Malting cereal grains for beer production

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 a combination of two processes: 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 specific information.


Malted grain is used to make malt beer, malt whiskey, malted shakes, malt vinegar, confections such as Maltesers and Whoppers, and some baked goods, such as malt loaf. Malting grains develops the enzymes that are required to modify the grain's starches into sugars. It also develops other enzymes 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 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.

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, usually by spreading the sprouted barley on a perforated wooden floor. Smoke is then used to heat the wooden floor. The temperature thus employed is usually around 55°C (131°F). 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.

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 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. 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 using in the brewing or distilling process.