How many different types of malt are there in the production of craft beer?

Malt is one of the basic ingredients of beer, and its use is more than water. But, few people know exactly what it is, and often have incomprehensible and obvious mistakes about malt. Simply put, the word malt means any malted grain. When we talk about beer, we will mention barley malt. But there will also be wheat, rye, and oat malt.
The manufacturing process of simple laundered malt causes some chemical transformations in the grains, which prepares the grains for effective use in the brewing process. It is believed that when beer was first invented, the ancient form of malting already existed. So, we seem to have been using improved grains to brew beer.

Malt manufacturing

The first step in malting is to soak the grain in water until it absorbs half of its weight or germs appear. The grain is then transferred to a temperature-controlled germination chamber, where the malt needs to be turned regularly. The last step is drying, which is to put the grains in the cellar to remove the moisture.
To put it simply, the malting process controls the germination of grains, interrupting this natural process and the chemical transformation of grains. In particular, malt helps release specific enzymes, which can help reduce the complexity of starch and break down starch into simpler sugars. Sugar is metabolized by yeast during the beer brewing process.
Depending on the drying temperature, technology, and other aspects, different malts with different characteristics can be obtained. Craft beer can be brewed with a single type of malt, or it can be brewed with different ratios of malt mixtures. Of course, malt has a great contribution to the sensory characteristics of beer, and different malt and aroma characteristics have different effects.

Types of malt

The brewer can use a variety of malts. These malts can be divided into two categories: one type of malt can be soaked (suitable for extraction and brewing), and the other type of malt needs to be mashed (requires whole grain brewing).

Base Malts (need to saccharify)

Lager Malt 2 L

Lager Malt can be used to brew both ales and Lager beer. Pale lager beer is the most common beer style, and its name comes from this fact. Lager malt is the most commonly used type of malt for brewing beer because it is always the easiest to buy. Also, Lager Malt is used in almost all types of beer.

Pale Ale Malt 3 L

Compared with Lager Malt, this type of malt has a higher drying temperature in the drying oven and produces a slightly roasted malt flavor, which is very suitable for brewing Pale Ales beer.

Wheat Malt 3 L

The history of wheat used to brew beer is almost as old as barley, and wheat has the same mashing ability as barley. Depending on the beer style, 5 to 70% of the malt used for mashing can be wheat malt. Wheat has no husk and has fewer tannins than barley. The grains are usually smaller than barley but have more protein, which contributes to the foam persistence of beer. Due to the high protein content, it is much more viscous than barley. If the “Protein Rest” is not carried out during the mashing period, it may cause difficult infiltration.

Rye Malt 3 L

Sprouted rye is not common, but it is easily available because it is currently popular. In the grain formula table for winemaking, 5-10% of rye can be used to get the flavor of rye. It is even more viscous than wheat during mashing, so it should be treated accordingly.

Pilsner Malt

The palest malt of all, largely used in many styles. The drying temperature starts at 35 °C and gradually rises to 70-85 °C with variable stops. It has the delicate taste of cereal and acacia honey.

Pale Malt

The drying temperatures are higher than Pilsner malt, and give notes of bread crust and, in some cases, biscuity nuances (as is the case for the renowned English Maris Otter).

Kilned Malts (need to be mashed)

Kilned Malts are usually obtained by directly increasing the baking temperature during the production of basic malt. Also, the processed basic malt can be baked on a stove for a certain period of time. You can also process these malt at home.

Biscuit Malt 25 L

This fully roasted and lightly roasted malt gives the beer the aroma of biscuits and panels. The use of this malt usually accounts for 10% of the entire grain formula table. It can make the beer appear dark amber.

Victory Malt 25 L

This Kilned malt is like Biscuit Malt in taste, but it makes the beer nuttier. Victoria malt can bring an orange to beer and stress the color of beer.

Munich Malt 10 L

This kind of malt is amber, and gives the beer the flavor of wheat, and has enough mashing ability. But, it is usually mashed together with the base malt. This malt is used in Oktoberfest beer and many other types of beer, including Pale Ales beer.

Vienna Malt 4 L

Compared with Munich Malt, this malt has a lighter color and a sweeter taste. It is an important component of Bock beer. It retains enough enzyme capacity to transform itself, but it is usually used for mashing together with basic malt.

Dextrin Malt 3 L

This is the well-known American Carapils, this kind of malt should be used conservatively. It will darken the color of the beer a little, strengthen the taste and feel the thickness of the beer. The usual usage of 5 gallons of beer is 1/2 pound. If soaked in Dextrin Malt, a lot of starch that cannot be converted will be formed and the starch will become cloudy.

Caramel Malts (both soaked, crushed and mashed)

Caramel Malts (Crystalline Malt) is made by a special heating and cooking process to crystallize sugars. These sugars are long-chain molecules that have been caramelized and cannot be converted into monosaccharides by enzymes during mashing. This results in a thicker malt flavor and caramel sweetness in the beer, which makes the beer taste thicker. These malts are used in almost all ales beers and high-strength Lager beers. Usually, 5 gallons of beer is added with 1/2 pound of different types of crystalline malt, which accounts for 5-25% of the total malt formula.

Caramel 10 L

This malt brings a slight honey-like sweetness to the beer, and can partly increase the thickness of the finished wine.

