Annual Progress Report on Malting Barley Research March, 2007

Mission:
The Cereal Crops Research Unit will support public sector barley breeders by providing
the malt quality analyses necessary to assist in making knowledgeable selections for
generation of high quality malting barleys.
Primary Objective:
Generate malts from barleys submitted to us from public sector breeders. Analyze the
malts and report the data back to the submitting researcher(s).
Materials and methods:
The methods used for the physical and chemical analyses of micro-malts are, for the
most part, ASBC procedures. Some automated versions of the standard methods are
used, in which case they have been standardized against the standard ASBC methods.
In order to ensure that the methods used and results produced at CCRU are
representative, we participate in three quality analysis collaboratives comparing our
analyses of common samples and standards with those of other analytical laboratories.
Micro-malts are prepared with 170 g (dw) samples, if sufficient grain is available.
Smaller samples are used with appropriately modified procedures if sample quantity is
insufficient for the full sample size. The samples are steeped to 45% moisture at 16 ◦ C,
germinated for five days at 17 ◦ C, with intermittent turning and kilned over a period of 24
hours to a final temperature of 85 ◦ C. These conditions have been shown to produce
malts with quality characteristics similar to commercially prepared malts.
All analytical data and evaluations of the micro-malts are summarized in individual
reports that are returned to the breeders submitting samples. An evaluation of the
malting quality of selected locations of the Mississippi Valley Regional Spring Barley
Nursery and the Western Regional Spring Barley Nursery are provided to interested
parties. At the end of the analysis year, the results are compiled into two annual
regional reports. Data from the pre-screen and pilot scale analyses were submitted to
AMBA for collaborative evaluation.
Changes in current funding year:
Personnel: Mr. Andrew Standish has replaced Mr. Donovan Craig. Andy is a graduate
of the Botany department at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Andy started work
on March 5, 2007 and is 100% supported by the AMBA grant over his current 9 month
appointment.
Equipment: Our very old kiln was replaced with a new version from Standard Industries
Inc. of Fargo, ND. The new kiln allows us greater control and monitoring of kilning
parameters and provides increased sample throughput capabilities.
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