2020 Crop Analysis
We are very positive about this years crop. Europe primarily collected a healthy crop with sufficient yields and heterogeneous Protein levels. The below information will give you some background from the field, from the malt house and from the brewery.
From The Field
Wet winter conditions helped to spike the spring sowings and as a result the acreage of spring malting barley was quite high. Early sowings were followed by a relatively dry period which resulted in a low tillering rate and a low number of ears per square meter. The benefit of these dry conditions is that there was a low disease pressure.
From The malt house
Low disease pressure in the 2020 crop results in low gushing risk. Also with a low level of dormancy in this crop we see that modification in the malting process is delayed. The slightly lower modification results in higher viscosity and ß-glucane levels but lower friability.
From The brewery
Despite slightly higher ß-glucanes and higher viscosity in the new crop we expect only limited effect on filtration. Levels are still well within the specification for most clients, and as a malting we will continue to optimize the process to lower these levels as much as possible. The influence of this crop year on physical stability of the beer remains to be seen, it is still part of our investigations.