In brewing, oats are used as an unmalted adjunct at dosage rates of 5% to 20% to impart a silky texture and improve foam formation. Unlike barley, oats lack diastatic power and therefore require the use of enzymatically active base malt for successful mashing.
The primary constraint on the technological quality of oats is their high beta-glucan content, which critically increases wort viscosity and slows down filtration. When evaluating varieties, the use of hulless oats is considered promising, as they feature higher extract yield, increased starch and protein content, and potentially lower concentrations of beta-glucans compared to hulled forms.
Currently, there are no standardized criteria for malting quality in large-scale oat breeding. When selecting varieties for brewing purposes, agronomic assessment should focus on the analysis of grain chemical composition, particularly the balance of protein, starch, and polysaccharides that determine the viscosity and extractability of the raw material in the mash.
General information about the subject — on the page
Malting quality.