P-26
Evaluating the malting and brewing characteristics of new Canadian malting
barley varieties under the Simulated commercial processing conditions. Several new Canadian malting barley varieties were tested under the simulated
commercial malting and brewing conditions at the Canadian Malting Barley
Technical Centre. A drawback of micro-malting systems is that they do not
replicate commercial malting conditions very well, and do not produce enough
malt for pilot brewing. The pilot malting and brewing systems used in this study
were designed to simulate commercial processing conditions and to produce
commercial quality malt and beer, while retaining the flexibility required by
researchers and marketers to do applied research work and to develop new
products for malting, brewing and food industries. The pilot malting plant,
capable of processing up to 100 kg of barley, has four vessels. Three of them
produce malt in the traditional fashion, using separate vessels for steeping,
germination, and kilning. The fourth vessel is a "unimalter," which can perform
the three malting steps in the same vessel, a system which, while not unique in
the world, is quite novel. The malting plant is capable of duplicating almost
any malting process condition in use today, except static water pressure in the
steep tank. All vessels are equipped with sensors for temperature, humidity,
dissolved oxygen, oxygen and carbon dioxide. Sensors are connected to a data
acquisition system to allow for continual monitoring of malting conditions. The
pilot brewing system has a capacity of 3 HL and includes all the elements needed
to accurately replicate the brewing process used in large breweries. The major
equipment includes a cereal cooker, a mash kettle, a lauter tun, a brew kettle,
a whirlpool, 4 unitanks, a DE-filter, a Meura mash filter, a roller mill and a
hammer mill. In addition, the system is equipped with in-line or in-tank sensors
for specific gravity, turbidity, and pH. Since commissioning the pilot systems
at the Centre, we have tested six new malting barley varieties, four breeders'
lines and four existing varieties, and conducted over 30 trials. The results
from the pilot-scale tests agreed well with commercial data, and confirmed the
expectation that our pilot facilities would be able to duplicate full-scale
operations. These pilot plants can now be used for evaluation of new varieties
long before the point where there would be enough barley available for
commercial testing.
Yueshu Li joined the newly-formed Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre
as Manager of Malting Technology in August 2000. For the previous 16 months, he
was Senior Technical Consultant for Malting Barley in the Market Development
Department of the Canadian Wheat Board. In the past 12 years he has held several
senior research and management positions in the malting industry in both North
America and China, including Prairie Malt Limited, Canada Malting, Schreier
Malting, USA and CUC Nanjing Malt Limited, PRC. He completed his undergraduate
work in China and holds a Ph.D. in plant physiology and ecology from the
University of Saskatchewan.
YUESHU LI (1), Richard Leach (1), Michael Edney (2), Michael Brophy (3),
Aleksandar Egi (1), and Ken Sawatzky (1). (1) Canadian Malting Barley Tech
Centre, 1365-303 Main St, Winnipeg Canada R3C 3G7; (2) Grain Research Lab,
Canadian Grain Commission, 1401-303 Main St, Winnipeg Canada R3C 3G8; and (3)
Canadian Wheat Board, Box 816 Station M, Winnipeg Canada R3C 2P5.