Anheuser tests new South Dakota barley.

AP--Anheuser-Busch is testing barley grown in Brown County, South Dakota for its malting qualities but whether the grain can eventually be blended into beer remains unknown.

The company looks for as many as 30 malting quality characteristics, said Blake Cooper, manager for barley research at Busch Agricultural Research Inc. in Fort Collins, Colo.

They range from the plumpness of the grain to the amount of protein it contains to technical aspects such as the types of enzymes it produces.

"It's basically a chemistry class in terms of determining which types (of barley) work in the brewing process," said Cooper.

Anheuser-Busch also looked at the barley's yield and ability to resist disease, and officials have been pleased with those results.

The barley yielded close to 100 bushels an acre, about double the statewide average yield per acre for malt barley.

"This year was probably the best malt grain year we've had in maybe the last 10 years," said Bob Hall, an Extension crop specialist at South Dakota State University in Brookings.

SDSU oversaw all aspects of growing the barley, from finding land to grow it on to planting, fertilizing and harvesting it to testing its yield.

In all, Anheuser-Busch tested 36 strains of malt barley on about two acres of land between Stratford and Warner.

Cooper said he wasn't aware of previous barley testing in South Dakota, although the company does testing each year in North Dakota, Minnesota and Canada.

The company contacted SDSU as it searched for new types of barley and barley grown in other parts of the country, said Cooper.

The partnership has worked well, said Hall. The school was paid for its services and Hall was very pleased with how the testing was conducted. Both sides are optimistic about the possibility of working together again although there are no definite plans.

Final tests results could be available sometime in December, said Cooper.

Selecting a barley for beer is more complicated than most people realize, said Cooper. About 90 percent of the strains tested are disqualified for one reason or another.

Of the 36 lines of malt barley tested in Brown County, only six have been approved by the American Malt Barley Association and Anheuser-Busch Busch to be used in beer. Four others are close to approval. The other varieties are in various stages of testing . Each has now been tested for a minimum of four years.

"I cannot impress upon you how particular our company is about the raw products we use," Cooper said. "It's very, very difficult to get a new variety approved, and what it ultimately comes down to is a taste-test factor."

Sample batches of beer are brewed with the latest approved strains of barley. Then, a small group of Anheuser-Busch officials, including August A. Busch III who operates the company, tastes them. One thumbs-down and the barley is rejected.

Hall said the school usually sends applications to seed companies offering to do testing for them.

"If we can do anything at SDSU which may foster a potential market for our South Dakota crop producers (we will)," he said.

Working with Anheuser-Busch was no different.

"The best scenario is that everything could come up positive ... and maybe that would open up some type of malting barley market" in north-eastern South Dakota, he said.