The transfer of 137Cs from barley to beer

Beer has been brewed from barley contaminated with 137Cs as a consequence of the Chernobyl accident. The 137Cs activity has been measured in all intermediate steps and in the by-products of the production process. About 35% of the 137Cs in barley were recovered in beer. Processing factors defined as the concentration ratio of processed and raw products were determined to be 0.61, 3.3, 0.1 and 0.11 for malt, malt germs, spent grains and beer, respectively.