How To Malt At Home

An In-Depth Guide

Written by Mark and Christopher on 02/23/17

Malting at home is often perceived as hard and not worthwhile – and from our
understanding it’s because of 4 perceptions:

1. Malt is cheap! Why bother making it?

2. Homemade malt is inferior!

3. There isn’t a lot of great information out there on how to do it. Malting is a bit of
a mystery, and, at the moment, it takes effort to uncover the secrets.

4. Instead of a 4 hour brewday, it’s a weeklong project. You need to check on the
grain a few times a day, and this can be too much work.

Fair points, but we can poke holes in all of them:

1. Why bother making beer? It’s cheap too! We brew beer because it brings us joy,
not for the cost savings. We make our own malt for the same reason.

2. You can make good malt at home, in the same way you can make good beer, you
just need to have a good method and the proper setup.

3. Malting’s mysteriousness is an opportunity for exploration. It offers new

possibilities in the brewhouse like the flavors of heritage grain varieties grown
by a local farmer, new malt styles unavailable commercially, or historical,
undermodified malts. The more of us exploring, the more we’ll discover!

4. The time commitment can be a challenge, but careful planning can make it
easier. One of the reasons we’re making automated equipment is to address this.
If this is the first time you’ve heard about our malting equipment, you can read
more here, or poke around our website.

Like everyone else, we started malting in buckets, and our drive to make better malt has
led to the creation of our automated malting equipment. We’ve built this equipment to
deliver new levels of control, increased consistency and quality, and decreased labor.

But this post is not about our equipment as it is now – it’s about where our
malting began. As home brewers know, you have to start somewhere. In the hopes of
inspiring more people to chit a batch of barley, watch the acrospires grow, and help
forge the path up the supply chain, we’ve put together a guide on malting at home with
whatever equipment you already have lying around.

How to Malt at Home

Malting is comprised of 4 steps and takes, on average, 7-10 days:

1. Prep/Washing – 30 minutes

2. Steeping/Air Resting – 2 days

 3. Germinating – 4 days

4. Kilning – 1 day

We’ll walk you through all of these steps, and try to clarify existing misconceptions.
Most guides we’ve seen are too vague, or are restatements of incorrect or not-fully-true
advice. We’d recommend taking most information you find on forums or blogs with a
grain of salt. The only really solid information on home malting we know of online is
our friend at Brewing Beer the Hard Way. His content is superb, and a great
demonstration of the opportunities to explore malt and beer.

This guide is a consolidation of our experiences malting at home, best practices from
the malting literature, and other common wisdom held by the malting community. It’s
relatively in depth and might feel overwhelming at first, but think of how you felt
starting out with brewing! There’s a lot to learn, but once you start doing it you’ll pick it
up quickly. You’re just sprouting seeds after all!

Equipment

To start, here’s an idea of what type of equipment you need:

Malting
Barebones Equipment Additional Equipment
Step

Washing Bucket, water source, strainer Bucket with drain valve

Bucket, ~55F water source, 50- Climate controlled space –

Steeping 60F ambient conditions, teaball temp (55F) and humidity
or mesh bag (95%+)

Bucket, 50-60F ambient Bucket with drain valve,

Air Resting
conditions, teaball or mesh bag climate controlled space
 Plastic container, 50-60F
Germination ambient conditions, spray bottle, Climate controlled space
teaball or mesh bag

Oven, thermometer, teaball or

Kilning Dehydrator
mesh bag, sieve

In addition, you need grain! We’ll be focusing on hulled malting barley (2-row or 6-
row) in this guide, but boy is there space to explore and roam with other grains. You can
get good barley from a seed company (we list some good options here). If this isn’t
possible, the less ideal source is feed barley from a farm store. You also might find some
at a natural foods store or food co-op.

Prep

1. Weigh out your barley in a large bucket.

o Your final malt weight will be 80% of your starting barley weight. If you
want 4 lbs of malt, start with 5 lbs of barley. Some of this weight loss is
water. Barley has a moisture content of 12% while malt is just 4% water.

2. Set aside a small grain sample to track moisture and record the sample weight.
The moisture content of your barley kernels is a major indicator of your progress
during malting. It tells you when you’re done steeping and when your malt is
 finished. To track moisture, you’ll need to weigh your sample periodically and
the weight change will tell you your new moisture content. There’s a simple
equation that we’ll take you through later.

o We put a 5 g sample in a standard tea ball. Other maltsters use mesh bags
and larger samples. What’s important is that the sample is exposed to the
same moisture and temperature as the rest of the grain, and that the
sample kernels can not escape.

