Malting
Former Wolff malt factory in Erfurt (building from 1885)
Old malt house in Berlin-Pankow
In a malting is malting of grain brewing malt prepared. Worldwide there are around 180 countries with breweries , but only around 50 countries with malting houses. There are around 45 commercial malthouses in Germany. In 2011 these produced around 2.1 million tons of malt.
history
Historically, breweries malted themselves and were therefore both a brewery and a malthouse in one. Particularly from the second half of the 19th century, distinctive brewery and malting facilities were built. Nowadays, only a few breweries still produce their own malt. With increasing industrialization in the middle of the 19th century, the production of malt separated more and more from the production of beer, and the malting plants became independent companies. Even so, malting is inextricably linked with brewing. The profession of brewer and maltster (brewer and maltster) combines both activities.
Malt making process
The production of malt can be divided into three sub-areas.
- The soft .
When soaking in the soft house, the barley (or other brewing grain) is moistened for 2–3 days until the water content of the grain is around 40–45 percent. - The germination .
The soaked barley germinates in germination systems for 4–7 days. Leaf and root germs form from the seedling of the grain, and enzymes are created or activated in the grain. - The Darren .
The germinated green malt is dried on the kiln in a gentle process and this is how color and flavoring substances are formed in the grain.
By different malting a variety can brewing malts are produced which in turn makes different beers possible.
technology
Malting technology has developed significantly over the past 100 years. This is most noticeable with the germination technology:
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Tennenmälzerei (Engl. Floor Maltings ).
This technology already existed in the 17th century. For this purpose, the germinal material is spread out on the ground in relatively thin layers (approx. 30 cm) and regularly turned manually. The traditional method is very laborious and has a small capacity. Nevertheless, floor malting is still used very occasionally for specialty malts or in particularly traditional companies, but then mostly with mechanical turners.
By the middle of the 20th century at the latest, floor malting was largely replaced by pneumatic germination processes. Fresh air is passed through the germinal material from below. By supplying air, higher layer heights and thus higher production can be achieved in the same space. - Box malting (English Saladin box ).
Box malting used to be the most common form of pneumatic malting and is still widely used today. The grain is germinated in square germination boxes and turned mechanically. The process was developed by the French Charles Saladin, which is why the germination boxes of the box malting are also called Saladin boxes. - Wanderhaufenmälzerei / germ line (Engl. Traveling pile ).
In the wandering heap, the germinal material was originally conveyed forward a defined distance in a long hall, the so-called germ line, by a turning and conveyor system. Today this technology is almost exclusively used as a so-called transfer box. The best known here is the Lausmann system, in which there is a separate germination box for each germination day with raised and lowerable tray bases, on which the germination material is further conveyed on a daily basis. Although these systems are very user-friendly and require comparatively few staff, this technology has only established itself for smaller systems because of the high investment costs. - Drum maltings .
The grain germinates in rotating drums. This technology is now largely obsolete and is rarely used. - Tower malthouse (Engl. Tower Maltings ).
The grain germinates in round boxes, several of which are placed one above the other. This technology has existed since the early 1970s and, due to its space-saving design and the short air and transport routes, has become the standard for larger new malthouses, especially at port locations. - Keimdarrkästen (Engl. Germinate and Kilning Vessel ).
The germination and drying process steps are carried out one after the other in a germination box, without the need for time-consuming repositioning of the germination material. This is why the system is also known as static malting. The boxes can be either square (saladin boxes) or round (tower malting). The technology was first implemented in the Schill malthouse in Osthofen in 1966 and is therefore also known as the Schill germ kiln system. However, kilning in the germination box turned out to be uneconomical because of the higher heat energy requirement. This technology was largely abandoned, especially after the oil crises and the associated sharp rise in energy prices in the 1970s.
Malt delivery to the Moninger brewery
Companies in the sector
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Existing :
Former: |
Web links
Commons : Malting - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Individual evidence
- ^ Klaus Rieseler: Early large breweries in Germany. The brewery architecture between 1870 and 1930 in the cities of Dortmund, Kulmbach and Berlin . (PDF; 28.0 MB) Dissertation, TU Berlin 2003
- ^ Dennis Edward Briggs: Malt and Maltings . Thomson Science, London 1998, ISBN 0-412-29800-7 .
- ↑ Katrin Klein: The terminology of malt preparation for beer production . Diploma thesis University of Vienna, 2007
- ↑ a b Katrin Klein: The terminology of malt preparation for beer production . 2009, p. 42
- ↑ Ludwig Narcissus , Werner Back: The beer brewery . Volume 1: The technology of malt preparation , p. 344
- ↑ Schuster, Weinfurtner, Narcissus: Technology of malt preparation . P. 236 ff.
- ↑ Worlds largest commercial malting companies 2016. First Key, accessed October 27, 2018 .