Better Barley, Better Brew: The Science Behind Clear Choice Malt

In the 1860s, an Austrian monk named Gregor Mendel spent his days in a monastery garden, meticulously cross-breeding pea plants and counting their offspring. What he discovered—that traits like flower colour and seed texture follow predictable patterns of inheritance—would revolutionise our understanding of genetics. His “laws of inheritance” revealed that characteristics pass from parent to offspring through discrete units (what we now call genes), and that some traits are dominant whilst others are recessive. 

Fast-forward to today, and barley breeders have been playing Mendel’s genetic game for decades, though instead of counting wrinkled peas, they’re finding solutions to brewers’ biggest headaches. Using the same fundamental principles Mendel discovered, they can now selectively breed specific traits into barley varieties with remarkable precision. In this blog, we’re going to take a look at what the latest research has yielded and how it can help you save a bit of time and money along the way. 

For years, the industry has nobly pursued what distillers call the “Stairway to Heaven” – the continual development of barley varieties that deliver higher and higher yields to farmers and more extract to distillers and brewers. This approach has been brilliant for its time, giving farmers more grain from the same land and inputs (lowering carbon footprints), whilst providing more extract per tonne of malt, which then ultimately yields more alcohol. Hitting those OG numbers is all about us as maltsters providing a consistency of extract from reliable barley varieties malted expertly through centuries of experience. As we face the challenges of the 21st century – climate change, sustainability demands, and increasingly complex brewing requirements – we need to be smarter about our barley breeding. 

At Crisp, we participate in the Malting Barley Committee (MBC), the decision-making authority for our industry, where maltsters, distillers, and brewers assess new varieties from seed breeders. Through this work, we’ve watched the industry evolve beyond simple yield improvements. Today’s breeders must consider drought resistance, flood tolerance, pest management, and processing efficiency – all whilst maintaining extract potential and meeting the complex demands of modern brewing. 

Let’s consider one of the holy grails of lager brewing; the golden pint that refracts light so perfectly it elicits joy in each and every customer. Achieving this with consistency is all about controlling and often eliminating polyphenols; one half of the complex interactions along with proteins that cause chill haze – you know, that cloudy mess that forms when beer gets cold. One method of control is the use of PVPP (polyvinylpolypyrrolidone) as a filter aid; that expensive chemical we use to strip out those polyphenols. How can we remove the need for such costly chemicals from a barley and malt perspective? 

Here’s where our barley breeders get rather clever. Chill haze is essentially a molecular dance between soluble proteins and polyphenols. The science is straightforward: when beer temperature drops, these compounds interact to form visible particles that cloud your beer. Remove one partner, and the dance stops. It was discovered that the polyphenols exist in the outer layers of the barley grain (including the pericarp, testa, and husk) and over time, those clever plant scientists were able to breed a variety that eliminated this compound. No polyphenols, no chill haze, no costly PVPP and time spent on another filtration process. 

Bizarrely, the benefits ripple outward in fascinating (and unforeseen) ways. Hazy beers stay properly hazy instead of turning that unappetising grey colour that occurs when polyphenols oxidatively darken. Those tricky no-and-low alcohol beers – which require high mashing temperatures around 75-80°C that usually extract harsh polyphenols into the wort – suddenly become much more manageable, eliminating astringent tastes and unwanted hazes. 

Then there’s DMS (dimethyl sulfide), the compound that gives beer an unwanted cooked corn flavour. Every German brewing textbook hammers home the same point: vigorous boiling strips away SMM (S-methylmethionine, the precursor to DMS) through volatile evaporation. No SMM, no DMS, no problem. Vigorous boiling means energy consumption, time, and money. Continental lager malts, which are typically lightly kilned and may have different modification profiles, can retain higher SMM levels compared to more heavily kilned ale malts, making DMS management even more critical. 

What if the barley simply arrived with minimal SMM content? The brewing process becomes more forgiving, requiring less vigorous boiling to achieve that clean, crisp lager profile. Less boiling means lower energy bills, shorter brew days, and reduced environmental impact – exactly the kind of smart efficiency we need for modern brewing. 

Finally, there’s the staling reaction that every brewer dreads. Trans-2-nonenal forms during storage through the oxidation of fatty acids, giving beer that distinctive cardboard-like off-flavour that destroys shelf life and causes flavour stability issues. This reaction fundamentally limits how long beer can sit on shelves before becoming unpalatable. Plant breeders have identified ways to minimise the precursor compounds that lead to this reaction, introducing better flavour stability right into the grain. 

Enter Clear Choice – a variety that combines all three traits. It’s like having a Swiss Army knife that solves your filtration headaches, cuts your energy bills, and extends the shelf life of your beer. Not bad for a humble grain that started as a wild grass. 

This represents something genuinely new in brewing – a grain developed not just for yield, rather for solving real-world brewery problems. It’s the kind of smart barley breeding we need for the challenges ahead. 

Ready to experience the difference? Contact our team to discuss Clear Choice malt for your next brew. We’d love to help you reduce your energy consumption, extend your beer’s shelf life, and simplify your brewing process. 

What’s next from the breeders? That’s anyone’s guess, though one thing’s certain: they’re not stopping anytime soon. What brewery challenge would you like to see them tackle next?