60+ years of Barley Research

I know other explanations exist, but I was just wondering if anyone here knows how(much) barley and malting science has improved since the end of WWII.

Has the amount of starch actually increased?


(I got twice the expected gravity (using Daniels' book as a guide to the math).
I also had a lot of powder result from the grind... (original method)
Is getting twice the expected gravity quite unusual?)

EDIT:
This was TOTALLY by chance but I just see that Beer Smith podcast #114 is about Barley improvements. What a coincidence!

Dr Pat Hayes, Professor of Barley Breeding at Oregon State University, is my guest this week to discuss advances in barley breeding, genetics and what beer brewers can look forward to from future barley varieties.

OK, maybe not history so much as WIP... so
uh, this doesn't let you guys off the hook... I still need your insight, knowlwdge and experience!

A brewer friend sent me this when I asked him about Brulosopher's DMS experiments. It is relevant to the issue of how modified modern malts are.

"Here is the conclusion from a paper published in the Master Brewers Association of America, Technical Quarterly on topic:

Control of DMS and DMSP levels in malt can be effected by the following:
a) Choice of barley variety.
The dramatic effect that choice of barley variety can have on DMS and DMSP in malt is illustrated by the data on six-row and two-row malts presented in this paper. Although the introduction of new malting barley varieties requires lengthy and extensive barley breeding and selection programs, this method of DMS control in malt and ultimately in beer, will become extremely attractive as energy conservation becomes essential and precludes the use of increased kilning times and temperatures and increased wort boiling times as methods of DMS control. The DMSP potential should probably be introduced in the set of criteria used to select malting barley varieties.
b) Control of modification.
Several indexes of modification including degree of modification, soluble nitrogen and a-amino nitrogen correlate well with malt DMS(4) Presumably these correlations also hold with malt DMSP, although this has not been examined. Kavanagh et al.(12) have suggested that control over the formation of precursor may be achieved by the use of conditions which produce malt of low modification, by the use of potassium bromate and by the use of low germination
temperatures. The energy requirements of these changes should be considerably less than those for changing kilning programs.
c) Control of kilning.
This is presently the best documented and most reliable control technique. Increased kilning times and temperatures invariably reduce DMSP levels. Although these reductions produce corresponding increases in free DMS levels, the latter can be more readily removed during boiling than can DMSP. As mentioned above, energy limitations may render increased kilning times and temperatures untenable as future DMS control methods."

His inference and experience is that modern barley and malting practices simply avoid producing DMS precursors in the levels historically seen. And therefore, DMS in well modified malts is rare.

Thanks Mer-man.
I was really thinking about how much barley would have been required some 65 years ago compared to today to make the same amount of alcohol.

The info you brought to the table interests me.
I am just thinking about something else.

By and large, the development of malting barley has two parallel goals:
1) increased yield per acre
2) increased disease resistance

George Fix and others have remarked that cultivars change with some regularity for disease resistance. But some varieties with good disease resistance (like Klages) have fallen out of favor due to other varieties having higher yields and better "qualities" of which flavor is just one.

The paper linked below did a survey of malt qualities from cultivars as far back as 1880as grown in two locations. One of the interesting qualities measured is starch extract per hectare. Other qualities are more relevant to brewers like nitrogen content. There is a clear pattern of improved brewing qualities with new cultivars.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2050-0416.1983.tb04200.x/pdf

Thanks for the info.
I will need time to examine it in detail, but it looks like it will be helpful.