This seminar will discuss the challenges and opportunities of brewing with alternative and alternatively modified grains. Today’s haze craze has brewers experimenting with a variety of grains and grain products, such as raw, floured, flaked, torrefied, and malted wheat and oats, in order to achieve a desirable and stable haze. The use of under and alternatively modified grains is also on the rise. However, the challenges of brewing with alternate extract sources may sometimes haze over the opportunities.

This seminar will address the impact of grain type, geographic region, modification, pre-gelatinization method, and milling on both haze and extract availability. It will give an overview of gelatinization temperature impact and enzyme activation on mash efficiency, as well as other brewing process challenges associated with the use of alternative grains. Data indicated that significant differences present between varieties of grains in the pasting behaviors and the end viscosity of the mash, and the haze promoting effect in beer varied substantially by the protein content, degree of modification, and type of grains. Profiling of the amino acid composition provided further insights to the potential applications of the ingredients.

Learning Objectives:

• Discuss the key haze contributors in beer
• Understand the effect of process on haze in beer
• Learn about the impact of nontraditional and undermodified grains on haze formation in beer
• Recognize opportunities for process improvement toward more effective use of alternative grains on finished beer when haze is a desired outcome