P-30 - Shelf Life of Rice and How It Affects Brewing Quality

With an increase in production costs and a growing market for new flavors, brewing with rice poses a new opportunity for craft brewers because of rice’s ability to weather through climate change, comparable prices, and unique tastes. One of the major issues that craft brewers have with rice is its short shelf life compared to barley malt, which is why this research is focused on the shelf-life stability of rice and how it affects brewing beer. Eleven types of rice formats are being used in this research, including: milled rice from 2023, milled rice from 2024, flaked brown rice, flaked white rice, flaked torrefied white rice, Titan flour, Yamada flour, Titan brokens, Yamada brokens, rice malt, and rice syrup. The shelf life testing will last a total of ~6 months, with each rice type being split in half; half will be placed in a refrigerator at 10°C, and the other half will be placed in ambient temperature at 25°C. Samples will then be taken monthly from each rice type at each temperature, to then be vacuum sealed and placed in a -10°C freezer. At the end of 6 months, several tests will take place on all the rice formats to analyze their physical and chemical composition. Results will be highly influential to craft brewers in creating higher quality rice-based beer.