The Important Role of Malt in Brewing Beer

Malting is necessary for making beers, since the grains that are used often aren’t able to be fermented right away. Malting is one of the most important steps in beer making, but isn’t talked about nearly enough. So what is malting anyways?

The most common grain used for malts is barley (2-row and 6-row), but wheat, corn, rice, rye, and oats can also be used. Barley is so popular because of its high starch content (65%). Starches are what get converted to sugars, which are necessary for the fermentation process.

First, the grains are soaked in tanks of water where they steep for a few days. After that, the grains are taken out of the water and begin the germination process. The germination process is simply the process all grains or seeds go through to sprout and grow into full plants. However, in this case, the grains are only left to germinate only until they begin opening up.

If the grains have sprouts growing out of them, the sprouts will mess with the final beer product. So, just before the sprout starts growing is the perfect time to move on to the next step.

Now that the grains, referred to as ‘green malt’ now, are open and more suitable for fermentation, the grains are heated to stop the germination process. The grains are gradually raised to about 120 F until they are completely dried out.

This process activates the enzymes, starch, and proteins in the grains. Once heating is done, the brewer will then put these grains back into water, but this time the water is hot. The hot water is called ‘strike water,’ and it allows the grains to produce sugars.

Those sugars get dissolved into the strike water, creating something called ‘wort.’ This wort is what is used during fermentation to make beer. Oftentimes brewers need to mash the grains further to release more starch. The mash temperature can affect the taste of the finished beer.

Lower mash temperatures (130-150 F) create drier beers while higher mash temperatures (150-160 F) make sweeter beers.

Malting techniques can lead to different beer flavors -- if the malt is heated at lower temperatures, it will create a paler beer, while malts heated at higher temperatures lead to dark or black beers.

For example:

- Pale ales are made by lightly heated malts and ale yeast. Similarly, if you use lightly heated malts and a lager yeast, you’ll get a light lager.

- Medium roasted malts that end up with a golden color create amber ales, or amber lagers. These usually end up with a sweeter taste than lighter (in color) beers.

- Medium-high heated malts lead to dark ales and lagers. These are often described as ‘clean’ tasting beers.

- High-temp malts create the darkest beers -- porters and stouts. Darker beers like these can have coffee or chocolate notes because of the way the grains were heated.

The usual assumption is that darker beers are stronger beers, meaning they have a higher alcohol content. You might be surprised to find out that that is actually not the case. Deep roast malts are liable to lock in the starches and glucose into the grains.

The higher roast temperatures that the malt is subject to will harden the grains, meaning that there will be less for the yeast to react with… leading to a lower ABV.

Beers made with high-temp malts are ‘thicker’ because of this. The grain particles that were not able to be fermented into alcohol are left in the beer, giving it a heavier, richer feel.

Besides color and possible ABV, different malts can affect flavor, too. There is a wide range of malts that brewers can choose to use. Lager malts, Vienna malts, chocolate malts, and Munich malts all produce different, unique flavors.

Malts also affect the amount of carbohydrates and gluten are in the finished product. The way malts are made are what makes a beer a beer. Without malts, beers wouldn’t be that perfect shade of gold or amber that we’re all so used to.

Most malts are made with barley, and barley contains gluten. So, barley malts are definitely not gluten free. Barley malt extract and syrup (produced from barley malts) also contain gluten.

Grains to watch out for, in addition to barley, are wheat, rye, and oats. Gluten free grains used for malts are corn and rice, but those aren’t very popular. Whatever your dietary restrictions, there’s a brewery out there for you. Just do a simple online search.