Physicochemical properties, sugar profile, and non-starch polysaccharides characterization of old wheat malt landraces

Craft beers produced by small breweries are becoming increasingly popular worldwide due to their unique composition, taste, and flavour. Wheat malt is a traditional brewing raw material with great potential to improve beer properties such as mouthfeel, foam, haze, and flavour. In this study, the malting quality of eight wheat varieties (four common and four durum) was evaluated to explore the feasibility of producing 100 % wheat malt beer from old landraces. The physicochemical characteristics such as friability, Kolbach index, viscosity, and colour, of the wheat malts indicated a better degree of modification in the common wheat varieties when compared to that of the durum wheat varieties. The wheat malts showed a proper enzymatic pattern, and significant differences in the enzyme activities were observed in durum and common wheat malts which affected the non-starch and starch polysaccharide content. The sugar content, profile, and extract levels of the congress worts were comparable to those of commercial malts. This study could be a useful resource that enables small brewing and malting to extend their product portfolio and promote the use of old landraces to produce beers with unique tastes and profiles.