United Kingdom: New malting barley type exciting brewers around the world

A new type of malting barley, developed jointly by international brewers, is being grown in the UK on exclusive buy-back contracts, Farmers’ Guardian communicated on July, 30.

Null-Lox spring malting barley is a new development from the Carlsberg Research Centre. According to Gleadell sales director Stuart Shand, it is exciting brewers around the world as a result of the improvements it offers in terms of beer taste and foam characteristics.

“The research has shown that you get a more uniform quality beer by minimising negative beer staling components when beer is brewed using Null-Lox barley,” says Mr Shand.

Carlsberg Group Research, together with Heineken, developed the barley through traditional breeding.

Using Null-lox barley in the brewing process is claimed to help keep beer fresh for longer - increasing its shelf life - because the barley lacks a particular enzyme, called lox, normally present in the crop, which accelerates the staling process.

Null-Lox varieties are already grown in other EU countries and, after an initial trial year in the UK in 2009, three varieties are now being grown in the UK for the first time on exclusive buy-back contracts with Gleadell Agriculture. All three varieties have their yield underwritten against Tipple.

30 July, 2010