THE USE OF FORMALDEHYDE IN RESTEEPING

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Abstract
Small-scale malting trials showed that resteeping in a solution of formaldehyde was more uniformly effective than resteeping in water in reducing rootlet yield and the overall malting loss. The hot water extract, the fermentability of the wort, and the formol nitrogen were the same in worts from malts prepared by resteeping in water or formaldehyde solutions. However, cold water extract was reduced, as was the total soluble nitrogen, by the presence of formaldehyde. The anthocyanogen level in the wort was reduced by about 73% when formaldehyde was used in the resteep liquor. The residue of formaldehyde in the unboiled wort was about I p.p.m. It is considered that, in view of the improved resteeping performance and the expected increase in beer stability resulting from the reduction in anthocyanogens and wort nitrogen, the use of formaldehyde in resteeping is worth evaluating on a larger scale. In addition the use of formaldehyde in the resteep liquor prevented fouling by micro-organisms and resulted in a cleaner malt.