Mercaptan (Ethanethiol) GMP Flavour Standard

Mercaptan (Ethanethiol) GMP Flavour Standard

The Mercaptan (Ethanethiol) GMP Flavour Standard by FlavorActiV is a professional sensory reference designed to help trained tasters accurately identify and assess mercaptan off-flavour in beverages. This highly potent sulphur compound can appear naturally during fermentation or develop as an off-flavour under certain conditions. Early and accurate recognition is essential for maintaining product quality across beer, spirits, and non-alcoholic beverages.

£75.00 GBP

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Minimum Order: £275

WHAT IS MERCAPTAN FLAVOUR?

Mercaptan flavour, also known as ethanethiol or ethyl mercaptan, is a sulphur-based sensory character recognised for its extremely low flavour threshold and high impact.

It is commonly described as:

– Rotten vegetables
– Drain-like or sewage-like
– Leek or onion-like
– Butane or domestic gas

In controlled amounts, mercaptans can be a natural by-product of fermentation. However, when present at elevated levels, they are considered a serious off-flavour that negatively affects beverage quality.

WHAT CAUSES MERCAPTAN FLAVOUR?

Understanding what causes mercaptan flavour is critical for effective quality control and fault prevention.

In Alcoholic Beverages
Mercaptan or ethanethiol may arise from:
– Natural yeast fermentation processes
– Yeast autolysis (cell death), particularly during extended maturation or poor yeast management

In Non-Alcoholic Beverages
Ethanethiol can develop due to:
– Contamination of source water by decayed organic matter
– Breakdown of sugars over time
– Decomposition of flavour compounds in packaged products exposed to heat

USING THE MERCAPTAN GMP Flavour Standard FOR SENSORY TRAINING

The Mercaptan GMP Flavour Standard is specifically formulated for structured sensory training and panel calibration. It allows tasters to repeatedly experience and memorise the flavour profile under controlled conditions.

Sensory training benefits include:

– Improved off-flavour recognition speed
– Greater panel alignment and repeatability
– Increased confidence when identifying sulphur-related faults
– Early detection of quality issues before product release

HOW TO RECOGNISE MERCAPTAN FLAVOUR: SENSORY TERMS

Professional sensory descriptors associated with mercaptan include:

– Ethanethiol (ethyl mercaptan)
– Butane gas
– Rotten drains
– Leek-like
– Rotten vegetables

These terms align with internationally recognised sensory language used by brewing and beverage professionals.

WHAT ARE THE PROFESSIONAL APPLICATIONS OF THE MERCAPTAN GMP Flavour Standard?

The mercaptan GMP Flavour Standard is widely used across multiple beverage sectors, including:

– Beer production and quality control
– Spirits distillation and maturation assessment
– Non-alcoholic and soft drink manufacturing
– Sensory panel training and calibration
– Academic and professional sensory education

Depend on the mercaptan GMP Flavour Standard for early sulphur fault detection and effective corrective action—protecting your brand before products enter the market.

OTHER INFORMATION

Beer Flavour Wheel Number: 0722

Flavour Level: 0.1 – 3 µg

Recommended by:
– American Society of Brewing Chemists (ASBC)
– European Brewery Convention (EBC)

Please note: The Mercaptan GMP Flavour Standard is one of several thiols used by FlavorActiV as professional flavour reference standards.

FlavorActiV GMP Flavour Standards

Only Pharmaceutical Quality GMP Flavour Standards provide sufficient quality for professional sensory panels to train and validate with.

We produce encapsulated GMP (Pharmaceutical Good Manufacturing Practice) Flavour Standards that are safe to both smell and drink. The compounds within our capsules impart the aroma, taste and mouthfeel of a specific defect or positive flavour into a beverage for the purposes of taster training, calibration and quality control.

Our individual flavour GMP Flavour Standards are sold by flavour, each flavour pack contains 5 capsules, each separately blister packaged. Our sensory kits contain a mixture of flavours, each separately blister packaged, read the product description for flavour details.

We ship globally, and have over 20 years of experience at it. Our GMP Pharmaceutical Flavour Standards are produced to the highest standards, and as such, their shelf-life is strong and their quality consistent.

FlavorActiV’s flavour centre is the world’s only pharmaceutically run facility dedicated to the production of flavour reference standards. The Flavour Centre is a state-of-the-art facility housed within the campus of world-renowned Quay Pharma near Liverpool in the U.K.

The Flavour Centre was designed by FlavorActiV from the ground up at the direct request of global customers as they looked to move away from inferior food grade ‘certified flavour standards’ to GMP Pharma, a standard that ensures safe, stable, traceable, consistent and long shelf-life products.

All FlavorActiV’s industry-leading encapsulated flavour standards are manufactured following GMP at our Flavour Centre. All aspects of manufacture are overseen by Quay Pharma who are audited by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.K. Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory agency (MHRA). We also welcome customer audits.

Only FlavorActiV GMP flavour standard capsules bear our mark of authenticity.

We brand each of our capsules so that our customers know they’re getting the Pharmaceutical GMP Quality that only FlavorActiV provide.

Industry leading packaging and shelf-life

FlavorActiV flavour standards are blister packaged, which extends shelf-life and protects capsules from potential contamination. The average shelf-life of FlavorActiV flavour standards is 18 months to 4 years, depending on the flavour compounds.

We will never ship in pots or plastic packaging, here’s why…

Blister packaging protects capsules from the environment until they are ready for use. Blister packaging greatly reduces the amount of headspace for possible flavour escape. As each capsule individually blister packaged, making use of one capsule still leaves all others protected. FlavorActiV Flavour Standard packaging is 100% recyclable, as opposed to polypropylene which is not widely recycled.

Pots are semi-porous, they allow molecules to pass through and flavour to be lost, their significant headspace also adds to substantial flavour escape as a gas, even when using just one capsule all those remaining in the pot are exposed.

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