Research on possibilities of wheat malt production from Slavonian bread-wheat varieties

The aim of this work was to determine the malting quality of some typical Slavonian bread wheat varieties. The accent was on the possibility of pale malt production, but the other malts were considered as well. Despite inherent limitations of the investigation, some of the obtained malts were of favorable quality. With the exception of a transient increase of average corn vitreosity, all other physical and physiological parameters were within recommended values for pale malt, including total grain malt losses. The chemical analysis revealed a favorable extract yield in all samples, although an increased total nitrogen in grain and wort decreased attenuation limit. A larger extract difference can be partly ascribed to the influence of malting procedure which should be modified in order to stimulate cytolysis. The viscosity of wort was satisfactory in all samples, indicating adequate share of total pentosans, as well as the ratio of total and soluble pentosans in wheats with low corn vitreosity. The level of total soluble nitrogen was too high in all samples. Approximately one half of total N was present as a high molecular fraction. The absolute concentration of alpha-amino N was also too high in all samples, with a very good FAN/soluble N ratio. The present results argue for a possibility of beer malt production of good quality from domestic wheat sorts. The malting of wheat sort OSK 5824/16-99 gave malt which met criteria for pale beer malt, and can be categorized into the second quality group. Besides, the problem of reducing high soluble N content, with concurrent decreases of high-molecular, and alpha-amino N, was recognized. This should become the decisive factor affecting the selection of appropriate wheat sorts.