Australia: Grout fails to meet required malting barley specifications

Grout, a barley variety which was going through national malting evaluation, has failed to meet required quality specifications and has been removed from the evaluation process, The Weekly Times Now reported on February, 26.

Grout was released as a feed variety by the Queensland DPI&F in 2006, bred by the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries with support from growers through the GRDC.

Barley Australia is the industry body charged with the responsibility of national varietal accreditation for malting barley and Grout entered the Barley Australia Variety Evaluation process in 2007 to ascertain if it was suited to become a malting variety.

Barley Australia chairman David Thomas said due to the outcome of trials by national barley technical evaluation body MBIBTC (Malting and Brewing Industry Barley Technical Committee) Grout was unsuited to malting and brewing purposes.

MBIBTC conducted two years of commercial malting and GRDC-sponsored pilot brewing through the Pilot Brewing Australia program, and the trials were held over a three year period due to inhospitable seasonal conditions.

“Unfortunately commercial malting trials and pilot brewing trials determined that the processing qualities of the variety were not suited to a malting and brewing end use,” Mr Thomas said.

However, as a feed barley, Grout demonstrates good adaptation to grain growing regions from central NSW through to central Queensland.

Grout is marketed as a feed barley through AWB Seeds.

27 February, 2009