Quality of farm malt: the impact of production methods

This case study examines the impact of production methods and barley varieties on the quality of farm malts. The experiment used samples of three spring barley varieties: the two-row varieties Domen and Thermus, and the six-row variety Bredo. Four samples of farm malts were produced from these varieties using different production methods, which are described in tabular form. The differences in quality between the samples were significant. The sample labelled Thermus JG produced malt that approached current quality standards. The other three samples showed low levels of modification. The extract content in the malt dry matter ranged from 72.7% to 79.5%, the Kolbach index ranged from 32.6% to 33.7%, and the ß-glucan content ranged from 1010 to 1290 mg/l. The farm malt samples produced cloudy wort, and the mash aroma was described as burnt, smoky, and smokey. The laboratory malt produced in the micro-malting plant also had significantly low quality. The results indicate that the choice of variety and production method has a crucial impact on the quality of the final malt.