Our brewing starter cultures could improve yield, reduce mycotoxins and help produce a consistently great beer even if this year's barley crop is sub-optimal

Sourcing of the raw materials that go into producing beer can create headaches for brewers.  Aside from issues related to transportation, storage and market volatility, concerns arise related to product quality.  If the region of the world where you typically source barley from has a long stretch of inclement weather or drought, you might receive sub-optimal product. Cargill’s geotrichum candidum starter culture could improve the quality of your finished beer product even if this year’s barley crop is imperfect.

Starter cultures can improve brew house yield and lautertun performance, improve bio-control during the malting process and provide more homogeneous endosperm cell wall modification. Attack the costs associated with variable raw material quality levels by using Cargill’s patented technology of starter cultures in your brewing operations. Cargill’s cultures and enzymes technical team uses geotrichum candidum starter culture for barley protection and as a result of its influence on malt quality.

Cargill's technical team has developed a unique process which combines the advantages of classical solid state fermentation and malting, by using geotrichum candidum starter culture. Using Cargill’s starter culture can increase the protein and carbohydrate modification of the malt and boost the potential brewhouse extract or yield. The lautering performance can be enhanced due to the better cytolysis of the barley kernels. As a result, the wort composition can be optimized more readily in terms of the fermentable sugars and free amino acids and lower viscosity.

The spores of the starter culture are applied in an “activated” form in the malting process. They limit the growth of other micro flora present on barley. This starter culture prevents several problems that are associated with micro-organisms: gushing, formation of mycotoxins, and premature yeast flocculation.   By using this starter culture, the various interactions between a green malt kernel and its microbial environment, are better controlled, leading to improved homogeneity.

Cargill’s fungal starter culture is a non-GMO fungus selected for its ability to secrete endosperm cell wall degrading enzymes.  Malts produced by Cargill’s starter culture have several benefits, compared to control malts, including:

• better reproducibility
• decrease in pH
• lower viscosity
• lower soluble beta-glucans
• less unmodified grains
• lower wort turbidity

Industrial brewing tests revealed no changes in foam stability and improved:

• brew house yield (+-1.5%)
• lautertun performance
• fermentation (higher FAN)
• flavor stability
• colloidal stability
• beer filtration

Other Cargill starter cultures include fungi for controlling the mycotoxin development in malting and bacteria for producing low pH malt products.

Cargill develops and produces a full range of cultures and enzymes. These encompass a full range of relevant bacteria, yeast and molds for the malting applications as well as for the production of yogurt, cheese and meats. With our brewing starter cultures, you could produce a consistently great beer even if this year's barley crop is sub-optimal.