The use of experimental models for process optimization in malting.

Massey, K. and Cuti, J.

Abstract
The optimization of the malting process to produce malt conforming to a given specification has traditionally been a process of trial and error in which the skill and experience of the maltster played a major role. Where pilot malting trials are carried out to test a new processing method or adapt an existing method to suit a different barley variety or the new season's crop, it is often necessary to repeat them a very large number of times in order to obtain statistically significant results. The use of an experiment designing software package (supplied by Echip Inc. of Hockessin, Delaware, USA) to reduce the number of trials required to obtain statistically significant results in a series of trials intended to find the optimum balance between increased modification with reduced wort beta glucan levels on the one hand, and the tendency for the dimethyl sulphide precursor content of the malt to increase under the same conditions which enhance modification and beta glucan hydrolysis on the other, is described.
Keywords : 1901