1. Quality Advancement of Canadian Malting Barley Varieties
8th Canadian Barley Symposium
Quality Advancement of Canadian Malting Barley Varieties
Yueshu Li, Peter Watts, Aaron Onio, Andrew Nguyen & Bryce Lodge
Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre, Winnipeg, Canada R3C 3G7
June 25-28, 2017 Fairmont Hotel
Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3B 0Y3
Introduction
Conclusions
Harrington barely was released in With superior malting and brewing quality attributes, this first Canadian-bred, high-enzyme 2-row barley quickly became a very popular variety which dominated malting barley production on the Prairies for over 20 years ( ). Harrington enabled Canada to become a well-respected malting barley producer around the world. Since then, many malting varieties have been developed in Canadian barley breeding programs, but not all of the registered varieties were commercialized. In the 1990s, two new 2-row varieties, AC Metcalfe and CDC Copeland were developed and soon were renowned for their unique quality attributes (higher extract and lower beta-glucan) further adding to Canada’s reputation as a premium malt barley supplier. Owing to their higher yield and improved disease resistance, AC Metcalfe and CDC Copeland gradually replaced Harrington and became the dominant varieties on the prairies and the major varieties for export markets for over the last 20 years. After the release and success of AC Metcalfe and CDC Copeland, barley breeders continue to strive to develop new varieties with superior yields, stronger disease resistance and improved malting and brewing characteristics, including versatile quality attributes to satisfy both all-malt and adjunct brewers. New and promising malting barley varieties that have been registered in the past few years and are undergoing seed propagation or are already commercially available.
In this study we chose varieties which exhibit the quality potential to replace/complement the current dominant varieties, AC Metcalfe and CDC Copeland in the near future. We examined their overall grain quality, as well as malting and brewing performance, using barley samples collected from multiple crop years and multiple growing locations. This study provides an overview of these new two-row Canadian malting barley varieties and their quality characteristics. Only the results for the varieties which have been commercially grown or have shown significant production promise are included.
The test results indicate that there are some significant differences in barley quality, as well as malting and brewing attributes between the newer barley varieties in contrast to Harrington. There are some clear trends in barley grain protein content, extract potential, FAN, enzymes and beta- glucan. It was observed that the majority of the newer varieties had significant yield advantage, lower grain protein, higher extract yield, higher enzymes, higher FAN levels and lower beta-glucan content. Under the trial conditions, all of the varieties included in this study performed well in the brew house and produced good beer, though some subtle varietal differences in beer flavour profiles were observed.
With the significant grain yield advantage and improved disease resistance, the newer malting barley varieties are more competitive both for producers and ultimately for end-users. CMBTC test results indicate that newer varieties offer equal or better performance in malting and brewing process and produce malt and beer with comparable quality compared with Harrington. Most new malting varieties in the pipeline are generally well suited for the mainstream brewing sector while the quality profile of some may lend themselves to all-malt brewing. To remain competitive in future, the Canadian industry must work with end-users, as well as producers, to introduce these new malting varieties early in their life cycle to ensure a smooth and timely transition to their acceptance within the value chain.
Figure 6. Alpha-Amylase as % in Varieties Compared to Harrington
Figure 7. Diastatic Power as % in Varieties Compared to Harrington
Brewing Performance of New Varieties
Figure 3. Extract Yield as % in Varieties Compared to Harrington
Figure 1. Grain Yield as % in Barley Varieties Compared to Harrington (Based on Co-op trials)
Results in Table 1 suggested that newer varieties included in this study all performed well in the pilot brewing trials under standard brewing conditions. Though there were some variations in brewing parameters among these varieties, beer with desirable quality was produced in all the brewing trials.
Soluble Protein & FAN Levels of New Varieties
Grain Protein Content of New Varieties
Soluble protein (Fig. 4) in the new varieties varies significantly compared to Harrington. Most of the newer barley varieties showed protein solubilisation similar/ comparable to Harrington however Newdale and Bentley showed lower soluble protein while the newest varieties AAC Connect and CDC Bow exhibit higher soluble protein than Harrington. FAN levels in new varieties tend to be comparable to or higher than Harrington. AC Metcalfe and Bentley offer slightly higher levels of FAN; CDC Kindersley, AAC Synergy offers comparable FAN; CDC Copeland and Newdale offer significantly lower FAN than Harrington. In contrast, AAC Connect and CDC Bow tend to give higher FAN. The mainstream brewing sector is generally looking for FAN levels above 200 while the all-malt brewing sector desires lower levels (e.g ).
