Evaluation of malt quality of different Italian varieties of hulled, soft and durum wheat

Twenty-four varieties of different Triticum species, such as spelt (SpW, n.3), emmer wheat (EW, n.3), durum wheat (DW, n.7) and soft wheat (SW, n.11) were subjected to malting. The objective is to identify wheat varieties with qualitative characteristics most suited to malting and brewing. The main malt parameters analyzed were moisture, extract yield of malt, wort color, saccharification time, diastatic power, total protein, total soluble protein, Kolbach index, free amino nitrogen, pH, and viscosity. All parameters showed a strong genotype-dependent component, except for some trait such as viscosity, pH and, partly, malt extract. The hulled varieties (emmer and spelt) produced a malt with poor qualitative characteristics and, therefore, not suitable for beer production. Three of seven durum wheat varieties stood out for optimal values ​​of extract, diastatic power and Kolbach index, while only some soft wheat varieties showed positive and optimal values ​​for total protein, soluble protein and Kolbach index. Considering all the malt parameters analyzed, the HPI tool selected Federico II° (DW) as the variety with the highest High Performance Index value, expression of the best overall malt, followed by Antalis (DW) and Bramante (SW) varieties.