Gibberellins malting

Some bourbon distillers use gibberellin-treated malt along with glucoamylase to reduce by 50% the amount of malt in their grain bills and thereby lower production costs. 

Since malt is used as a source of liquefying and saccharifying enzymes in whiskey and grain spirits fermentations, and gibberellic acid increases the a- and /3-amylase content of malt, it became desirable to determine gibberellin residues in a distiller s feed by-product. 

In addition, they increase the size of many young fruits, expe-cially grapes. Because gibberellins induce the production of the enzyme amylase in barley, they also are commonly used in the malting of barley. 

Fig. 7.4. (A) and (B) Changes in levels of a-amylase and gibberellin-like materials in barley (Hordeum distichon cv. Proctor) (A) malted at 14.4°C, and (B) germinated on moistened filter paper at 25°C. Symbols in (A) (represent values from three separate experiments) ...

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