malt, a grain (usually barley) steeped in water, partially germinated, then dried and cured. It is used in brewing to convert cereal starches to sugars by means of the enzymes (chiefly diastase) produced during germination. Its high carbohydrate and protein content makes it a valuable nutrient.

Grain product used in beverages and foods. Malt provides a basis for fermentation and adds flavour and nutrients. It is made by steeping grain, usually barley, in water and allowing partial germination to occur. The flavour of beer primarily results from the malt from which it is made. The enzymes produced within the barley seed during germination break down starch into malt sugar, or maltose, which is then fermented by yeast to yield alcohol and carbon dioxide. Whiskey likewise is made with malt.

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Malting is a process applied to cereal grains, in which the grains are made to germinate by soaking in water and are then quickly halted from germinating further by drying/heating with hot air. Malting is thus a combination of two processes; namely the sprouting process and the kiln-drying process. These latter terms are often preferred when referring to the field of brewing for batches of beer or other beverages as they provide more in-depth information.

The term "malt" refers to several products of the process:

• the grains to which this process has been applied, for example malted barley;
• the sugar, heavy in maltose, derived from such grains, such as the baker's malt used in cereals like Shreddies; or
• a product based on malted milk, similar to a malted milkshake (i.e., "malts").

Whisky or beer can also be called malt, as in Alfred Edward Housman's aphorism "malt does more than Milton can, to justify God's ways to Man."

Uses

Malted grain is used to make beer, whisky, malted shakes, and malt vinegar. Malting grains develops the enzymes that are required to modify the grain's starches into sugars, including monosaccharides (glucose, fructose, etc.) and disaccharides (sucrose, etc.). It also develops other enzymes, such as proteases which break down the proteins in the grain into forms which can be utilized by yeast. Barley is the most commonly malted grain in part because of its high diastatic power or enzyme content. Also very important is the retention of the grain's husk even after threshing, unlike the bare seeds of threshed wheat or rye. This protects the growing acrospire (developing plant embryo) from damage during malting, which can easily lead to mold growth. It also allows the mash of converted grain to create a filter bed during sparging (see brewing). Other grains may be malted, although the resulting malt may not have sufficient enzymatic content to convert its own starch content fully and efficiently and may create a "stuck sparge" .

Maltings

A maltings, sometimes called malthouse, or malting floor, is a building that houses the process of converting barley into malt, for use in the brewing or distilling process. This is done by kiln-drying the sprouted barley. This is usually done by spreading the sprouted barley on a perforated wooden floor. Smoke, coming from an oasting fireplace (via smoke channels) is then used to heat the wooden floor (and thus, the sprouted grain with it). The temperature thus employed is usually around 55° Celsius. A typical floor maltings is a long, single-story building with a floor that slopes slightly from one end of the building to the other. There are a number of maltings buildings still in existence, and a handful are still operational. Floor maltings began to be phased out from the 1940s in favour of 'pneumatic plants'. Here large industrial fans are used to blow air through the germinating grain beds and to pass hot air through the malt being kilned. Like floor maltings these pneumatic plants are batch processes but of considerably greater size, typically 100 tonne batches compared with 20 tonne batches for a floor maltings.

Mashing

It is to be noted that malt is often divided into two categories by brewers: those that need mashing and those that don't need mashing. Light colored malts such as pale ale malt, pilsener malt and malted wheat need to be mashed to convert the starches into fermentable sugars. Specialty malts (ie caramel or crystal malt) don't need to be mashed.

See also

• Mash ingredients
• Beer style
• Malta (soft drink)
• Malt beverage
• Malt liquor

References

Notes

Bibliography

• D.E. Briggs, Malts and Malting, Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers (30 Sep 1998), ISBN 0412298007
• Christine Clark, The British Malting Industry Since 1830, Hambledon Continuum (1 Jul 1998), ISBN 1852851708

External links

• Make Your Own Malt, Brew Your Own magazine (ISSN 1081-826X ), August 1997, pp. 32-36.
• UK Malt The website of The Maltsters' Association of Great Britain. UK Malting Barley information and malt images.