Rapid Analysis of Whole Malt Using Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy

Near infrared (NIR) reflectance spectroscopy has been evaluated for the analysis of whole malt. Good agreement has been obtained between NIR and reference methods for moisture and total nitrogen. A correlation coefficient (r) of 0·974 and a standard error of prediction (SEP) of 0·13% was obtained for the moisture measurement. Similarly the correlation between methods for total nitrogen analysis was 0·964 with a SEP of 0·049%. In addition, NIR spectroscopy can be used to predict wort composition from scans on whole malt, without the need for mashing. Hot Water Extract (r 0·951, SEP 2·1 1°/kg), total carbohydrates (r 0·946, SEP 0·07%), fermentable sugars (r 0·903, SEP 0·11%), total soluble nitrogen (r 0·900, SEP 0·027%), free amino nitrogen (r 0·857, SEP 1·0 mg/100 ml) and fermentability (r 0·884, SEP 0·90%) can be measured using this technique. Since no sample preparation is required, NIR spectroscopy provides a rapid method for simultaneous measurement of all these parameters in under two minutes.