Barley intended for the production of malt is evaluated with regard to pre-germination.
Visible pre-germination is evident at the rootlet and is therefore grounds for rejecting a barley lot. However, after the barley is cleaned and the rootlets are removed, the so-called “hidden pre-germination” can be made visible using the staining methods described below.
Kernels suspected of having pre-germinated are boiled for ½−1 min in a 20 % solution of copper sulfate, allowed to remain for 30 min in the hot solution and are subsequently rinsed with water. The acrospire is stained green, making it clearly visible.
The cations in beer and wort are determined with this analysis.
This method is suitable for both wort and beer.
Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) is a fast and reliable method for the laboratory analysis of metals. Inductively coupled plasma (ICP), a high frequency field of ionized gas, serves as a medium for atomizing and exciting the substances found in samples. Liquid, dissolved or aerosol samples are injected into the ionized gas stream. In emission spectroscopy, ICP can be used in conjunction with a number of optical and electronic systems either simultaneously or sequentially in multi-element spectrometers. In the plasma, the atoms and ions are excited to a higher energy state bringing about the emission of electromagnetic radiation (light), primarily in the ultraviolet and visible region of the spectrum. Metals ordinarily occur as ions in the temperature range typical for ICP of 6000 to 10000 K; however, non-metals and metalloids are only partially ionized.
ICP-OES operates within a very wide range. This usually encompasses six orders of magnitude in concentrations smaller than μg/l up to g/l, depending upon the element and the concentrations used for the set of analysis data. With ICP-OES, beer and wort can also be analyzed without prior processing of the samples, in contrast to AAS. Methods for determining the following in beer and wort will be described below: Al, B, Ba, Ca, Co, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, P, Si, Sr, Sn and Zn.
Determination of copper content in beer
This method is also suitable for dark and turbid beers. The turbidity particles must be evenly distributed before sampling.
This method is based on the formation of a yellowish-brown, (insoluble in aqueous medium) copper (II) chelate with zinc benzyl dithiocarbamate (ZDBT), a compound that may be extracted with trichloroethane.
Determination of copper content in beer
This method is suitable for beer
Copper in beer is measured using the AAS technique by directly aspirating the diluted sample into an acetylene oxygen flame; the measurement is carried out at 324.7 nm.
This analysis is suitable for determining the sulfate content of beer, wort, water, NAB and fruit juice.
Sulfate ions are precipitated with barium ions in the form of barium sulfate and determined gravimetrically.
The method describes how to determine the sulfate content of water through precipitation.
Barium chloride sulfate is precipitated as coarse crystalline barium sulfate. The precipitate is determined gravimetrically:
SO42- + Ba2+ → BaSO4