Maltsters and brewers usually shy away from hulless and high protein barley, but the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre is trying to make them take a second look.
Test runs are showing that barley generally considered untouchable by the brewing industry may be usable.
“There was a lot of skepticism that you could ever make good malt out of hulless barley, but we’ve had some good results,” said centre chair Richard Wansbutter.
The centre has been experimenting with nontraditional types of barley because of two years of drought that have severely depleted malting barley supplies.
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It’s possible the brewing industry may also be able to use high-protein barley.
“We have been able to demonstrate that under certain circumstances you can actually produce good quality beer (with high protein barley),” Wansbutter said.
The centre was created to build new demand for Canadian malting barley. It has a malt house and brew house that can recreate industrial brewing conditions. That allows the centre to demonstrate to maltsters and brewers how new varieties and different qualities of malting barley will work in the beer-making process.
Wansbutter said maltsters and brewers do not like to take chances.
“They are very conservative. Once they get on to a variety, and the maltster knows how it will malt and the brewer knows how it will brew, they’re not that keen on changing.”
But sometimes they have to change, and that is what the centre is trying to help them do. There isn’t enough traditional, high quality malting barley to go around in drought years such as last year, so the centre tries to provide options.
As well, most barley varieties are eventually replaced in the field as better varieties are developed. The centre tries to show maltsters and brewers how the new varieties perform.
In November, Chinese beer makers from the Tsingtao brewing company, which makes China’s most famous export beer and one of its highest quality domestic beers, spent a month at the centre testing different varieties of Canadian barley.
With the Chinese economy rapidly developing, and beer beginning to replace liquor for many people, the Chinese market has great potential for Canadian malting barley producers, Wansbutter said.
Michael Brophy, the Canadian Wheat Board’s manager of malting barley marketing, said China is a growing and lucrative market.
“They are paying good prices for good quality malting barley,” he said.
Wansbutter said the Chinese industry is modernizing quickly.
“The Chinese have some of the newest and largest malting houses in the world.”
