Glossary

Beer & Malt

Malting

Malting is a process applied to malting barley, in which the grains are made to germinate by soaking in water and are then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air (kilning). Malting grains develops the enzymes that are required to modify the grain's starches into sugars including monosaccharides such as glucose or fructose, and disaccharides such as sucrose or maltose. It also develops other enzymes, such as proteases, which break down the proteins in the grain into forms which can be utilized by yeast. Malted barley is used mainly to brew beer and also to make malt beer, malt whisky, malted shakes, malt vinegar, confections such as Maltesers and Whoppers, and some baked goods, such as malt loaf. Malted barley is often a label-listed ingredient in blended flours typically used for yeast breads, and a form of it specially selected for higher protein is typically used in the manufacture of many common baked goods.

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 lautering (see brewing). Other grains may be malted, especially wheat.

Malt is often divided into two categories by brewers: base malts and specialty malts. Base malts have enough diastatic power to convert their own starch and usually that of some amount of starch from unmalted grain, called adjuncts. Specialty malts have little diastatic power; they are used to provide flavor, color, or "body" (viscosity) to the finished beer. Caramel or crystal malts are specialty malts that have been subjected to heat treatment that converts their starches to sugars non-enzymatically. Within these categories are a variety of types distinguished largely by the kilning temperature (see mash ingredients). In addition, malts are distinguished by the two major species of barley used for malting, two-row and six-row.

A new encapsulating technology permits the production of malt granules. Malt granules are the dried liquid extract from malt used in the brewing or distilling process.

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