The chemical components in malt associated with haze formation in beer

In bright beer, haze formation is a serious quality problem, which reduces beer storage and shelf life. In this study, haze‐active proteins, alcohol chill haze formation ability, α‐amylase activity, the contents of total polyphenol, protein and its fractions and amino acids were analysed using 23 barley accessions to investigate the relationship between the quality components in the malt and the haze character in beer. The results showed that there were largely genotypic variations for all examined traits among the 23 barley accessions. However, there was no significant correlation between the haze character and α‐amylase activity. All haze characteristics were significantly and positively correlated with total protein content, albumin, globulin and the hordein content, as well as the glutamic acid (glutamine), proline and phenylalanine content, and were not correlated with total polyphenols. A model describing the relationship between the chill haze in the beer and the protein content in the malt was developed. Copyright © 2016 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling