I wrote about malting a little bit in a post about the first BJCP class. You may notice the slight difference in the title from previous “How do I do that?” posts. The explanation comes down to my honest belief that malting, while something you can do yourself, should be left to the experts. This shouldn’t deter anyone from wanting to know how it’s done, what’s going on in the process, and ultimately how they might do it at home. But I can tell you that I probably won’t ever do this myself. Why? Lack of patience, lack of practical experience, a genuine respect for the companies that do it well; any of these reasons is enough to discourage me from trying it. But don’t let that stop you if you’re interested in it.
What I find most interesting about the malting process is that it’s done so well that it’s made techniques like decoction mashing obsolete. Grains are now so well modified that we don’t need to go to the trouble that brewers of the past did to achieve the same results. But let’s get down to brass tacks. What is the malting process?
At its core, malting is a controlled germination of the grain. What this germination does is convert some of the starch contained within each kernel of grain into sugar, but most importantly is the production of enzymes within the infant plant — or Acrospire — that are then activated during the mashing process. (more…)