Now that we have a general explanation of the nature of malt, we can enter the brewery, where the raw materials, each in turn, will be used for the production of the final product - beer. (See fig. 2-1).

The malt is shipped to the brewery by transport truck where, on arrival, a system of vertical bucket elevators and horizontal conveyors moves the malt into storage bins.

Approximately 1 kg (2.2 lbs.) of malt will produce 5 litres (1.1 gal.) of beer. In our plant, brew sizes vary from 175 hl (3850 gal.) [ 1 hl = 100 litres = 22 gals. ] to 210 hl (4620 gal.) The first step in producing a brew is the grinding of the whole malt. Attentive control is exercised in the use of whole malt and complete records are kept of the amount used per brew, for excise purposes.

If the malt is friable, tender and of an even size, a simple mill will do all that is necessary. Our mill contains two pairs of rolls and can deal more efficiently with malt of varying or average quality.

The object of grinding is two-fold: to crush the malt and lay open the starch bearing endosperm so that the malt enzymes will be able to act most efficiently on the starch, protein and other constituents during mashing; while simultaneously the husks should pass through the grinding process with only a minimum of damage. The husks contain certain soluble substances capable of imparting objectionable flavours to the beer, but they are invaluable in the lauter tun in an undamaged condition as we depend on them for filtering action.

If the malt were ground too fine, then we would encounter low extract yields through filtering difficulties and objectionable flavours from the ground husk. Too coarse a grind also results in low yields because considerable starch will not be converted since it is not liberated during grinding. Satisfactory grinding is a happy compromise, with reduction of the interior of the malt kernel to grits, with a minimum of flour and with husks as unbroken as possible. After grinding, the malt is called grist and is delivered by the same bucket elevator from the malt mill to the ground malt hopper.

In our plant, the ground malt hopper is a large scale capable of holding the entire quantity of ground malt for a brew. It is located directly above the lauter tun.

We have now prepared our malt for the actual brewing operation. Our next consideration will be the water supply for the brew.

Top | HOME