BARLEY STORAGE SYSTEM AND ITS IMPACT ON MALT AND BEER QUALITY

An influence of barley storage on malt quality was tested in a laboratory scale. After dormancy had come to end barleys of varieties Jersey and Tolar were stored at amount of 50 kg at the temperature was 10 degrees C in aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Malting was carried out in a laboratory malting plant in three times, 2 weeks, two months and six months after the start of storage trial. After 3 weeks of malt storage brewing trials carried out. Complex evaluation of all determined analytical malt quality parameters by cluster analysis confirmed significant dependence of malt quality on properties of barley variety, and shows significant dependence of malt quality on barley storage time in a linkage with kind of barley storage. The kind of storage affected germination energy and germination activity of barley, water intake by a steeping, friability and wort clarity. Risk of higher values of malt haze increased in aerobic storage conditions. After 6 months storage in these conditions friability of malt decreased markedly too. Some malt quality parameters was affected by storage time without statistical evidential dependence on storage conditions Malts prepared from longer time stored barleys had higher values of limit attenuation and soluble nitrogen, better prediction of filterability, higher antioxidant activity and slightly better sensorial quality and stability of beer.