A New Method to Assess Mealiness and Steeliness of Barley Varieties and Relationship of Mealiness with Malting Parameters

A new method was developed to assess the degree of mealiness and steeliness of barley varieties. The method is based on measuring the turbidity of milled barley fractions in 70% cold ethanol. Mealy endosperms released more starch granules into cold ethanol than did steely endosperms. The turbidity values correlated with the mealiness of grains detected by visual inspection. Malting parameters, such as friability, malt and wort β-glucans, hot water extract, free amino nitrogen, and total soluble nitrogen, were also analyzed. The low turbidity values of the barley variety Regina agreed with its poor malting quality. However, the turbidity values of the high-quality barley varieties Chariot and Optic did not reflect differences in malting quality. This suggests that the mealiness and steeliness of the barley endosperm are not the only factors that contribute to malting quality.