Washing

When you buy clean grain, it has been through a seed cleaner. Even so, it’s still fairly
dirty, as it’s coated in dust from the field. By washing grain, you’re getting most of the
dirt off and skimming off unviable seeds (“thins”) and any chaff that got through the
seed cleaner. Malting doesn’t require the same level of painstaking sanitation as
brewing, but this is a crucial step to keep your grain from being a hospitable
environment for microbes.

1. Fill your grain bucket with warm water until there is 4” of water above the level
of the grain.
 o Warm water does a better job of rinsing the dirt off the grain than cold
water. Plus your stirring arm will appreciate it.

2. Stir the grain vigorously. Thins will rise to the surface of the water and viable
grain will sink back down. Make sure you rouse the grain from the bottom of the
bucket to separate out all of the thins.

3. Skim the thins off the water’s surface with a strainer then continue rousing and
skimming until just a few kernels rise to the water’s surface.

4. At this point, you will be appalled at how filthy the water has gotten. Pour off
this dirty water and refill the bucket with clean water. Try not to lose any grain
in the process.
 o Dirty:

o Clean:

5. Repeat the stirring, draining, and refilling steps until the water is fairly clear. It
doesn’t have to be crystal clear, just clear enough that you can make out the
individual grain kernels through the 4” of water. We find that this usually
happens on the 3rd fill.
 o Water after cleaning from the first, second, and third fillings, left to right

Steep

Steeping is when the malting process begins in earnest. The purpose of the steep is to
hydrate the grain to the point at which it germinates. Think of spring rains, soaking the
soil and wetting all the seeds that have been lying dormant for months. Steeping is an
awakening. This water is the lubricant that gets things moving inside the kernel (for a
deeper look at this, check out our article on enzymatic activity inside the seed).

Modern maltsters typically aerate their grain in the middle of the steep phase by
draining the steep water to give the grain access to oxygen. When they refill the steep
tank, the grain takes up water faster than before. The goal is to get the moisture content
to 45% before moving onto the germination phase. Typically this takes us 3 steep
cycles, but it can range from 2-4.

1. Fill your grain bucket with cold water until there is 1” above the level of the
grain. This water should be as close to 55 F as possible.

2. Put your bucket into a temp controlled space that will maintain 55 F.

o The best you can do here is to put it in a fridge or insulated structure that
can be set to 55 F with a temp controller. Insert the temp sensor into the
 middle of the grain bed.

3. If you don’t have a temp controlled fridge, a cool basement will do. The ideal
range of steep temps is between 50-60 F. At higher temperatures, you get more
uneven water uptake, which can lead to inconsistent germination later on. That
being said, if your steep water gets up to 65 F, your malt will not be ruined.

4. After a period of steeping, drain the water and return the grain bucket to your
temp controlled space for an air rest. Reinsert the temp probe if you have one.

5.

6. After a period of air resting, repeat the steep cycle and refill the bucket with cold
water.

o The standard steep schedule is to alternate between 8 hours of steep and

8 hours of air rest until the grain hits 45%. This can be hard to maintain
with a full-time work schedule. You should feel free to adjust the steep
schedule to your schedule. We often steep for 8 hours and air rest for 12-
16 hours. As long as you get your grain to 45% moisture, you’re golden.

7. If you’re a little bit under target moisture, feel free to spray the grain then mix it
around to bump its moisture up a few percentage points.

o Using grain at a higher moisture content results in more vigorous, and

faster, germination. Temp control and frequent turning become even
more important in this situation. When starting out, it may be a better
idea to start germination at a lower moisture content, around 42%.
Chit Counts

If you are doing air rests, the grain will start to ‘chit’ at some point during the steeping
phase. The timing depends on your grain and your steeping times and temps, but we’ve
seen the first chits as early as the end of the first air rest. It’s a good practice to do chit
counts to track your grain’s progress and assess your grain quality. Modern malting
barleys ideally have a chit rate of 99%.

 The chit is the first sign of the emerging rootlets. You will see something white
poking out of one end of the kernel. When we do a chit count, we check 50
kernels for this white protrusion, then multiply that number by 2 to get the
chitting rate.

Measuring Moisture Content

Throughout steeping, but especially near the end, you should be tracking your moisture
content. We take readings when we transition between steeps and air rests.

