Making Maltier Beers

What is malt? Malt or malted barley According to John Palmer, “Malted barley is the [principal] source of the sugars (principally maltose) which are fermented into beer.” In the malting process, barley, a cereal grain, is wetted, allowed to sprout, then heated with air to kill the plant. Further heat and wetness is applied to produce the different flavors and colors.

Malting releases enzymes stored in the barley kernels which are later used by the brewer to convert proteins, starch and other compounds into nutrients and sugar essential for the yeast during fermentation. process, the starches in barley are converted into The process which is begun in the malt house is completed at your house during the mash.

Types of malt

2 Row vs. 6 Row: 2 Row has 2 kernels on each ear while 6 row has 6. 2 Row is generally believed to be superior in flavor, though 2 Row has less diastatic power (DP) than 6 Row. DP is the measure of malt’s ability to convert starches to sugars. Most European Barley is 2 Row. North American growers may grow either. Some say 6 row tastes “husky”, though it is a traditional American ingredient for Cream Ales and Classic American Pilsners.

Base malt: Will make up 80-100% of your grain bill. Generally low in color and mild in flavor. Base malt provides the enzymes necessary to convert starch to sugar in the mash. Types of base malt include: American 2 Row, 6 Row, Pale Ale Malt (Golden Promise, Maris Otter), Pilsner malt, Vienna and Munich. Base malts must be mashed. Steeping alone will not convert them.

Specialty malt: Types include various forms of “cara” and Crystal malts, roast barley, Black patent malt, etc. Two types of specialty malt (caramel and roasted) can be steeped and are used commonly by extract brewers. Kilned malts like Victory, biscuit, etc. need to be mashed

Adjunct: Anything that contains starch or sugar can be used as a source of fermentables, grains such as corn, rice, wheat, oats, rye and even fruits and vegetables.

Color: Malt color is rated in the Lovibond scale. A lower equals lighter color. Pilsner malt is on the light end of the scale while roasted barley can be 550 L. EBC and SRM are also used.

Storage: Uncrushed malt should be stored in a sealed container. Keep it dry. I use Rubbermaid bins.

How Do I get More Malty Flavors in my beer?

1. Use “maltier” base malts: Maris Otter, Golden Promise, Munich, Vienna, even Aromatic will drive more maltiness than pils or American 2 Row

2. Up the specialty malts: In a 5 gallon batch try 1-1.5lbs of crystal and a vigorous 90min boil to develop some melanoidins. Also try “layering” the specialty malts, rather than using a pound of Crystal 75, use .5 lb. of Crystal 20 and .5 lb. of Crystal 60 to build complexity.

3. Got time to kill? Pull a decoction. Heat a thin portion of your mash in a separate pot through a sac rest, boil it for 15 minutes and add it back to the mash. That’s how the Germans do it.

4. Use a different mashing technique to enhance maltiness: try mashing with direct heat, rather than infusion. Some say no sparge/batch sparge mashing produces maltier beers.

5. Boil down the first runnings from your mash to intensify the flavors.

6. Yeast choice is also a factor. Some varieties favor maltier flavors, others like 1056 are neutral.

7. Up your mash temps: this is not a direct effect, rather a higher mash temp will favor alpha amylase which leads to more dextrins in the wort which leads to a "thicker" mouthfeel, which makes us think there’s more there

8. If you’re batch sparging, be sure to scale your specialty grains along with your base malt. Lock ingredients to batch size in ProMash.

9. Look at carbonation. Too much carbonation will overwhelm malt flavors. If you’re kegging. make sure your carbonation level is correct for the style. Bottle conditioning requires more fine tuning.

10. Serve the beer at the right temp: If a beer's too cold, malty flavors will be dulled.

11. Back off on the hops, until you get the malty side dialed in - too many flavor and aroma hops can overwhelm malty/grainy flavor.

12. Check your fermentation temp. Try going on the low side of the range to reduce ester production.

13. Taste your malt bill. Count out your malt bill according to grains of malt by percentage and chow down. For example: the classic dry stout recipe is 80%

14. You can figure a lot out about the malt bill with this simple technique.

15. Still not getting that malt flavor you’re looking for? Try toasting your own malt at home. It’s really quite easy. Check out Chapter 16 of Randy Mosher’s “Radical Brewing” for more information.