Caramel 40 L

This malt deepens the color of the beer and adds a slight caramel sweetness. This makes it quite suitable for brewing light-colored Ales beer and amber-colored Lager beer.

Caramel 60 L

This is the most commonly used Caramel Malts, and it is also called medium crystal. It is very suitable for brewing Pale Ales beer, English style Bitter beer, Porter stout, and Stout stout beer. It gives the beer a rich caramel flavor and thick character.

Caramel 80 L

This malt can be used to brew dark red beer, and give the beer a slightly sweet and bitter caramel flavor.

Caramel 120L

This malt deepens the color of the beer and adds a bittersweet caramel flavor. A small amount can be used to increase the complexity of the beer, or a large amount can be added to old ales beer, barleywines beer, and doppelbock.

Special B 220 L

This unique Belgian malt has the sweetness of roasted nuts. In brown ales, porter, and doppelbocks, the right amount (1/4-1/2 pound) is great. Using more than 1/2 pound in a batch of 5 gallons of lager beer will give the beer a plum-like flavor.

Roasted Malts (can be soaked or mashed and mashed)

This heavily roasted malt can give porter and Stout a coffee or burnt taste. Obviously, these malts should be used in moderation. Some brewers recommend adding this malt towards the end of the mashing process. They think this can reduce the astringent taste of the malt. Also, using soft water or water with low bicarbonate content seems to produce a smoother taste. Generally, this type of malt is used in a low amount, and when the pulverization is finer, a smaller amount can be used to get a better color.

Chocolate Malt 400 L

A small amount of this malt is used in brown British Ales beer and is widely used in porter and Stout. It will give the beer a bittersweet chocolate taste and pleasant roasting characteristics, and make the beer appear dark red and black.

Black Patent Malt 580 L

This is the darkest black malt and must be used conservatively. The amount added to every 5 gallons of beer is usually less than 1/2 pound. If used in excessive amounts, the beer will smell of coke, which makes it very uncomfortable to taste. The use of this malt can be used to color the beer or to limit the sweetness of other types of beer that uses a lot of caramel malt. This can be achieved by using 1 or 2 ounces of this malt.

Roast Barley 550 L

This is not real malt, but heavy roasted normal barley. It has a dry, distinct coffee taste and is the signature flavor of Stout. Compared with Black Patent, its “astringent” charcoal flavor is less.

These are the types of malt that need to be used in the production of craft beer. The malt mentioned in it is the best representative of certain types of malt. This is not a complete list. Every malt factory has its own characteristics, and I cannot list every malt. When brewing beer, you also need to use brewery equipment. If you want to open your own brewery or expand plans, you can contact us. Micet Craft will provide you with the most complete turnkey solution for the brewery.

Beer Brewing Equipment

Beer Brewery Equipment Manufacturer The brewing supplies provided by Micet Craft can support your brewing needs from small batches of micro beer brewing equipment to 100 barrels capacity. Micet Craft has reached cooperation with many breweries around the world, we can design and manufacture professional brewing systems for breweries, including cellar beer brewing equipment and other

Fermentation Tank

China stainless steel fermentation vessels manufacturer The fermentation tank is where the beer carry out the fermentation process, it provides a place suitable for life activities and metabolism for microorganisms. To adapt to the use of different sizes of breweries, Micet Craft produced a variety of sizes and specifications of fermentation tanks. Customers can choose

Bright Beer Tank

Professional bright Beer tank manufacturer from China The bright tank is a vessel for storing and carbonated beer, it is also called the brite tank. The bright tank is an important part of the workflow of professional beer brewers. It can be used to store and carbonate beer, thus eliminating the trouble of cleaning beer

Brewing Equipment

China brewing equipment manufacturer and suppliers Micet Craft has cooperated with breweries in many countries around the world to provide them with brewing equipment. We provide customers with turnkey brewery solutions, which include designing, manufacturing and installing customized breweries. The Micet Craft team has decades of experience in the manufacturing of brewing equipment, we not

Can regular dish soap be used to clean brewery equipment?

Brewhouse Equipment

Best brewhouse equipment manufacturer from china Brewing good beer requires brewhouse equipment. Whether you are brewing beer for home, business or brewery, Micet Craft can provide a turnkey solution according to the daily output you need. We have brewhouse equipment with 2 vessels, 3 vessels and 4 vessels, the unique design allows you to do decoction

Beer Filling Machine

Professional beer filling machine manufacturer Beer filling machine is the core equipment of the beer production line. Our beer filling system uses stainless steel as the production material. Stainless steel is not easy to wear, and it is easy to clean. Micet Craft provides you with a cheap and efficient way of filling beer. We

Beer Brewing System

Best beer brewing system manufacturer from china Micet Craft is a professional beer brewing system manufacturer in China. We mainly produce high-end customized turnkey brewing systems. Whether you are planning to open a nano-brewery, microbrewery, or commercial brewery, we can provide you with the most complete turnkey solution. Our beer brewing systems are all price-competitive

Get a turnkey solution for brewery equipment

If you plan to open or expand the brewery, you can contact Micet Craft directly. Our engineers will design and manufacture brewery equipment according to your brewing process. Of course, we will also provide you with a complete turnkey solution. Also, if you plan to expand the brewery, we will provide you with customized solutions.