 To ensure accuracy, you need to get rid of any surface moisture from your grain.
We actually empty our tea ball and pat the kernels dry with a dish towel until no
more wet spots show up on the towel. Then we weigh the grain. When refilling
the tea ball, we’re very careful not to leave any kernels behind, even broken
kernels or other debris. If it went into the tea ball initially, it stays in the tea ball.

 If you’re using a mesh bag, you may not need to take the grains out of the bag.
Make sure you shake off most of the moisture then pat the bag/grains dry with a
towel and weigh it.

 Surprisingly, the moisture content usually rises during air rests. After draining
the steep, there is a surface moisture on the grain which it takes up throughout an
 air rest. By the end of air rest, the grain’s surface is usually no longer wet to the
touch.

 If you weighed your sample at the end of a steep, make sure you re-wet it so that
it too can soak up surface moisture during air rest.

 Calculate your current moisture content with your current sample weight. This is
middle school math, so don’t complain. Here is the equation:

Current moisture % = 100 – (100 – starting moisture %) /

(current weight / starting weight)

 Let’s do an example together. You can assume the starting moisture content is
12%, as that is the safe level for long-term barley storage. The starting weight
was 5 g and our current weight is 8 g.

Current moisture % = 100 – (100 – 12) / (8 / 5) = 45%

Perfect. We’re ready for germination!

Germination

The grain will physically change during germination. Rootlets will push out of the husk
and lengthen. The grains first shoot, called the acrospire, will lengthen and grow inside
the husk. The kernel will become easier to roll between your fingers. These are all the
classic signs of modification. Steeping started the enzymatic processes necessary to
make starch available in the grain’s energy reserves, called the endosperm, and it’s now
prime time for the enzymes.

The maltster’s job during germination is to mix/turn the grain and track modification.
Turning detangles rootlets prone to grow into clumps and disperses heat and CO2
produced by the grain’s respiration. Modification is tracked in order to know when it’s
time to kiln.

1. Move your grain from your steeping bucket to a germination vessel.

o Ideally, this is a larger container where you can spread the grain out and
maintain a thin depth of 1 – 4 inches, instead of the deeper pile in a
bucket. It’s easier to control the temperature of a thinner grain bed. A
 thicker grain bed is possible, you’ll just be turning it more often.

2. Turn your grain several times a day.

o You can set certain times to turn the grain, but also realize that this a
natural process that does not conform to neat schedules. We turned our
grain 2-4 times a day for this batch. Brewing Beer the Hard Way turns
his 4 times a day.

o Respiration is increasing as germination progresses, resulting in

increased heat output. Thus, the grain may need to be turned more
between days 3-5.

3. Spray your grain lightly before turning if there is excessive drying.

 o Unless the space is humidified, the top layer of grain will likely dry out
between turnings. This is okay, but not ideal. If the entire grain bed is
drying out, a spray may be in order.

4. When you check on the grain, use your senses to make sure things are going
smoothly.

o If germination is going well, you’ll smell cucumbers or fresh cut grass; if

it’s not going well, the smell may be more moldy or rotten. Mold or
rotting can happen when the temperature is too high and the grain is
moist, or if you have too many broken kernels in the batch.

o The rootlets will be bright white and crisp at first, but some will likely
turn yellow or brown as growth progresses, especially if the grain gets
too dry.

Tracking Modification During Germination

There are a few ways to track the degree of modification. Big or small, the professionals
don’t have better in-process control tests than you do in your basement. It’s all about
feeling, looking, and smelling.

 Track the growth of the acrospire as it grows along the edge of the grain. Hold a
kernel vertically between your thumbs, with the smooth side facing you. Use
your fingernails to split the outer layer open, exposing the acrospire just inside.
This will take some practice to learn how to orient the kernel, and how much
force to use.
½x Acrospire

<¾x Acrospire
>¾x Acrospire

Almost 1x Acrospire

 Similar to counting the chitting rate, count the acrospire growth by analyzing 50
kernels. You can do this roughly once a day, but it is more important towards the
end of germination.
 Separate the kernels into categories based on the length of the acrospire in
relation to the length of the grain. Double these results to get a percentage out of
100.

o ¼x the length of the grain

o ½x the length of the grain

o ¾x the length of the grain

o 1x the length of the grain

o 1+x the length of the grain

 When a majority of the kernels are between ¾ and 1x the length of the grain, it’s
likely time to kiln. This takes some judgement on your own part. Don’t wait so
long that there are many overgrown kernels past 1x the length, but do wait if you
still have many kernels only at ½x the length.

