malted barley

I find the broadest misunderstanding about malt is that it is a process and not a thing. Any grain can be malted, but usually barley is the grain of choice because barley is the least expensive. As you will have already learned by your tour of a brewery, and who hasn't done that?, beer brewers spread barley across a malting floor, spray it with water, and with warmth bring it to germination with a gentleness and kindness that is truly touching, carefully turning it continuously so the grain stays aerated, fresh, warm, and comfortably damp. Then, just as the roots develop from the radicle and the plumule develops into the hypocotyl in anticipation of becoming an adult shoot, and has reached a length that equals the length of the seed, the brewers abruptly and chillingly murder the tiny shoots by turning up the heat and toasting them en masse. That is called malting. It is an act of plant infanticide on a commercial scale.

As seeds germinate they're particularly susceptible to attack by yeast and bacteria. Because of this, germinating grain and malted grain have long been associated with natural culture bread, so-called sourdough, and with beer.

Bread and beer grew up together. Beer is liquid bread. It's been imagined the early Egyptians developed their own mad beer-making skillz by tossing chunks of cooked bread into containers of water. Wall paintings depict this activity and the contents of ancient amphorae have been examined and confirm this, but I do not believe that was necessary. Water dousing a container of grain and neglected in the North African heat to ferment, even for a single day, would be sufficient to start off beer, likewise, so would a measure of grain spilled into a container of water and similarly left to ferment. Some atmospheres are just that yeasty. And being young and a little bit stupid, and always curious, and with the thing there foaming, who wouldn't take a sip? Perhaps on a dare, or just for fun.

My own experiments with malting barley have failed. By that failure I did learn what pearled barley is. I'm still on the lookout for non-pearled barley and I continue to see plenty of smashed barley, just as they do with oats.

I found a new home-brewery shop that carries various malted barleys for the purpose of making beer. It's called Stomp Them Grapes and it's much closer to my apartment than the old place I was going. The young fellow there showed an interest in my camera. He was intrigued and rather knowledgeable about Nikon models and features so I handed it to him and let him snap away. We bonded.




I'm convinced I could make great beer, but I don't drink it that much so it would be just for the novelty or to give it away. I'd go for an ale, with Newcastle as my target ale. But I was there for the malt, which you can see up there in the second picture, bottom right in clustered bags divided by type.