Feasibility study on the use of attenuated total reflectance mid-infrared spectroscopy for the analysis of malt quality parameters in wort

The feasibility of using attenuated total reflectance in combination with mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy for the analysis ofmalt quality parameters in wort, such as freeα-amino acid (FAN), apparent attenuation limit (AAL), soluble protein (SP) andviscosity (VIS), was evaluated. The coefficients of determination in cross-validationR2CV and the standard error of cross-validation were 0.81 and 10.3 mgL 1for FAN, 0.80 and 1.49% for AAL, 0.78 and 0.18% for SP and 0.69 and 0.13 cP for VIS.Good calibration and validation statistics were obtained for AAL. However, for nitrogenous compounds the MIR predictionscan only be used as approximate estimates of the true concentrations, for example to rank samples (low, medium, high) inthe context of a breeding programme