Evaluating Barley for the Emerging Craft Malting Industry in Western Washington
2016
Brouwer, Brook O. | Schwarz, Paul B. | Barr, John M. | Hayes, Patrick M. | Murphy, Kevin M. | Jones, Stephen S.
Craft malting companies are emerging in response to demand from the rapidly growing North American craft brewing industry, and creating a market for malting barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) in production regions considered to be of minor importance for this crop. Growing malting barley in these under-represented areas, such as western Washington, requires identification of cultivars with suitable agronomic and quality characteristics. Twelve two-row spring barley cultivars were evaluated for 2 yr at four western Washington locations to assess suitability for craft malt production in the region. Standard North American malting cultivars had lower yield stability than locally adapted feed cultivars. Pre-harvest sprouting reduced falling number and germination capacity resulting in a high proportion of samples unsuitable for malt quality evaluation. Cultivars with the highest levels of resistance to pre-harvest sprouting did not meet malt quality standards when malted according to standard micro-malting methods. However, craft maltsters have more flexibility to alter processing conditions to produce malt from cultivars previously deemed unacceptable for large-scale malting and brewing. Craft brewer specifications for malt are also different from large-scale industry. The current work suggests the need to adjust the malting process to work with locally adapted cultivars while expanding regional testing and breeding programs.
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