Simultaneous Gas Chromatographic Quantitation Of Ethanol And Methanol From Beer

Beer is the most widely consumed alcoholic beverage in South Korea. The ethanol content on the label of alcoholic beverages must be within 0.5% of the actual level and the methanol content limit in beer is 500 mg/L (0.05%) in Korea. Therefore, regular testing of ethanol and methanol is a legal requirement. In this research, we devised a GC-FID analytic method for determining ethanol and methanol levels in beer, based on the use of a DB-624 capillary column combined to the direct aliquot injection. C-18 Cartridge purification proved inappropriate for the analysis of ethanol and the use of ethyl acetate as an internal standard was found to overestimate methanol content. The devised method was successfully applied to thirteen kinds of domestic and imported beers in the market. The labelled ethanol percentages in beer samples were within 0.5% of measured levels, and methanol levels in all beer samples were under 500 mg/L (μg/mL). Therefore, all beer samples analyzed met legal requirements regarding ethanol and methanol levels.

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