Malt

Malt

A main ingredient in most beers is malted barley, though the malting process can be applied to many other cereal grains. Malting is a process in which grains are allowed to germinate and then quickly dried in a kiln before the plant has a chance to fully develop. The malting process develops enzymes that are required to modify complex starches in the grain into simple fermentable sugars during a later step in the brewing process called mashing.

The Malting Process

• Raw grains are soaked to begin germination.
• Moisture and germination is maintained until the green 'acrospire reaches a length approximately the size of the grain. This takes approximately 5 days.
• Green malt is kiln dried until the level of moisture is reduced to about 6%.
• The brittle acrospires are separated from the grains, and the grains are packaged for shipping.

Types of Malt

• [Insert malt type here]

See Also

• References
• Processes
• Ingredients

External Links

• BeerSmith Malt & Grains Reference Table
• Make Your Own Malt - BYO Magazine Article, Aug 1997