STUDIES ON THE MYCOFLORA OF MALT

Abstract
The mycoflora of malt which caused gushing beer has been investigated and compared with the mycoflora of malt from nine malting plants in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and England. Malt which caused gushing beer was found to contain a high proportion of grains contaminated by Aspergillus, Penicillium and Rhizopus. The commonest species isolated were found to be Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus amstelodami. These fungi occurred on all malt samples investigated independent of their origin. The mycoflora on malt differs greatly from that found on barley. Evidence is presented showing that barley becomes contaminated during the malting process.