Malting

Malting is a process of steeping, germinating and drying grain to

convert it into malt. The malt is mainly used for brewing or whisky
making, but can also be used to make malt vinegar or malt extract.
Various grains are used for malting; the most common are barley,
sorghum, wheat and rye.

There are a number of different types of equipment that can be used to

produce the malt.

A traditional floor malting germinates the grains in a thin layer on a

solid floor, and the grain is manually raked and turned to keep the Traditional floor malting at Highland
grains loose and aerated. Park Distillery in Scotland

In a modern malt house the process is more automated, and the grain
is germinated on a floor that is slotted to allow air to be forced through the grain bed. Large mechanical
turners, e.g., Saladin boxes, keep the much thicker bed loose with higher productivity and better energy
efficiency.

Contents
Intake
Drying
Cleaning
Storage
Wet process
Steeping
Germination
Kilning
Deculming
Malt cleaning
Further reading
References

Intake
The grain is received at the malt house from the farmer. It is taken in from the field and cleaned (dressed)
and dried if necessary to ensure the grain remains in the best condition to produce good malt.

The barley is tested to check for suitability for malting and to prevent dead or unfit barley from entering
the process. Some of the typical quality checks include:

Grain moisture
Nitrogen content (total nitrogen)
Percentage of foreign matter
Absence of fungal growth and metabolites
Germinative capacity and germinative energy
Water sensitivity
Drying

Barley received at the malt house with moisture of more than 13% must
be dried before it can be safely stored without loss of germinative
capacity. The moisture is removed by circulating heated air (up to 50 °C)
through the grain and can either be performed using dedicated grain
driers or as a batch process using a kiln. High temperatures or over-
drying will damage or kill the barley embryos and the grain will not
germinate after steeping. The dry barley can safely be stored for up to 18
months without fungal growth or loss of grain vigour.

Cleaning

The aim of barley cleaning is to remove foreign matter (straw, chaff, dust
and thin corns) found in the incoming grain, leaving only the grain most
likely to produce a good malt. Magnets are used to remove metals from Caramel malt
the grain, in turn reducing the possibility of sparks, which could lead to a
dust explosion. Rotating and shaking sieves are used to remove unwanted
foreign matter either larger (straw and un-threshed ears) or smaller (sand
and thin corns) than the normal barley grain. During the sieving process
an aspiration system removes the dust and chaff. De-stoners or shaking
screens are used to separate small stones from the barley. The stones,
which are denser than the barley, move out the top of the machine and
the cleaned barley exits at the bottom. Half corn separators may be used
to remove broken kernels. Half kernels need to be removed as only the
one half will germinate and produce enzymes. At the end of the cleaning
process the grain is weighed to determine the cleaning losses (the
difference between the weight of grain received and the weight of the
grain after cleaning) and it is transferred to a silo for storage.

Storage

The barley must be safely stored to maintain the grain vigour for Roasted malt
germination. Storage at a malt house is normally in vertical silos made of
steel or concrete for ease of use, but may be in flat stores when large
amounts of grain is to be stored. The grain is stored in a manner that
protects it from moisture and pests. A typical silo will store between
5,000 and 20,000 tons of clean dry barley ready for malting.

During storage the temperature of the silo is measured and monitored

over time as a temperature increase can indicate insect activity.
Additional equipment may be used to keep the grain temperature below
18 °C to inhibit insect growth. Silos are normally fitted with a system for
rotating grain from one silo to another to break-up hot spots within the Bavarian malt varieties for beer
grain. A fumigation system can be used to administer a fumigant
(normally phosphine) to the silo.

Wet process
The wet process begins with steeping to get germination started and ends with kilning which removes the
moisture and produces a stable final product.[1]

A batch of malt is known as a piece and a piece can be as large as 400 tons. Below a standardised base malt
protocol is described:
Steeping

Steeping is the start of the active malting process, steep water is added to
cover the grain and the grain moisture content increases from around
12% to between 40 and 45%. In a modern pneumatic malt house, the
grain is alternatively submerged (wet stand) and then drained (an air
rest) for two or three cycles to achieve the target grain moisture content
and chit count.
Grain silos at Port Giles, South
Australia
Wet Stand
When the grain is immersed in water (known as a wet
stand), air is bubbled through the slurry of water and grain periodically.
The aim of this aeration[2] is to keep the process aerobic to maximize
barley growth. Other advantages of the rousing are to get good mixing, to loosen dirt and to even out
hydrostatic pressures at the bottom of the steep vessels. (Air flow rate: 1.5m3/ton per hour)[3]

Air rest or dry stand.

