Malt Floor Germination

Once in germination and kilning you can adjust the system to create your perfect custom malt.

Malt floor germination.

After steeping the grain the floor malting process requires the wet grain to be put on a smooth concrete floor while it germinates. A malt house malt barn or maltings is a building where cereal grain is converted into malt by soaking it in water allowing it to sprout and then drying it to stop further growth. Over the course of four or five days the grains germinate and produce that sweet sweet sugar that is fermented into alcohol. The malt is used in brewing beer whisky and in certain foods.

This process naturally modifies the barley structure breaking down cell walls and protein releasing starch and producing enzymes. Malting grain develops the enzymes α amylase β amylase required for modifying the grains starches into various types of sugar including monosaccharide glucose disaccharide maltose. Although the production of barley malt always includes steeping germination and drying two different production methods have emerged. 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.

Malt is germinated cereal grain that has been dried in a process known as malting the grain is made to germinate by soaking in water and is then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air. The sprouting barley is moved to a malting floor or vessel and allowed to grow for four to five days. We use higher and more sustained temperatures during the curing process lifting the color releasing richer malt notes and building a true palate fullness. Malting is a seed germination process conducted under stringently restricted environmental conditions with stable humidity and temperature to produce soluble carbohydrates from the partially degraded starchy endosperm and to facilitate their subsequent decomposition in the brewing process by the release of hydrolytic enzymes from the scutellum and aleurone tissues mcfadden et al.

Today the bulk of the malt used in whisky production is produced in drum maltings according to exact specifications of the distilleries what you read here is a look into the past. Below you can see pictures of different maltings. Cooler traditional floor germination temperatures allow for the complete beta glucan reduction needed for top performance in the lauter tun. The traditional malt house was largely phased out during the twentieth century in favour of more mechanised production.

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. The steeping tank allows for complete control over timing and air applications before you sluice down to the germination and kilning vessel. The favored floor material for european floor maltings has always been tiles quarried only in the bavarian village of solnhofen.