Composite malt with dark-purple rice malt improves the phenolic profile and antioxidant activity of malt extract

This research presents a modification of bioactive compounds of malt extract produced from Riceberry rice malt (RRM)–barley malt composite for malt-based beverage. Malt extract was produced by varying RRM at 20% w/w, 40% w/w, 60% w/w, 80% w/w, and 100% w/w and were analysed for total polyphenol content (TPC), phenolic acids constituent, and antioxidant activity. The 100% RRM extract was rich in TPC relative to 100% w/w barley malt extract. The composite malt extract containing 40% w/w–80% w/w RRM had enough TPC in the filtered malt extract (236–524 mg L⁻¹) and boiled hopped malt extract (216–485 mg L⁻¹) and were directly proportional to the antioxidant activity in the extract. Barley malt fraction in the malt extracts had a positive response on ferulic acid and sinapic acid, whereas RRM inclusion in malt extract increased p-coumaric acid, vanillic acid, rutin, and methyl coumarate concentration. Therefore, the cereal malt composite could provide strong oxidative stability to the malt extract and derived products.