VIEW ARTICLE    DOI: 10.1094/ASBCJ-46-0076

Application of the Calcofluor Flow Injection Analysis Method for Determination of β-Glucan in Barley, Malt, Wort, and Beer. Sten Aastrup, Department of Brewing Chemistry, and Kim G. Jørgensen, Department of Biotechnology, Carlsberg Research Center, Gamle Carlsberg Vej 10, DK-2500 Copenhagen, Valby, Denmark. J. Am. Soc. Brew. Chem. 46:0076, 1988.

Mixed linkage (1?3)(1?4)-β-d-glucan, the main constituent of barley endosperm cell walls, has been known for decades to be a troublesome compound in malting and brewing. Great efforts have therefore been made in order to assay β-glucan. A new convenient and simple method of extracting the total β-glucan in barley and malt is described in this paper. The β-glucan in solution is subsequently assayed using flow injection analysis, by which β-glucan and the fluorochrome, Calcofluor, are mixed. β-Glucan in wort and beer can be assayed directly. The increase in fluorescence intensity is observed using a spectrofluorimeter. This method offers advantages over other methods with respect to the number of operational steps involved and the number of samples that can be analyzed per day. High correlation was found between the new method and enzymatic methods recently described.

Keywords: Brewing, Filtration, Fluorescence, Viscosity