Session Chair:
Walter König (Director Bayerischer Brauerbund and Secretary, German Malting Barley Association e.V., DE)
Is there a “Terroir” impact of local brewing barleys on beers?
By Anne Pietercelie et al., Institut Meurice
Since 2016, the Belgian beer culture has been included in the UNESCO list of intangible heritage of humanity. However, it is clear that some of the raw materials that make up our beers, such as barley malt and hops, are rarely of Belgian origin. This research project presented here is part of a dynamic of local valorisation of malting barley by studying the influence of the barley variety and its growing conditions (geographical location, cultivation practices, etc.) on the flavour of the beer. Two approaches are envisaged: the first consists of choosing the same variety, sown in different cultivation areas in Wallonia (pedoclimatic effect), while the second aims to monitor several varieties on the same plot (varietal effect). In both cases, the barleys are harvested, stored, and malted under the same standardised conditions and are then used in an identical beer recipe that will be characterised analytically and sensorially in order to highlight a “terroir” impact on the finished product. The results of the 2021 harvest are discussed and the first trends identified.
Pythium oligandrum as a biocontrol agent against Fusarium in the malting of brewing cereals
By Carlo Antonio Ng et al., University of Chemistry and Technology Prague
The growing incidences of Fusarium head blight in wheat and barley due to changing climate conditions leading to growing food safety concerns caused by the increased production of mycotoxins. Due to this, various control methods have been proposed including chemical and physical treatments to suppress fungal growth in malting, with biological methods showing promise due to the absence of undesirable by-products. The potential of Pythium oligandrum as a novel biocontrol agent in suppressing Fusarium culmorum growth during the malting of wheat and barley was investigated through RT-PCR. The effect of fungal suppression on the production of deoxynivalenol (DON) and deoxynivalenon-3-glucoside (D3G) was determined through LC-MS/MS. Addition of P. oligandrum showed promise when added with the steeping water in the earlier stages of the malting process. Varying the treatment dosages of the biocontrol agent yielded negligible differences. The decreases in fungal DNA resulted to decreases in the produced mycotoxins, resulting total DON reduction of up to 86% in wheat malt, and up to 37% decrease in barley malt with the application of P. oligandrum, compared to the untreated grains.
Identification of factors linked to beer gushing in order to develop a rapid test for gushing potential detection in raw material
By Julien Billard, IFBM-Qualtech
Beer gushing is an unprovoked over-foaming following the opening of a bottle. Primary gushing is highly dependent on barley growing and harvesting climatic conditions. This phenomena can have economical and reputational consequences for breweries. Current techniques, such as the modified Carlsberg test, provide information on a predictive gushing potential of malt with a high uncertainty and is time consuming. Thus, a rapid screening test on raw material to detect the gushing potential of malt could be of interest for the malting & brewing industries. The aim of this study is to identify markers of beer gushing in order to develop a method for their detection and/or quantification.
Proteins from industrial malt batches were extracted and analyzed. A bioinformatic strategy has been used to identify proteins of interest linked with gushing potential. Afterwards, recombinant target proteins were used to produce antibodies in order to develop an ELISA test against these markers on raw materials. The detailed methodology and the results will be presented and discussed.