How to make wheat malt at home?

And in home brewing, and in the independent preparation of stronger alcoholic beverages, and even baking, malt is widely used.Despite the fact that this product is available on the market, many prefer to independently master the process of obtaining wheat malt at home.

It is known that sprouted cereal grains are called malt. An important feature of any malt is a high concentration of carbohydrates and special enzymes that, when interacting with yeast, lead to the synthesis of alcohol and other substances that give the drink a characteristic wheat flavor.

In order for this product to be used in cooking and making alcoholic beverages, the germination of grain must take place in the right conditions. As for the product obtained, it must meet a number of very harsh conditions. In Russia, the requirements for the composition and quality of wheat malt are determined by GOST 29294-2014, which is called “Brewing Malt. Technical conditions.

According to this document, wheat malt should not contain grains with diseases and mold, its color can be a combination of different shades of yellow and red (and in no case - green), and the taste should be sweet. At the same time the product should not have extraneous odors.

As for the composition, it should be:

• no more than 6% moisture;
• not more than 0.5% of third-party impurities;
• not less than 80% of powdery grains;
• no more than 4% of dark grains.

The protein content in the product should be about 14%.

According to GOST, only two types of wheat malt are distinguished: light and dark. Light malt is a germinated and dried grain of wheat, and dark is obtained from light by drying at high temperature or roasting. Nevertheless, it is common for brewers and culinary specialists to distinguish two more subtypes of this product: green and chocolate. Green malt is produced by germinating wheat and applying the product without drying. Chocolate is a kind of dark version, obtained by the method of longer cooking.

In addition to the malt itself, its concentrate is also on the market., representing a condensed solution of the finished malt wort in water. Despite the fact that its use facilitates the procedure of making beer, many brewers love to make wheat malt independent.

The technology of malt production at home can be divided into several stages. The first one is the choice of high-quality raw materials. Brewers prefer winter crops rather than spring wheat. Attention should be paid to the absence of third-party impurities and signs of disease. Consider the following steps in more detail.

Before soaking the grains, it is advisable to wash them with a solid volume of clean cold water. After that, the raw material is poured with water, the temperature of which is about 25 ° C. After letting the mixture stand for a few minutes, the pop-up grains (they are barren) and various impurities are removed from the liquid with a skimmer or a regular spoon. After that, the water is drained, and the grains are poured with a new portion of the liquid (this time its temperature should be between 15 ° C and 20 ° C).

Soaking procedure is carried out within 40-60 hours. It is necessary to maintain a temperature in the range from 14 ° C to 16 ° C. Every 12 hours you should replace the water, while removing new portions of surfaced pollution. It is important not to overdo the grains in the water, otherwise they will germinate unevenly, and the quality of the malt will decrease.

Another popular soaking method is pneumatic.

It is carried out in 4 stages:

1. Soak in water for 5 hours.
2. Exposure to air for 20 hours.
3. Soaking in water for 3 hours with loosening and ventilation every 3 hours.
4. Soak until germination of 90% of the grains.

For the germination of grain you need to put on the bottom of any flat container, preferably a tray or box. In this case, the height of the laid layer should not exceed 6 centimeters. Cover the grains with a damp cloth. Instead, you can apply a food film with slits every 10 cm.

Germination temperature should correspond to the temperature at which the grains were in the water (that is, about 15 ° C). The duration of the procedure is from 4 to 5 days. At the same time, on the first day of this stage, it is desirable to slightly stir the grain every 12 hours, and in the next day you can do it once every 20 hours. Willingness is determined by sprout reaching a length of 3-5 mm. After germination, it is important to carefully remove all sprouts, leaving only the non-germinated part of the grain in the product. This can be done with a knife, scissors or a mixer.

The result will be green malt, which is ready for use to produce wort. However, its shelf life does not exceed 3 days, so it must either be immediately put into production or dried.

Previously, malt was dried under natural conditions on various pallets under canopies. Duration of drying was determined "by eye". Now you can take advantage of the achievements of modern technology.

To get light malt, you need to dry green for two hours at a temperature of 75 ° C. Then you should raise the level to 80 ° С and repeat the procedure. This time the product is dried for three hours. To provide the necessary temperature conditions at home, you can use an electric dryer, oven or fan heater. Dark malt is obtained from light by raising the temperature in the second stage of drying to 110 ° C. Finally, chocolate malt can be obtained by drying / roasting light at 200 ° C for 1 hour.

See below for how to make wheat malt.