COMPOSITION OF NON-STARCH POLYSACCHARIDES IN WORT AND SPENT GRAIN FROM BREWING TRIALS WITH MALT FROM A GOOD MALTING QUALITY BARLEY AND A FEED BARLEY

Abstract

Worts and spent grains were obtained from pilot-scale brews using malts of two barley varieties differing in malting quality. Triumph was used as an example of a good malting quality barley and Golf as a typical feed grade barley. Arabinoxylan concentrations were similar in worts of both varieties, whereas (1–3), (1–4)-β-glucan concentrations were much higher in wort prepared from Golf malt than in wort from Triumph malt. From the worts, polysaccharide fractions were isolated by ethanol precipitation and characterised. Results indicated the presence of high molecular weight arabinoxylans and (1–3), (1–4)-β-glucans. The arabinose to xylose ratios in the precipitates were considerably higher than in total worts. Methylation analysis showed little differences between precipitated wort arabinoxylans from both varieties. In comparison to water-insoluble arabinoxylans extracted from barley and malt, the precipitated wort arabinoxylans were richer in xylopyranose residues substituted with arabinose residues at both 0–2 and 0–3. Viscosities of the hopped worts of both varieties decreased after treatment with endoxylanase 1 from Aspergillus awamori. This confirms that arabinoxylans play a role in determining wort viscosity, possibly through interactions with (1–3), (1–4)-β-glucans.