Malting and malt preparation

The purpose of the malting process is to activate the endogenous phytohormones and enzymes of the barley to make it more amenable to milling and starch/carbohydrate extraction.
It is well established that gibberellic has a significant role in endogenous enzyme activation and hence the quality of the final malt produced.
Kerry Ingredients & Flavours offers Biogibb products to ensure consistent and cost effective malting and malt modifcation.

The malting process key steps are:

► Barley cleaning and grading

The barley is cleaned to remove stones, metal fragments and foreign corns and vegetation. It is graded according to size to ensure an even germination / modification during malting.

► Steeping

Barley is submerged in water (~12-15 °C) to increase the moisture content of the grain.

► Germination

The grain is removed from the water and it germinates (in situ or in special germination vessels). During germination endogenous enzymes hydrolyse proteins, α-glucans and hemicellulose in the barley cell wall. This will render the malt produced more susceptible to milling and brewers extract production. Controlled application of BioGibb will ensure consistent malt modification.

► Kilning

The purpose of kilning is to dry the malt reducing the moisture content in a controlled manner to ~5%. It also serves to arrest the development of the embryo ensuring that valuable brewers extract is not expended.

Prior to milling the malt must be cleaned (to remove roots, culms and foreign grains) and graded (to be sure that the malt mill settings are correct and do not require continuous adjustment).