The knowledge of lipid composition in beer ingredients (malt and corn grits) and wort enables the quality control for final product. Since supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) is an efficient technique for preparing samples for analysis without the use of solvents, in this research Supercritical CO2 (SC-CO2) extraction was compared with the traditional Soxhlet one for a gravimetric determination of total lipids on malt and corn grits. The obtained extracts were then analyzed by HPLC-ELSD after TLC separation of triacylglycerols (TAGs) for lipids fingerprint. The extraction of total fats achieved by a 60-min run with pure CO2 at 65 MPa and 100 degrees C was 43% higher than that produced by Soxhlet performed for 9 h for malt. The extraction was intermediate for SFE at 60 and 80 degrees C. The recovery of the TAG obtained with SC-CO2 at 100 degrees C was statistically comparable with results from Soxhlet extraction. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.