 When you’re performing acrospire counts, roll the kernels between your fingers.
There will be edges in the beginning preventing the kernel from rolling
smoothly. The kernel will become squishier as modification progresses, and
rolling will be smooth when modification is complete. Think of it as rolling a
triangle between your fingers, which will gradually become a circle.
 o The starchy endosperm with husk removed:

 Another test to determine if modification is complete involves removing the

husk from a kernel and smearing the white, starchy endosperm between your
fingers. If the grain isn’t ready yet, you’ll experience a hard ball unwilling to
smear. If the grain is ready, you’ll be able to fully smear the starch.
Kilning

Drying the grain down during the kilning process stops growth at the ideal moment
when starch has been made available, but hasn’t been used by the plant. We added water
to start the enzymatic process, and now we’ll take it away to put the enzymes on hold
for the duration of malt storage. On brew day when you mash in, the enzymes will
resume their work, continuing the exact same biological processes, and will be fully
stopped when you mash out and denature the enzymes.

1. Use a dehydrator or oven to dry the grain. Load the grain onto dehydrator trays,
or baking trays/containers.

o A dehydrator is a better option, as blowing air past the grain to remove

moisture is more efficient than just heating the space up in an oven. If
you only have an oven, prop the door open a bit, or open the door
 relatively frequently, to allow moist air out.

2. There are several stages of kilning. To start, dry your grain at 120 F for 8 hours.

o First, you’re removing the bulk of the water. This is the free drying stage,
and takes place between 45% moisture and 25% moisture. The temp
should be between 112-140 F.

3. Raise your temp to 140-150 F for 4 hours.

o After removing the most accessible moisture in step 1, you enter the
intermediate stage. You want to ramp up the temperature to get at the
moisture that’s bound up deeper inside the seed.

4. Cure at 170-200 F for 3 hours for most base malts.

5. When the moisture content has gotten down around 10%, it’s time for the curing
stage. This high heat step adds malty flavor and gets rid of off-flavors. These
kilning times and temps are generalizations, so take them with a grain of salt.
Kilning schedules vary immensely based on the malt you’re trying to make.
Instead of listing them all here, we’ll just direct you to this great resource
on malting times and temperatures from Brewing Beer the Hard Way.

6. Tweak existing kiln schedules to suit your setup and batch size.

o Our dehydrator can remove moisture very quickly, so we cruise through

the first two kilning steps. But the dehydrator maxes out at 165 F, so we
have to use the oven for curing. We transfer the grain to ovenware, and
set the oven at roughly 180 F. We leave the grain in for 3 hours, and
check it every once in awhile. You can turn it occasionally, but don’t
need to. The longer you leave it in, the further from a pale base malt
you’ll get. The malt will develop more color and more of a malty, bready
flavor.

7. Take moisture readings throughout to determine when to ramp up temperature

and when to end kilning. Use the adjusted moisture equation below.

o The moisture ranges that define each kilning step are very loose, so don’t
worry about sticking to them closely.

o Your moisture readings during kilning will come out lower than the
actual moisture content, often reading negative at the end of kilning. The
reason for this is that the grains lost about 6% of their dry matter during
germination (germinating grains respire and use energy reserves in a
similar way to humans burning calories). You’ll need to adjust the
moisture equation from above to account for this.

o Let’s assume the same starting moisture of 12% and starting weight of 5
g, a current weight of 4.2 g, and a respiration loss of 6%.
Adjusted moisture % = 100 – ((100 – respiration
 loss %) / 100) x (100 – starting moisture
%) / (current weight / starting weight)
Current moisture % = 100 – ((100 – 6) / 100) x
(100 – 12) / (4.3 / 5) = 3.8%

8. Ideally, you will end with a final moisture content of 4%.

o As a home maltster, this number does not need to be that exact. There is
no quality issue with drying it down further – you’re just wasting energy
at that point. If you finish with higher than 6% moisture, you can get
“slack” malt. This is a problem if you plan to store your malt for a long
time. It won’t keep as well, losing aroma over time, and it will not mill as
well on brew day. If you start to notice this problem in your home malt,
don’t wait so long to brew with it! Fresh malt is better anyways.

o With all that being said, we would recommend against lengthening your
curing times to ensure you get to 4% moisture. Extending from 3 hours
to 5 hours of curing could be the difference between a pale malt and a
Vienna malt. If you’re worried about under-drying, extend the length of
your intermediate kilning stage.

