MALTING CHARACTERISTICS OF FINGER MILLET, SORGHUM AND BARLEY*

Abstract

The malting characteristics of the finger millet variety Imele (FI), sorghum varieties Andivo (SA) and Ingumba (SI) and the barley variety Research (BR) were compared in relation to the brewing of traditional African opaque beer as well as conventional lager beer. The investigations include (a) the effect of steeping and germination conditions, (b) the influence of gibberellic acid and kilning temperature on the activity of important brewing enzymes and (c) an appraisal of the brewing potential of the worts obtained. FI, SA and SI malts were considered unsuitable as barley malt extenders for conventional lager beers, but FI and possibly SI malts would be suitable for tropical lager beer manufacture.