The effect of barley to wheat ratio in malt blends on protein composition and physicochemical characteristics of wort and beer

The present work explored the effect of barley to wheat ratio in malt blends on protein composition and physicochemical characteristics of wort and beer. Results illustrated that the addition of wheat malt can significantly improve the soluble protein of wort and the final beer, and it can provide more > 2.2 kDa protein in final beer, which is mainly derived from the raw wheat malt, but also including some protein produced in the fermentation process, such as some protein between 29 and 66.4 kDa. Though the content of > 15 kDa protein was relatively lower than the protein whose molecular weight was < 15 kDa, but it had important effects on total nitrogen, total water-soluble protein, free amino nitrogen, chromaticity, and viscosity of final beer. The addition of wheat malt significantly improved the concentration of 2.2-15 and > 15 kDa protein, but higher percentage of addition ratio can decrease the foam stability of the beer. Practical ApplicationThis findings can reasonably control the protein content and types of wheat beer, improve the quality of wheat beer, solve the key technological problems, and expand and popularize the application of wheat in beer industry.