Protein content in the new varieties is lower than AC Metcalfe (Fig. 2) which is not surprising given the higher yields and breeding efforts to lower grain protein content. In fact AC Metcalfe protein is relatively high compared with most other varieties introduced since its registration. Lower grain protein content is a desired quality parameter for malting and brewing since malt extract yield is negatively correlated to grain protein content.
Parameter
Conversion time (min.)
Time to clear (min.)
Lautering time (min.)
Malt Material Yield (%)
Wort pH
Wort Colour (SRM)
Ferment-ability (%)
Harrington 14 11 64
91.4
5.25
6.76
81.9
AC Metcalfe 12 7 50
75.4
5.29
4.59
85.8
CDC Copeland 8 55
75.5
5.32
4.57
86.3
CDC Kindersley 18 45
74.9
5.16
4.51
88.6
Bentley 16 58
75.6
5.13
4.62
85.0
Newdale 15 49
82.0
5.20
4.31
86.8
AAC Synergy 17 43
76.9
4.55
89.6
AAC Connect 47
87.4
5.34
5.01
88.5
CDC Bow 6 10 51
88.0
5.22
4.93
91.5
Average 9
80.8
5.24
4.87
87.1
References
Data derived from a combination of the CMBTC process results based on sourced samples, as well as data contained in applications for registration.
American Society of Brewing Chemists, Methods of Analysis. 9th ed. The Society, St. Paul, MN, 2004.
Yueshu Li and Aleksandar Egi. New Canadian Malting Barley Varieties and Their Malting and Brewing Characteristics. Master Brewer’s Association of Americas Technical Quarterly vol 41, 2004.
Materials & Methods
Table 1. Brewing Results of Different Barley Malt Varieties
Barley samples of all the varieties included in this study were provided by barley breeders, seed companies, grain companies, and malting companies. All of the malting and brewing trials were conducted at the CMBTC using the pilot malting system (100kg) and pilot brewery (3 hL) under standard process conditions developed by the CMBTC. All the analyses of barley, malt and beer were performed according to the ASBC analytical methods.
Acknowledgements
Figure 2. Protein as % in Varieties Compared to Harrington
Figure 4. Soluble Protein as % in Varieties Compared to Harrington
Figure 5. FAN Levels as % in Varieties Compared to Harrington
The authors would like to thank the members of the CMBTC for their on-going support.
Malt Extract of New Varieties
Enzyme Profiles of New Varieties
Results and Discussion
Extract yield in the new varieties is significantly higher than Harrington (Fig. 3) ranging from 1-2% over Harrington, which is not surprising given the breeding efforts to lower grain protein content and improve the modification potential of the new varieties.
Enzymes in the new varieties vary significantly compared to Harrington. In general most newer varieties exhibit levels of alpha-amylase comparable to or higher than Harrington, except for CDC Copeland and Bentley offering lower alpha-amylase (Fig. 6). Looking at Diastatic Power (Fig. 7), it is considered “high or very high” in AC Metcalfe, as well as in the newest varieties AAC Connect and CDC Bow. In contrast, moderate DP was recorded with CDC Copeland, Bentley, Newdale, and AAC Synergy. This would suggest that the newest varieties may be particularly well suited for the mainstream brewing sector that tends to use solid adjuncts while those with lower enzymes may well suited for all-malt brewers.
Agronomy of New Varieties
Figure 1 provides a snapshot of the yield potential of new varieties, with all the newer varieties offering a significant improvement in grain yield over Harrington. In addition the newer varieties have improved disease resistance (data not shown here). The improvements in yield and disease resistance offer producers significant economic advantages in competing with older barley varieties and other crops.
Figure. 8. Organoleptic properties of 2016 crop AAC Synergy and AAC Connect compared to CDC Copeland and AC Metcalfe beers.