9. When the grain is done, take it out and let it cool. Now there is one final step –
de-culming.

10. Culms are what rootlets are called by maltsters, so de-culming is removing the
rootlets. Mix the whole batch in a bucket with your hands, rubbing the grains
together and agitating them. The culms should come right off.

o Rootlets, not acrospires, can supposedly add a bitter flavor to beer, and
they absorb water during storage. We’ve never tested the flavor claim,
but have followed the advice so far. The culms become very brittle
during kilning and break off easily.
 11. Put the grain in a sieve, and shake it above a surface you can sweep. The rootlets
will fall through, and you’ll be left with clean, delicious malt.

12. Once you’ve cleaned the whole batch, store it in an airtight bag until you brew.

o It is often claimed that you should store malt for 3 weeks after kilning.
We haven’t seen any evidence for this, and the reasons are a bit suspect.
We say go ahead and brew when you’re ready – tomorrow, or in a
month! The fresher the grains are, the better they’re going to taste in our
experience, especially if you choose to roast a section of your grain bill
at a higher
temperature

Conclusion
So there you have it – an in depth guide to malting at home with simple equipment.
There’s a lot of information up there, but there’s plenty of other tidbits that we decided
not to include. If you have questions or want to fill in any gaps, contact us.

Malting Barley Grain at Home

by B RA D SMIT H on DECEMBER 5, 2009 · 69 CO MMEN TS

For the adventurous home brewer who wants to

take all grain beer brewing to yet another level,
you can malt your own grains at home. While
most micro and home brewers start with malted
grain, it is possible to purchase unmalted grains
and go through the malting process at home. The
equipment required is modest, and bulk unmalted
grains can be purchased at a fraction of the cost
of malted ones.

Unmalted barley is widely used for animal feed, so

a good place to purchase unmalted grains in bulk
is likely a local feed store. Usually it is sold in
large quantities – typically 50lb to 100lb bags.
Smaller quantities can be purchased from some
brew stores, pet stores or equestrian specialty
shops.

There is a lot of variation in unmalted barley

quality. If possible, you want to choose a barley
that is low in protein as high protein will result in
cloudy beer. Inspect the grains if possible before
buying to look for minimum broken grains,
absence of mold or bugs, consistent color and
general overall quality.

Steeping the Raw Barley

The first step in home malting is to steep the
barley in water to begin the germination process.
Start with a large bucket that can handle the
grains plus enough water to float all of the grains.
Add water until all of the grains are floating, and
let the grains sit in the water for 2 hours.

Remove the grains from the water (a strainer is

good for this) and let the grains air out and dry for
about 8 hours. This step is important as if you
leave the grains in the water they will drown and
eventually die.

After the grains have dried for about 8 hours,

steep them again in a clean batch of water for
another two hours, and dry them again for 8
hours. You will likely have to continue this for a
third cycle. Within 24 hours of starting, you should
see small roots start to grow from the base of the
kernel (called chits). Stop your cycles of steeping
and drying once you have 95% of the grains
germinated.

You should have added approximately 40-45%

moisture (water) at this point. Assuming you
started the dry grains with ~9-10% moisture
content, adding 35% moisture will result in a
weight gain as follows: 1 kg of grain has ~100 g of
water before steeping. Adding 350g of water (45%
water content) results in a total of 1.35kg. So if
you started with a given weight of grains, you can
stop steeping when the grains weigh 30-35%
more than when you started.

Germinating the Grains

The grains must now be germinated in a cool,
slightly moist, but well ventilated area to grow the
small leaflet inside the grain called an acrospire.
This generally takes 2-5 days. The ideal
temperature for germination is 64F, or about 18C.
You want to keep the seeds cool, spread them out
well and moisten them periodically with a little
spray mist. The germination process generates
heat, which can lead to bacteria or mold growth so
its important to aerate the grains and turn them
every few hours in a cool location to avoid infction.
Many early malters actually spread the grains on a
concrete “malting floor” to keep them cool and
make it easy to turn them periodically.

You continue malting until the small leaf

(acrospires) within the grain is approximately 80-
100% of the length of the grain. Note that the
acrospires is inside the grain, so you need to
actually split the grain open with a knife or razor
blade and look for the white leaf that is part of the
endosperm and attached to the rootlets. Typically
the external portion of the rootlet will be about 2x
the length of the grain when it is finished, but
checking the actual acrospire length is the best
method to determine when to stop.

