The Influence of Partial Substitution of Malt with Unmalted Wheat in Grist on Quality Parameters of Lager Beer

Single and Interactive Effects of Unmalted Cereals, Hops, and Yeasts on Quality of White-Inspired Craft Beers

White beers owe their name to their straw yellow colour deriving from the use of unmalted wheat, which also supplies a relatively high protein content causing haze formation. This study aimed to develop white-inspired craft beers made with combinations of three mixtures of barley malt/unmalted wheat (alternatively durum-var. Dauno III, soft-var. Risciola, or emmer-var. Padre Pio), two hop varieties (Cascade or Columbus), and two Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains (Belgian yeast and a high-ester producing yeast); and assess the single and interactive effects of these ingredients on physical, chemical, and sensory characteristics of the beers. According to the graphical representation of the results for the Principal Component Analysis, most of the samples appear overlapped since they had similar characteristics, but it was possible to highlight two clusters of beers different from the others: those produced with (a) Risciola wheat and Columbus hop and (b) Dauno III wheat, Cascade hop, and the Belgian yeast. The beers of these clusters obtained the highest scores for their overall quality that, in turn, was positively correlated with concentrations of citric acid, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, syringic acid, and epicatechin; alcohol %, colour, amount and persistence of foam, intensity of fruity flavour, and body.

Maize and Sorghum as Raw Materials for Brewing, a Review

Brewing is among the oldest biotechnological processes, in which barley malt and—to a lesser extent—wheat malt are used as conventional raw materials. Worldwide, 85–90% of beer production is now produced with adjuvants, with wide variations on different continents. This review proposes the use of two other cereals as raw materials in the manufacture of beer, corn and sorghum, highlighting the advantages it recommends in this regard and the disadvantages, so that they are removed in technological practice. The use of these cereals as adjuvants in brewing has been known for a long time. Recently, research has intensified regarding the use of these cereals (including in the malted form) to obtain new assortments of beer from 100% corn malt or 100% sorghum malt. There is also great interest in obtaining gluten-free beer assortments, new nonalcoholic or low-alcohol beer assortments, and beers with an increased shelf life, by complying with current food safety regulations, under which maize and sorghum can be used in manufacturing recipes.

Analysis of Physicochemical Parameters of Congress Worts Prepared from Special Legume Seed Malts, Acquired with and without Use of Enzyme Preparations

This study was conducted to produce malt from legume seeds (chickpea, lentil, pea, and vetch) and test whether malting with parameters, typically barley grain, will result in well-modified legume seed malt. Analysis of malt was performed by producing congress worts from legume seed malts. Concentration of phenolic compounds, as well as antioxidant activity of legume seed malts was analysed. Acquired worts were characterised with poor technological characteristics (wort extract, wort volume, saccharification time, brewhouse efficiency); however, the malting process increased concentration of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity of the plant material. Subsequent mashing tests with addition of different external enzymes and/or gelatinisation of legume seed malt were performed. Use of external enzymes improved saccharification time, extract content, wort volume, as well brewhouse efficiency in the case of some legume seed malts. The best brewhouse efficiencies and highest extract values were acquired by the samples prepared with 30% of gelatinised vetch malt or chickpea malt mixed with 70% of Pilsner malt. The study shows that there is possibility of creating legume seed malts, but malting and mashing characteristics need to be customised for these special malts.

Brewing with Unmalted Cereal Adjuncts: Sensory and Analytical Impacts on Beer Quality

Brewing with unmalted cereal adjuncts can reduce the requirement for malting, thereby lowering costs and improving the overall sustainability of the brewing chain. However, substantial adjunct usage has technological challenges and the sensory characteristics of beers produced using high adjunct rates are still not fully understood. This study examined the impacts of brewing with unmalted barley, wheat, rice and maize at relatively high concentrations (0, 30% and 60% of grist) on the sensorial and analytical profiles of lager beer. Adjunct based beers and a 100% malt control were brewed at 25 L scale. A trained sensory panel (n = 8) developed a lexicon and determined the sensorial profile of beers. At 30% adjunct incorporation there was insignificant variation in the expected beer flavour profile. At 60% adjunct incorporation, there were some significant sensory differences between beers which were specific to particular adjunct materials. Furthermore, 60% adjunct inclusion (with correspondingly low wort FAN) impacted the fermentation volatile profile of the final beers which corresponded with findings observed in the sensory analysis. Developing an understanding of adjunct-induced flavour differences and determining strategies to minimise these differences will facilitate the implementation of cost-efficient and sustainable grist solutions.

Research on the Malting Properties of Domestic Wheat Varities

This study aimed to establish the suitability of new Croatian wheat varieties for the production of pale wheat malt. Four new varieties/breeding lines from the Agricultural Institute Osijek were tested (Indira, OSK. 378/19, OSK. 346/20, and OSK. 353/20). The quality of starting wheat, the success of the micromalting process and the quality of finished malts were analyzed. The obtained results showed that the tested varieties/breeding lines meet the quality criteria for pale beer malt, and can be classified in the II malting quality group. The vast majority of quality indicators examined in this research showed values within the limits recommended for pale wheat malt. The obtained results were very good considering that these varieties are not intended for malting, nor in their selection process attention was paid to meet the brewing quality criteria. Due to the sensory characteristics of beer, the possibility of intervention during the malting process is limited, therefore when selecting wheat for malting, attention should be paid to the lowest possible content of total and soluble proteins, which can be achieved by appropriate agrotechnical measures in cultivation.

Gluten-Free Brewing: Issues and Perspectives

Celiac disease (CD) is an immune-mediated gluten-sensitive enteropathy. Currently, it affects around 1% of world population, but it is constantly growing. Celiac patients have to follow a strict gluten-free (GF) diet. Beer is one of the most consumed beverages worldwide, but it is not safe for people with CD. It has a gluten content usually above the safe threshold (20 ppm), determined by the official method for hydrolyzed foods (R5-competitive-ELISA). The demand on the market for GF beers is increasingly growing. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of different strategies to produce GF beer, highlighting strengths and weaknesses of each approach and taking into account technological and sensory issues. GF cereals or pseudocereals have poor brewing attitudes (if used as main raw material) and give the beer unusual flavour. Instead, enzymatic treatments allow traditional brewing process followed by gluten content reduction. A survey on 185 GF-producing breweries (both industrial and craft) from all over the world have been considered to assess which approach is most used. Beers brewed with GF cereals and pseudocereals (used in well-balanced proportions) are more common than gluten-removed (GR) beers, obtained by enzymatic treatment.