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Developing New Malting Barley Varieties
The process of developing a variety of malting barley is like a journey through time. Developing a new and improved malting barley variety takes a minimum or 10-12 years from the time the first genetic cross occurs, as was the case with the newest 2-Row malting barley variety developed specifically to be grown in a variety of regions—Pinnacle Barley. Pinnacle Barley is entering its final year of plant scale malting and brewing in 2010. Click here for more information about this new variety and where it will be grown.
The timeline below illustrates an average time the process takes. The various phases can take longer, and many varieties never make it to the coveted status of AMBA recommended malting barley variety.
What is AMBA?
New variety development is conducted by industry experts and is a cooperative effort between the breeding programs and the malting and brewing industries.
All of the steps outlined here are under the close scrunity and guidance of the American Malting Barley Association - a brewing and malting trade group. AMBA provides core funding for public malting barley breeding programs, malting barley research programs at local universities, and lobby of the federal government for continued funding for malting barley research and improvements.
Yield Trials
Each year hundreds of new crosses are made to incorporate improvements in agronomics, disease resistance, and malting quality/brewhouse performance/flavor.
Multiple years of laboratory, seed nursery, and multiple location yield trials are conducted before a new variety first gets to the pilot malting stage in about year six.
Pilot Malting & Seed Increases
If it successfully passes a two-year pilot malting stage, the new variety is then sent to growers for seed increases in year eight for growth in year nine.
Plant Scale Trials
In year 10 seed increases are harvested and the variety is grown for first year plant scale testing at a malthouse. That's followed by brewing trials.
After the brewing trials the new variety can be placed on the AMBA recommended list, sent back for second year plant scale trials, or rejected.
In years 11 and 12 varieties sent back for additional plant scale trials may undergo two more years of plant scale malting and brewing trials before being recommended or rejected.
2-Row Pinnacle Barley
The final year of plant scale malting and brewing with Pinnacle barley is scheduled to begin with the 2010 crop grown in Wisconsin. That's right, Wisconsin. Pinnacle barley is the first 2-Row malting variety developed by the North Dakota State University (NDSU) malting barley breeding program with the specific purpose to be widely adapted for a variety of growing regions while carrying a low protein gene.
Pinnacle barley that was grown in Wisconsin in 2009, while facing the same late planting / late harvest challenges as other crops last year, passed strict testing requirements, testing low in protein and meeting malting and brewing expectations in pilot runs.
While final Pinnacle Malt specifications will not be available until plant scale malting and brewing is completed, Pinnacle Malt will deliver on average one and one-half percent lower protein than other North Dakota 2-Row varieties. A 10-11% protein range is expected.
So how did Pinnacle get its name? The head of the NDSU malting barley breeding program named it after the NDSU breeder who ran the2-Row program when Pinnacle was developed. "It was truly the 'Pinnacle' of the gentleman's work and career in developing 2-Row malting barley varieties for the north Grean Plains, he explained.
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