Drying the Malt

Drying the malt can be difficult as it requires a
steady temperature of between 90-125F (31-50C).
Drying at a higher temperature will destroy the
enzymes needed for mashing. If you are fortunate
enough to have an oven with temperature control
that can go this low, then leaving it in the oven for
~24 hours is an excellent way to go. In some
cases, even the oven light is sufficient to reach the
90F temperature needed, though it may take
some time to finish.

If you live in a sunny dry climate, sun drying is

also an option. Some care is needed to keep birds
and other small scavengers away, but you can
leave it out in the sun for 2 days which should be
sufficient to dry the malt.

A third option is to use an actual food dehydrator.

Inexpensive home food dehydrators are available
for as little as $30-40 and work quite well.

You are targeting a finished moisture content of

approximately 10%. Assuming you have not lost
much material in the first two steps, this would
mean the finished weight of the grains with their
rootlets attached should be close to the total
weight of the unmalted grains before you started
the steeping process. Recall that we started with
about 10% moisture content in the original
unmalted grains. Therefore you can stop drying
when the grains plus rootlets weight are back to
approximately their original unmalted weight.

Finishing the Malt

The last step is to separate the dried, malted
grains from the rootlets growing out of them. After
the grains are sufficiently dry, the rootlets will
simply fall off them with a little agitation. You can
use a colander or some screen to shake the
grains around and separate the dried rootlets.
Note this is a bit of a messy process, as the
rootlets tend to get on everything, so you might
want to do this outside.

At this point you have pale, malted barley

equivalent to that which you would normally
purchase from your brew supply store. You can
crush it and use it just as you would any pale
barley base malt.

If you wish to make specialty malts from your pale

barley, you can toast the malts in the oven to
make varying shades of crystal, toasted, brown
malts. For the lightest of crystal type malts, try
toasting at 275F for one hour. For a medium
crystal, try toasting at 350F for 15-30 minutes. If
you toast at 350F for an hour you will come close
to a commercial brown malt. You can also get
different variants by toasting wet vs dry malts. A
wet toasted malt will impart a slightly sweeter
toasted flavor.

Home Malting
Although this column is typically devoted to techniques for making beer, this time we’re taking a
step back and looking at making one of beer’s essential ingredients, the malt itself. Malt is
simply barley that has been sprouted to the point where enzymes are produced that will convert
its starchy interior to sugar. If a barley seed is carefully halted in its quest to grow, the result will
be a starch-packed kernel with enzymes at the ready for mashing. Additionally, the kilning
(heating) that occurs during malting develops color and flavor in the husks.

There are four basic steps to making malt: steeping, germination, drying and kilning. Now before
you think this process is too difficult or complicated to do yourself, the only really specialized
piece of equipment you may find particularly helpful is a food dehydrator. With a little planning
and a few minutes of work a day for several days, a home malt-works is in the reach of most
homebrewers.

From a practical standpoint, I make malt in 4.0 lb. (1.8 kg) batches because that’s how much
grain fits on the big roasting pans and racks of the food dehydrator that I use. How many
pounds you produce at a time will depend on the capacity of your set-up.

While malt could be made from practically any variety of barley (or any number of different
starchy grains), there are several varieties that have been bred for making quality brewing malt.
Some major malting varieties of barley grown here in the U.S. include six-row types:
Drummond, Excel, Robust, Stander, Foster, Lacey, Legacy, Tradition and Stellar, and two-row
types: Conlon, Harrington, Merit, AC Metcalfe and B1202. The designation of six-row and two-
row comes from the habit of how the florets are arranged on the pedicel, creating the
appearance of six-rows or two-rows of seeds in each head. Barley seed can be ordered from
Howe Seeds (www.howeseeds.com), Johnny’s Selected Seeds (www.johnnyseeds.com), or if
you live in an agricultural part of the country, ask your local county extension agent for sources.
Purchasing seed retail can be expensive, but if you have a place to grow your own barley, a
pound (0.45 kg) of seed can produce about 30 lbs. (14 kg) of grain for malting.
Steeping
The first step in malting is steeping. In this stage, the moisture content of the barley is increased
from the 12–13% moisture present in barley seed to the 42–46% required for germination to
proceed. Steeping has two components, wet steeping and air rests.

Since the barley kernels being malted are alive and respiring, they need air. Therefore, too long
of a steep and the seeds will drown and die. Too short of a steep and the seeds will not take on
enough water to successfully sprout.