At the end of the wet stand the water is drained out and this is the start of the air
rest. During the air rest, fans are run to supply fresh oxygen and to remove excess CO2 produced by grain
respiration. The temperature of the air supplied is important as it shouldn't impact on the grain
temperature during steeping (10 to 15  °C). The aeration requirements (cubic metres per ton per minute)
are higher in the second and third air rests as the grain metabolic activity is higher. (Air flow rate:
300m3/ton per hour).[3]

At the end of steeping the grain is cast-out to germination. Cast-out may be done as a slurry during a wet
stand or as moist grain during an air rest.

Germination

The aim of germination is to grow the barley grains. This allows the development of malt enzymes, and
these enzymes modify the structure of the barley endosperm by breaking down the cell walls and the
protein matrix. Germination produces a large amount of heat; if safety precautions are not taken the malt
will burn.[4]

The enzymes produced during germination are needed to break down

the starch for the brewer or distiller during the mashing process.

The grain bed is maintained at a constant temperature of between 10

and 16  °C by the constant supply of fresh humidified air and turners
move through the grain bed to keep it loose to allow for sufficient air-
flow.

Kilning
A sample of green malt on about
Kilning thus reduces the grain moisture content and stops the day three - the malt culms are
germination process.[5] In the first stage, the free drying stage the clearly visible
air temperatures are kept cool to dry the grain without causing the
enzymes to denature.

As the grain dries it is possible to raise the air-on temperatures, (the second stage or the forced drying
stage) to further dry the grain, the target malt moisture after kilning is around 5% by weight. During
forced drying the relative humidity of the air coming off the bed drops and the maltster is able to use a
portion of the warm air as return air.

During the last few hours of kilning the air on temperature is raised to above 80 °C (the curing stage) to
break SMM down to DMS to reduce the DMS potential of the malt. DMS is an off flavour that tastes like
sweetcorn in the final beer.

The high temperatures of kilning also produce the colour in the malt through the Maillard reaction.
Finally the kilned malt is cooled before the kiln is stripped (emptied).

Deculming

The rootlets of the malt (also known as culms) are removed from the malt soon after transfer from the kiln.

The removed culms are sold or processed as animal feed.[6]

The cleaned malt is stored in silos to be blended with similar malt pieces to produce larger homogenous
batches of malt.

Malt cleaning

Finally the malt is cleaned prior to sale using sieves and aspiration to remove the dust, lumps and stones in
the malt. Magnets are again used to remove any steel that might damage the mill rollers.

Further reading
Dennis Edward Briggs, Malts and Malting Department of Biochemistry University of Birmingham, 787
p., Chapman & Hall, 1984
Henry Stopes, Malt and Malting -An Historical Scientific and Practical Treatise, published in 1885

References
1. "Malt Production" (https://web.archive.org/web/20161009000917/http://www.boortmalt.com/malt/produc
tion/). boortmalt.com. Archived from the original (http://www.boortmalt.com/malt/production/) on
October 9, 2016. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
2. Lewis, Michael J.; Young, Tom W. (2002). Brewing. Springer. pp. 168–171. ISBN 9780306472749.
3. Briggs, Dennis E. (1998). Malts and Malting. Springer. pp. 369–389.
4. "The Malting Process" (http://brewconductor.com/brewing/ingredients/the-malting-process/).
brewconductor.com. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
5. "Kilning & Roasting" (http://brewconductor.com/brewing/ingredients/kilning-roasting/).
brewconductor.com. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
6. "Malt culms, malt sprouts, malt coombs" (https://web.archive.org/web/20121229145113/http://www.fao.
org/ag/AGA/AGAP/FRG/AFRIS/Data/467.HTM). fao.org. Food and Agriculture Organization. Archived
from the original (http://www.fao.org/ag/AGA/AGAP/FRG/AFRIS/Data/467.HTM) on December 29,
2012. Retrieved December 7, 2012.

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