25/03/14: Long life barley

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The key to producing ale that ages better is to reduce how active one particular enzyme is during the malting process. That enzyme is called lipoxygenase and it converts fats in the grains into the stale papery flavour.

Carlsberg has spent more than a decade searching for a barley with lipoxygenase enzymes that don't work properly and researcher, Birgitte Skahhauge commented ‘After having screened more than 15,000 lines, mutated genase lines, we actually identified one barley line which were lacking this enzyme activity. 


After more than a decade in development, the new malting variety is being grown commercially in South Australia and as a result is set to become a major global supplier of a specialty barley that extends the shelf life of beer.

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