For the initial wet steep, the barley should be steeped in cool (50–60 °F/10–15 °C), hard (or at
least not softened) water for about eight hours, but no more than sixteen hours unless vigorous
aeration is supplied. If you have an aquarium aerator or a trickle of water running to replenish
oxygen, this will help supply oxygen to the kernels during the steeping period. I just use an
ordinary 3 to 5 gallon (11–19 L) plastic pail.

After a period of steeping, excess water should be drained off and the grain allowed to rest for
eight to ten hours in a cool (50–70 °F/10–21°C) place. The initial steeping water will carry away
dirt from the outside of the barley kernel as well as dissolved husk components that would yield
unpleasant flavors in your beer. This step is called an air rest. After the resting period, the barley
needs to be steeped again for another eight hours. After the second steep, the water is drained
off and the moisture content checked to make sure the barley has taken on an appropriate
amount of water. After being properly steeped, the barley should contain about 42–46%
moisture by weight. Shoot for the lower end of the range if you are trying to make a pale base
malt, such as Pilsner malt. For a darker malt, like Munich malt, aim for the high end of the
moisture range.

I aim for 45% moisture. This translates to 20 oz. (0.58 g) of wet barley for each pound (0.45 kg)
of “dry” barley (12 % moisture) used at the start. I weigh out 4.0 lb. (1.8 kg) of barley seed
before steeping. Then after steeping, I can check to see that it weighs about 5.1 lbs. (2.3 kg) to
be sure it has taken on the proper amount of water. If the barley has imbibed the necessary
amount of water, it will begin to sprout (or chit, in maltster lingo) and begin the process of
germination.

In most modern malting plants, the duration of wet steeps are shorter (4–6 hours) and more
water changes and air rests are employed. The above method, however, which is based on
more traditional English malting methods, works well at home.

If you are malting sorghum for a gluten-free beer, your steeping temperature should be
significantly higher (80–86 °F/27-30 °C). Use several short (4–6 hour) wet steeps, with air rests
in between, until the moisture percentage reaches 52–58%.

Germination
During the second stage of malting, germination, the roots and shoot emerge from the kernel.
Inside the kernel, the production of enzymes proceeds and the hard interior endosperm of the
grain is broken down. The degree to which this is accomplished is called modification. Properly
modified barley will have undergone changes to also modify the gums and proteins in the
kernel. Good malt should have the enzymatic power to be able to convert not only the starch
from its own kernels, but also that of other adjuncts in the mash.

Once steeping is complete, the germinated grains need to be spread out and allowed to sprout.
Sprouting grain is obviously very much alive, and as such undergoes respiration, which
produces heat. The sprouting grain must be kept cool and moist, but not wet and cold. Grain
that is too wet and warm may encourage the growth of mold. Grain that is too dry or cold may
not continue to sprout properly. If sprouting barley is kept moist and cool (55–64 °F/13–18 °C)
the modification process should proceed smoothly. You can let the temperature rise up to 71 °F
(22 °C) towards the end of the germination step. For darker malts, your germination temperature
can be slightly higher — 73–77 °F (23–25 °C.)
Uniformity of modification is the goal during germination. All the barley should sprout and modify
at the same pace so when the time comes to end the germination phase, every kernel will be
properly modified. In order to achieve uniformity, it is necessary to turn the malt at least twice
daily. Turning the malt by hand — using your fingers to untangle the rootlets — will make sure
that as the grain is misted with water it is all moistened the same. Turning also allows heat to be
dissipated, keeping all the grain at the same temperature.

A small-scale approach to the germination process is to lay the steeped grain about 3⁄4 in. (1.9
cm) deep over a single layer of paper towels on shallow roasting pans or cookie sheets. The
pans can then be slid into plastic trash bags and the end folded under the pan to hold in
moisture. When the grain needs to be turned, the pan can be removed from the bag, the grain
turned and moistened with a little spray bottle filled with water. Then the pan of grain is returned
to the bag again to continue sprouting.

Each time the grain is turned and moistened, it should be carefully inspected to monitor its
progress. The shoot or acrospire will grow underneath the husk starting from the root-end of
each grain (where the rootlets will begin to emerge and grow). The shoot is the part of the
sprout that will become the above-ground part of the barley plant. The growing shoot is not
easily observed under the husk. To monitor shoot development, take a kernel and cut it open
with a razor-sharp blade. This will expose the shoot to determine its progress.

