse of spent hops and increasing extraction yields. Dry hopping is a size-dependent process, making it feasible for craft breweries with their small scale production, but quite a challenge for larger tanks and breweries. Based on the literature and industrial experience from brewers, the aim of this research was to analyze and discuss different dry hopping methodologies for the brewing industry and how the parameters affect the final product. In order to shed light on this trending topic and to better aid brewers in choosing the most suitable, efficient, and environmental-friendly dry hopping process for their brewery, this work approaches the main variables that promote aroma transfer from hops into beer and how to optimize it.

Abstract Brazil imports about 60% of all the malt used by the brewing industry which is spread throughout the country. Even though it is an agricultural country, only a small portion of the barley production has the characteristics to produce barley malt for brewing. Seeking supply to the ever-growing demand and reducing the dependency on other countries and logistic costs, malting industries and genetic enhancement companies endeavor to adapt barley to the Brazilian Savannah conditions. For the barley to be malted, it is crucial to develop cultivars with the necessary malting qualities and adapted to the region and with good yield. Considering the importance of protein to the brewing process, four protein quantification methods were compared: combustion methods - carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen elemental analysis and Dumas - and digestion ones - Kjeldahl and flux injection analysis (FIA). The methodologies tested showed good correlations (higher than 0.881) and variations were associated with matrix complexity. All protein quantification methods were satisfactory from an agronomic perspective. Yet, we recommend the combustion ones as they generate fewer residues and results are ready in up to 6 minutes. Therefore, they are the most suited for barley and malt analysis considering lab routine.

Abstract Given the scenario of buckwheat cultivation in Brazil, the research was developed evaluating its insertion in beer production as adjunct. The samples of interest were made with 55% (w/w) barley malt and 45% (w/w) buckwheat malt (45BWM), referenced to 100% Pilsen malt beer (AM). The results showed that the buckwheat malt wort had a 96.27% dry base extract, equivalent to the standard result. It also showed that glucose content increased 3 times, while the maltose and maltotriose have balances proportional. The use of buckwheat malt raised the protein content in more than 89%, which is not seen from the use of other adjuncts and showed greater colloidal stability during the storage period, a factor associated with a 4-fold reduction of gluten content. Similar aspects regarding foam and turbidity pattern, although subtle differences in aromatic profile and flavors were present. Nevertheless, these factors show that is possible to use buckwheat as an adjunct in a Pilsen beer. The remaining sugars content gave a perspective on the metabolism of yeast during fermentation and the identification of some compounds by HPLC-MS was also able to demonstrate how buckwheat malt affected yeast metabolism due to wort composition.

Em um país onde é alta a probabilidade de calote, aumentos da taxa de juro podem gerar depreciação da moeda local caso o default seja um evento custoso. Esse artigo desenvolve um modelo simples que capta esse efeito e estima o impacto de variações de juros sobre a taxa de câmbio no Brasil usando dados em torno das reuniões do Copom e a metodologia de identificação via heterocedasticidade. Com efeito, nossos resultados sinalizam que, no Brasil, elevações inesperadas dos juros geram em média depreciações da taxa nominal de câmbio.

In a country with high probability of default, higher interest rates may render the currency less attractive if sovereign default is costly. This paper develops that intuition in a simple model and estimates the effect of changes in interest rates on the exchange rate in Brazil using data from the dates surrounding the monetary policy committee meetings and the methodology of identification through heteroskedasticity. Indeed, we find that unexpected increases in interest rates tend to lead the Brazilian currency to depreciate.

Neste artigo, são estimados os parâmetros - implícitos nos prêmios das opções - de um modelo de precificação de derivativos que considera a possibilidade de saltos discretos no câmbio (o modelo de Merton), no período entre janeiro de 1997 e janeiro de 1999. Esses parâmetros representam probabilidades e magnitudes esperadas de uma desvalorização do real. Argumenta-se em favor dessas estimativas como medidas de credibilidade do regime de bandas que vigorou de março de 1995 a janeiro de 1999 e apresentam-se evidências de que os smiles de volatilidade encontrados no mercado de câmbio no período são explicados pela possibilidade de saltos discretos. Os resultados obtidos mostram que os momentos de grande desconfiança na moeda correspondem a épocas de crises em outros países e que o salto cambial de janeiro de 1999 superou em muito a magnitude esperada de uma desvalorização do real.

This paper estimates the parameters of a pricing model which considers the possibility of discrete jumps in the Brazilian exchange rate (Merton's model), from January 1997 to January 1999. Those parameters can be seen as probabilities and expected magnitudes of real devaluation. Such estimates are defended as good measures of credibility of the exchange rate policy that prevailed from March 1995 to January 1999, and it is argued that the possibility of discrete jumps explains the existence of volatility smiles for Brazilian exchange rate options during that period. According to the results presented by this paper, the magnitude of the discrete jump occurred in January 1999 was underestimated by the market and the credibility of the exchange rate policy was mainly affected by crises in other developing countries.