Barley and the Malting Process

Overview

• The purpose of the malting process is to convert insoluble starch chains within grains into water soluble starches that can be used in the brewing process

• Barley malt is the most commonly used source of fermentable sugars in beer

• Other malted grains used in brewing include wheat, rye, oats and sorghum

Overview (cont.)

• Adjuncts are defined as any unmalted source of fermentables in brewing

• Beer color is determined by the type of malts and adjuncts used in the brewing process

Barley

• Two types of barley commonly used in brewing– Two-row barley– Six-row barley

Barley (cont.)• Two-row barley– Bigger kernels– Higher yield– Lower nitrogen and protein content– Lower husk content

Barley (cont.)

• Six-row barley– Smaller kernels– Higher diastatic power (more enzymes)– Higher husk content

Barley (cont.)

• Key components of a barley kernel– Husk– Endosperm– Germ– Acrospire

Producing Malt for Beer

Definition: Malting is the controlled germination (sprouting of roots) of cereal grains, followed by a termination of this natural process by the application of heat. This will convert the large, insoluble starch chains of the endosperm to water-soluble starches and activate both the proteolytic and diastatic enzymes

The amount of enzymatic starch conversion potential that a malt has is referred to as its "diastatic power".

Malting

• The process of malting is performed to:– Convert the large, insoluble starch chains of the

endosperm to water soluble starches – Activate both the proteolytic and diastatic

enzymes that will reduce the proteins and starches into desirable components in the mash

Malting (cont.)

• The process consists of– Steeping barley in 50-65F water for 2-3 days – Allowing the barley to germinate at 50-70F for 6-

10 days– Gradually raising the temperature to 90F and

holding for 24 hours– Gradually raising the temperature to 120F and

holding for 12 hours

Producing Malt for Beer

Modification• Visual indicator: the length of the acrospire (the plant shoot or germ)

which grows underneath the husk. • The length of the acrospire in a fully modified malt will typically be 100%

of the seed length (ratio of 1:1)• If germination continued, a plant would grow, and all of the starches

would be used by the plant. It’s desired to have a proper balance between resources converted by the acrospire and resources consumed by the acrospire and rootlets.

• Undermodified malts have more enzymes and starches available, but also more proteins (mashing issues)

• Fully modified malts will have less enzymes and starches, and proteins are degraded.

Producing Malt for Beer

Drying, Kilning, and Roasting Process–At the end of germination, the malt is gradually raised in temperature to 90 °F, and held there for 24 hours to permit enzyme action–Then gradually raised to 120 °F and held at this temperature for 12 hours to dry the malt, as it is essential that the malt be bone-dry before being heated to kilning temperatures to prevent the destruction of the enzymes (unless desired).–The grain is then kilned to caramelize some of the sugars (eg crystal malt) or blacken it (eg a black patent malt).–They are then cooled to below 100 °F. –The grain is then tumbled to knock the beginnings of roots off. –Malts should be allowed to rest for a month or so before being mashed.

Color• Beer color is determined by the types of

malts and adjuncts used• Two scales are used– Lovibond Scale (L)• still associated with malt color (0-600, light to dark)

– USA: Standard Reference Method (SRM)– Europe: European Brewing Convention (EBC)

• Both scales go from low to high, with low referring to lighter colors

Recipe Formulation

Dave Miller’s: Homebrewing Guide

• Basic Parameters for a Recipe– Gravity- reflects total amount of grain– Bitterness – reflects the hopping rate– Color – reflects the amount and type of specialty

grains

Gravity

• Gravity is affected by three factors– The amount of grain (malt and adjuncts)– The types of grains used– Efficiency of the process

• The first two factors are strait forward and can be accounted for mathematically

• Efficiency is a highly variable and has to be determined by experience.

Extract figures attainable from HB equipment

• Barley Flakes 30• Black Malt 24 • Cane Sugar 45• Cara Pils 30• Corn or Rice 40• Corn Sugar 40• Crystal malts 24• Honey 35• DME 45

• LME 36• Mild Ale Malt 33• Munich 33• Pale Malt 35• Roasted Barley 24• Six-Row 33• Two- Row 35• Vienna 30• Wheat Malt 38

See Chart from BeerSmith for better numbers

Example : Kolsch

2-row malt 6#Vienna Malt 8oz Caramel 10 malt 8oz

6 x 34=210.5 x 32= 16.5 x 24= 12

Total =238/5 = 47.5

i.e. OG of 1.047-.048 for a five gallon batch*

*Does not factor in Efficiency 47.5 x .75 = 35.62So at 75% efficiency, you should expect OG of 1.035-1.036

Bitterness• Much more difficult to measure than gravity– Requires a laboratory– Beyond the scope of most homebrewers

• A number of formulas have been published to predict the bitterness in beer

• Simplest formula for attempting to predict IBU is use a sliding scale

IBU = AAU x 74.4 / wort volume (gals) x U (utilization %)

Example

• If we use 5 AAU of hops in 5 gallons of wort and we assume 25% utilization

IBU = 5 x 74.4 / 5 x 0.25 = 18.6 IBU

Note 50-50 of getting an accurate estimate with in 1 IBU with this formula

Hops

• The factors that determine how much of bitterness get into the beer can be taking into account in your calculations– Boil Time – longer better utilization– Wort gravity – above .030 lower utilization– Quantity – More is more up to 100 IBU– Pellets vs. Whole – pellets will yield about 25%

more IBU’s than whole.

Hops

• Other factors can affect– Ph levels– Boil Vigor– Wort Protein– Cold Break– Yeast type

• If you use a hop bag up your quantity by 25%

Hops• Flavor/Aroma– Low alpha acid content– Low cohumulone AA content– Low mycerne oil content

• Brewers have three options in adding aroma/flavor hops– Boiling generally for a short period of time 30

minutes or less– Steeping, kettle additions or through a hop back– Dry hopping

Color

• In some ways even harder to deal with than bitterness

• The color of malt is measured by making a standard mash

• Color Unit (CU) – 1 CU = 1 lb of malt with color rating of 1 degree

Lovibond

Calculate color

• To calculate color– Multiply the weight in lbs of each malt in your

recipe by the malts color rating– Add up the figures and divide by number of

gallons

Example – Pale Ale

6 lbs pale Malt (3L) 18CU (6x3)0.5 lbs British Crystal (55L) 27.5CU (.5X55)

Total 47.5CU

CU/Gal 9.1 (45.5/5)

Color

• Other factors that affect color– Mash efficiency– Batch-to-batch variation of malt– Kettle carmelization – Aging of extract– Finings and filtration