The sprouting process will usually take 3–5 days from when the steeped barley was spread out
after steeping. Modification is complete when the shoot is almost the full length of the kernel of
grain. By the time the first white shoot tips poke out of the husk, most of the remaining kernels
should be fully modified. By this stage, there will also be 4 or 5 rootlets of various lengths
protruding from the other end of the kernel. For darker malts, germination is allowed to proceed
slightly farther than for malts destined to become pale malts.

If you are making sorghum malt, germination needs to proceed to the point that the shoots
extend about 1.5–2 kernel lengths to ensure that adequate enzymatic power is developed.

A simple test for modification can be performed by biting a few kernels to see if they are crumbly
inside. The modification process typically proceeds from the base of the kernel where the roots
appear, and works toward the tip. To test for modification, put a kernel between your incisor
teeth and bite down starting at the root end and working your way to the tip. The modified
portion of the kernel will give way and be crumbly. Any unmodified part of the kernel will still be
hard and “steely,” and resist being crushed by your teeth.

Drying and Kilning

Once the malt is fully modified, it is dried immediately and then cured at high temperatures.
These are the final two steps of malting — drying and kilning.

Drying stops the sprouting process at the point where the endosperm has been converted to
starch granules and the enzymes to convert starch to sugar have been produced.

Initial drying must be done with care. If the malt is dried at too high a temperature, the enzymes
may be denatured (inactivated). Moist malted barley (called green malt) fresh from modification
should be dried at temperatures less than 125 °F (52 °C) until it has dried down to 10–12%
moisture or less. Below this level, the malt can be dried at higher temperature without affecting
the enzymes.

With this in mind, it is most practical to dry malt at a temperature of 100–125 °F (38–52°C) in a
food dehydrator or some similar arrangement where a good air flow and proper temperature
control can be maintained. At 10% moisture, the malt should weigh about 0.5 oz. (14 g) less per
pound (0.45 kg) than your starting weight. After 10% moisture is reached, the temperature
should be increased to 140–160 °F (60–71 °C) until the malt is at or below 6% moisture — 3–
5% is the target for most malts. This will be a little less than 13 oz. (376 g) for each original
pound (0.45 kg) of seed barley. There are various types of electronic grain moisture testing
meters, but they are fairly expensive ($200 to $2,000), so unless you know a farmer or grain
elevator manager you can borrow one from, you’ll just have to weigh your malt and do the math.
The entire drying process typically takes six to eight hours in a food dehydrator. After the malt is
dried, it should be sieved to remove the dried rootlets, which may cause problems during
kilning, storage, or milling.

Kilning (roasting) the dried malt develops the final desired character and flavor. Unkilned malt
will produce a “green” tasting wort and resulting beer. To produce standard pale malt, the dried
malt should be kilned for three to five hours at 176–185 °F (80–85 °C). This can typically be
achieved in your home oven with an inexpensive oven thermometer.

However, as we all know, there are a wide variety of brewing malts available in many different
colors and flavors. Malt can be kilned at temperatures between 220–400 °F (104–204 °C) for
various periods of time to produce darker or more aromatic malts. For example, try 220 °F (105
°C) for 4 hours for a Munich-style malt. Any malt kilned at temperatures over 194 °F (90 °C) will
develop melanoidins, the “malty” flavor found in Munich and other dark malts. During the kilning
process, occasional stirring will result in a more uniform final product. More highly kilned malts
will have little or no enzymatic power.

Crystal malt is produced by “stewing,” rather than kilning, green malt. This approach is simply
mashing within the kernel, by heating the green malt to mashing temperatures without letting it
dry. Crystal malt can be produced by putting green malt in a covered dish and holding it
between 150–170 °F (66–77 °C) for a couple hours then spreading it out on an open pan at 250
°F (121 °C) until it achieves the desired color. The longer it kilns, the darker and more
caramelized the sugars will become.

After malt has been kilned sufficiently, the malt should be allowed to cool to room temperature
then stored in a cool, dry place in a closed container. With some basic equipment and a little
care, producing malt is within reach of any homebrewer who would like to add the technique of
malt-making to their repertoire, and homemade malt to their next batch of homebrew.

Finally, there is one possible health and safety issue associated with malting your own grain. If
your malting grain is infected with Fusarium mold, it will produce beer that may be unhealthy to
drink. Fortunately, affected beer will also gush when opened, so you will know if you need to
discard it. If you buy your grain, rather than grow it yourself, ask if it has been tested for
Fusarium.