Malting: The cereal grains such as barley are soaked in water to germinate. Then, the germination process is stopped abruptly and the grains are dried using hot air. This process is known as malting and is helpful in development of such enzymes which convert starch of the grain into various types of sugar. These sugar types include monosaccharide (glucose and fructose) and disaccharides (maltose and sucrose).
Proteases, which are enzymes, are also formed along with the sugars and these help in breaking proteins of grains into simpler forms. These simpler forms are then used by yeast in the brewing process.
Two processes- sprouting and kiln-drying compose the practice of malting and these are carried out at the malt houses. The sprouted barley is dried using a kiln-drier. The sprouted barley is spread evenly on a wooden floor, preferably perforated. The wooden floor is then heated with the smoke which originates from oasting fireplace. Smoke channels are used to route the smoke and eventually, heating of the sprouted grain. About 131 Degree F or 55 degree C temperature is maintained during heating process.
Malt houses are usually single-storey buildings which have slightly tilted floors. Quite interestingly, these types of malt houses became popular during the decade starting 1940 and some minor changes to the design of such malt houses have been made since then. In one single batch around 20 tons of grains can be processed in a malt house. At the same time, a highly sophisticated pneumatic plant can handle as much as 100 tons of grain.
Barley is the most preferred grain for brewing beer. The high content of enzymes and a high distatic power in comparison to other grains is the primary reason behind that. The distatic power refers to the speed at which grains tend to germinate.