Barley, the traditional raw material for beer production, is negatively impacted by climate change in both yield and quality. Additionally, modern brewers are increasingly prioritizing sustainability and energy costs, especially given the current economic situation. Therefore, it is essential for the brewing industry to explore alternatives to barley and malt.

In the MaltLess project, we push the boundaries of beer by brewing with 100% unmalted alternative cereals or pseudocereals, using exogenously added enzymes. This approach paves the way for increased flexibility in wort production and composition. Various commercially available enzyme mixes are utilized for this purpose. Throughout the project, we unveil the specific needs and characteristics of the processing of these raw alternative cereals, as well as the sensory properties and final product quality of the resulting beer-like fermented cereal drinks. Special attention is given to physicochemical and functional properties.

The overall objective of the project is to provide knowledge to the entire brewing sector (both large and small breweries, raw material suppliers, consultants, growers, etc.) to address the challenges of brewing with 100% unmalted alternative cereals or pseudocereals successfully and bring high-quality alcoholic and non-alcoholic beer-like fermented cereal drinks to the market.