Y. LI (1), R. McCaig (1); (1) Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Malt
Wednesday, June 4 - 3:00 p.m.-4:45 p.m.
Level 4, Red Lacquer Ballroom

Currently AC Metcalfe and CDC Copeland are the two dominant malting barley varieties grown on prairies in Canada. These two varieties occupy over 60% of the farmland used for malting barley production on the prairies; together these two varieties have successfully replaced the well-known and very popular Harrington variety, which in the past dominated malting barley production in Canada for over 20 years. Although domestic and overseas malting and brewing companies are satisfied with the quality and process performance offered by AC Metcalfe and CDC Copeland, these two varieties are facing some challenges caused by several newly developed two-rowed, six-rowed, and hull-less malting varieties that offer better yield, improved disease resistance, and better overall agronomic performance. Certainly farmers would prefer to grow these newer barley varieties, but maltsters and brewers in general have shown a delayed interest in using newer barley varieties. This may be due to limited information on the malting and brewing performance of those newer varieties, as well as the fact that they are not readily available to maltsters and brewers, leaving little encouragement to include new barley varieties in production. During the past 10 years, the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre (CMBTC) has been studying newly developed malting barley varieties registered in Canada. These studies examine the malting and brewing characteristics and quality of end-products of new barley varieties. Evaluation of these new barley varieties includes testing against AC Metcalfe and CDC Copeland as controls in micro-malting, pilot-malting, and pilot-brewing trials. Test results generated in these studies indicate that newer malting barley varieties did not require any special processing conditions, and the malts and beers produced showed overall quality better than or equal to those produced from AC Metcalfe and CDC Copeland barley varieties. The CMBTC’s evaluation suggests that quality malt and beer can be produced from these new varieties of barley, as required by the malting and brewing industries.

Yueshu Li joined the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre in 2000 and is the centre’s director of malting technology. Previously, he was senior technical consultant for malting barley in the Market Development Department of the Canadian Wheat Board. Yueshu 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. Yueshu completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in China and holds a Ph.D. degree in plant physiology and ecology from the University of Saskatchewan.

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