According to industry analysts, adverse weather in three of the major barley growing areas – the EU, Canada and Australia – coupled with a shift in acreage to alternative crops used for biofuel will drive global barley stocks to an 11-year low by the end of June 2007.

High-quality malting barley will be even harder to come by this year. Demand for quality malting barley in the EU currently exceeds domestic supply, and malting barley prices have risen by more than 80% compared to last year.

Breweries can now change their malt and adjunct composition to optimise production in response to the rising price and low supply of malt without affecting the final beer.

The adverse weather has also negatively impacted the remaining barley’s suitability for malting, with increased levels of glassy kernels and partially undermodified grain (PUG). The resulting malt has high protein and viscosity, higher gelatinisation temperatures and lower diastatic power, resulting in prolonged lautering times, a lower degree of fermentation, beer filtration problems, and increased diacetyl formation. Novozymes offers brewing enzymes and expert brewmasters to help breweries deal with this year’s malt.

“Brewers can change malt and adjunct composition and optimise it according to price and availability,” says Patrick Patterson, Global Marketing Manager at Novozymes. “They don’t have to worry about problems with difficult-to-process raw materials when they use brewing enzymes from Novozymes. Our global set-up and BrewQ specs ensure quality our customers can count on everywhere they brew beer.”

The 2007 malt situation
The price per ton for barley in Europe is expected to be higher in 2007 than the price per ton for malt in 2006. This increase in price is partly due to the drought in Australia, where the crop was down 60% to the smallest it has been in ten years, and to the less-than-stellar crop in Europe. In Germany, the harvest diminished by one third due to a rainless summer followed by heavy rains.

“Australia exports barley extensively to Japan, China and South East Asia, regions that will be negatively affected by the malt shortage,” says Patrick Patterson.

The barley crops in France and Denmark did not suffer as much and could provide some barley, but not enough to compensate. Also, farmers are shifting to alternative crops such as corn (maize) and rapeseed because of their high demand in the biofuel industry.

“Breweries have three options: maintain tight malt specs and pay the price, adjust malt specs, and/or increase the ratio of adjunct to contain cost and ensure sufficient raw material availability,” says Patrick Patterson.

“In any scenario our customers will need to get the most from their raw materials and brewing process to maintain operational efficiency and contain costs. The decision to use enzymes is being taken as a strategic choice by our customers to reach their business goals.”

Enzymes as strategic tools
Novozymes offers a variety of brewing enzymes to help brewers improve their operational efficiencies and yields.

“With malt that is this expensive, you need to get all you can out of it, and we have enzymes like Termamyl® BrewQ that increase extract and yield,” says Sten Aastrup, Customer Solutions Manager for brewing at Novozymes.

Patrick Patterson, Global Marketing Manager at Novozymes, believes that the decision to use brewing enzymes is a strategic choice that Novozymes’ customers take to achieve their business goals.

Most of the malt used in breweries in 2007 will have nitrogen levels outside the desired range for the Kolbach index and FAN spec, leading to reduced yeast performance, lower extract, formation of diacetyl, poor colloidal stability, and high wort colour. Novozymes has various enzyme solutions to counter all these problems.

“We recommend yeast management and shortened protease rest with high levels of nitrogen,” says Sten Aastrup. “You can also increase the proportion of adjunct to reduce malt content, and therefore lower the colour of the wort. And when working with low-quality malt, breweries should use Maturex® 2000 L to prevent the formation of diacetyl.”

The increased viscosity of this year’s malt and the inclusion of higher ratios of adjunct can lead to fewer brews per day and a shorter beer filtration cycle. Kieselguhr consumption will go up, and the amount of fermentable extract will go down.

Even the best of malts benefits from longer beer filtration cycles and reduced kieselguhr consumption with the new Ultraflo® Max.

For haze problems discovered after wort boiling, Finizym® 250 L can be added in the fermenter for faster beer filtration and reduced filter aid consumption.

Breweries can prevent the formation of diacetyl and reduce maturation time with Maturex 2000 L. The addition of Maturex 2000 L at the start of fermentation prevents the formation of diacetyl, thereby ensuring beer quality and supporting improved yeast vitality. The time savings from a shortened maturation period can be captured to increase throughput or applied to extend cold conditioning for better filtration and reduced yeast auto­lysis.

“Lower diastatic power means low alcohol yield and an undesirable impact on the flavour profile,” says Patrick Patterson.

For brewers using adjunct, Novozymes’ brewmasters recommend liquefying with the heat-stable Termamyl to preserve the malt’s saccharification power for the main mash. Attenuzyme® is added in the mash or Fungamyl® BrewQ in the fermenter for optimum attenuation control.

Speaking your language
Novozymes’ brewmasters and regional support labs are spread throughout the world, and they not only speak the local language but also the language of brewers.

“This is a challenging year for our customers; raw material costs are up and quality is down,” says Patrick Patterson. “Our brewmasters are here to help with enzyme recommendations, trial design and execution to ensure optimal brewing efficiency and yields, while our global logistics set-up ensures quality products you can count on everywhere you brew beer.”