β-Glucan Degradation During Malting of Different Purpose Barley Varieties

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of predicting the concentration of β-glucan from starting barley and malt, as well as malt and wort for different types and purpose of barley groups. The strength of the correlation between types and purpose of barley groups was determined between the values of β-glucans and other indicators of cytolytic degradation. Statistically significant correlations were obtained for β-glucans in barley-malt (r = 0.9717) and barley-wort (r = 0.9998) for brewing (B w-tr) and brewing/feed winter two-row (B/Fe w-tr) varieties, and for brewing/brewing feed/feed spring varieties (B/B-Fe/Fe w-tr) between barley and Δm (Δm = β-glucan difference between barley and malt) (r = 0.8779). For the dual-purpose varieties (B/Fe w-tr), a strong correlation for β-glucans was found between malt and wort (r = 0.8188), malt and Δm* (Δm* = % of degraded β-glucan in malt in regard to the starting β-glucan in barley) (r = −0.9099), as well as Δm and Δm* (r = 0.9951). The results indicate that the starting concentration of β-glucan in barley and malt can be used as predictors of their concentration in wort only in brewing and dual-purpose (brewing-feed) varieties.

Quality attributes for barley malt: “The backbone of beer”

“…Better malting performance is associated with lower level of β‐glucan and higher level of β‐glucanase in grain (Narzis, 2012). The high concentration of β‐glucan leads to incomplete hydrolysis of cell walls, which in turn impede the diffusion of enzymes produced during the mobilization of kernel reserves and disrupts various quality parameters of finished malt (Habschied et al., 2020). Therefore, degradation of β‐glucan is essential.…”

“…Nutritional properties of beer and its preference in social events motivate brewers to improve beer quality, which is influenced by malt quality. Malting is forced germination, performed to acquire a certain amount of proteolytic and amylolytic enzymes (Habschied et al., 2020). The production of hydrolytic enzymes is essential for the hydrolysis of endosperm cell wall carbohydrates and protein matrix.…”

Research on the Malting Properties of Domestic Wheat Varities

“…The content of free-amino nitrogen (FAN) is also relatively lower (below the recommended values) which is not necessarily bad for the values of the final degree of overturning because excessive protein breakdown can burden amino acids that are not useful and may even be harmful to yeast (glycine, proline, hydroxyproline). About 70% of total FAN is released in the grain during malting and 25-30% during mashing [27]. α-Amylase activity in all investigated varieties was at the lower acceptable limit for light brewing malt.…”

“…Although opinions on protein content in wheat differ, where some authors [23,24] claim that soft wheat varieties (mealy or floury endosperm and a protein content of up to 11%) are more suitable for brewing and on the other hand, other scholars [25,26] encourage the use hard wheat varieties with high protein content that presumably contain more haze-active proteins of high molecular weight and are thus better for the production of hazy white beer. However, recent research gave different result where, although in absolute values the concentration of total proteins is within satisfactory limits, it can result in increased levels of proteins in wort [27]. The results of malt analysis in Table 4 and of the analysis of the micro-malting process are shown in Table 5.…”

The Influence of Biomolecule Composition on Colloidal Beer Structure

“…The molecular weight of β-glucan in barley, malt and beer ranges from 10 to 10,000 kDa, and the molecules are conjugates with protein and phenol molecules [ 82 , 83 , 84 ]. It was noted that β-glucan dextrins with a molecular weight of up to 200 kDa positively affect the completeness of the beer taste, and molecules with a weight above 200 kDa interact with protein–polyphenol associates, increasing the beer haze [ 85 , 86 , 87 , 88 ]. Researchers note the primary role of the concentration of arabinoxylan and β-glucan molecules, rather than their molecular weights, for the formation of viscous solutions in beer [ 89 ].…”