USE OF THE FRIABILIMETER TO ASSESS HOMOGENEITY OF MALT

Abstract

A method has been developed for assessing the homogeneity of a sample of malt using the Friabilimeter. Material retained by the Friabilimeter sieve is further fractionated using a sieve with slits 2·2mm wide by 23mm long, as recommended by the EBC for assessing corn size. Material composed of unmodified grains and large pieces of endosperm is collected from the sieve and weighed. This gives a rapid and reproducible estimate of the proportion of unmodified material in the sample. The technique readily detects small quantities of unmodified grain added to a sample of malt. Staining half corns with Calcofluor gives similar scores for homogeneity but with poorer reproducibility and the technique is much slower. Staining with methylene blue gives much lower figures for homogeneity and is also slower and less reproducible than the Friabilimeter method. 1983 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling