Malt: A Practical Guide from Field to Brewhouse

Brewing Elements Series

by John Mallett(1)

Often playing second fiddle to hops in the minds of craft beer drinkers, malt is the backbone of “No barley, no beer.” Malt defines the color, flavor, body, and alcohol of beer and has been cultivated for nearly as long as agriculture has existed. In this book, author John Mallett explains why he feels a book on malt is necessary, taking the reader on a brief history of malting from the earliest records of bappir through to the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period. When Mallett touches on the major changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution and beyond, he illustrates how developments in malting technology were intertwined with politics and taxation, which increasingly came to bear on the world of maltsters and brewers. Of course, no book on malt would be complete without a look at the processes behind malting and how different malts are made. Mallett neatly conveys the basics of malt chemistry, Maillard reactions, and diastatic power―the enzymes, starches, sugars, glucans, phenols, proteins, and lipids involved. Descriptions of the main types of malt are included, from base malt, caramel malts, and roasted malts through to specialty malts and other grains like wheat, rye, and oats. Information is interspersed with the thoughts and wisdom of some of America's most respected craft brewers. Understanding an ingredient requires appreciating where it comes from and how it is grown. The author condenses the complexities of barley anatomy and agriculture into easy, readable sections, seamlessly combining these details with high-level look at the economic and environmental pressures that dictate the livelihoods of farmers and maltsters. Mallett explains how to interpret―and when to rely on―malt quality and analysis sheets, an essential skill for brewers. There is a summary of the main barley varieties, both modern and heritage, from Europe and America. The book finishes with what happens to the malt once it reaches the brewery, addressing issues of malt packaging, handling, preparation, storage, conveyance, and milling in the brewhouse.

Genres: Brewing, Beer, Nonfiction, Reference

297 pages, Paperback

First published September 7, 2014

Reviews

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Description: Brewers often call malt the soul of beer. Fourth in the Brewing Elements series, Malt: A Practical Guide from Field to Brewhouse delves into the intricacies of this key ingredient used in virtually all beers. This book provides a comprehensive overview of malt, with primary focus on barley, from the field through the malting process. With primers on history, agricultural development and physiology of the barley kernel, John Mallett (Bell s Brewery, Inc.) leads us through the enzymatic conversion that takes place during the malting process. A detailed discussion of enzymes, the Maillard reaction, and specialty malts follows. Quality and analysis, malt selection, and storage and handling are explained. This book is of value to all brewers, of all experience levels, who wish to learn more about the role of malt as the backbone of beer."

Opening: Harry Harlan—the “Indiana Jones” of Barley: A strange and winding path led me to the basement repository of the Kalamazoo Public Library to read about the Ethiopian people. Physically, the journey was just a quick walk down a set of stairs, but intellectually the trail was long and complex, sown with seeds of barley. I was in that book-lined basement on a mission to locate the 1925 National Geographic article “A Caravan Journey through Abyssinia” written by Harry Harlan. Harry had become a bit of an obsession for me, and I was trying to find out as much about him and his life as I could.

Ever since a visit to St. James's in Dublin xx years ago, I have been rather drawn to aspects of the brewing industry. I would like to track down Harry Vaughn Harlan's, he sounds fab!

circa 1924

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the first announcement that the BA was doing the Elements Series, I was excited for a book on malt because at times I've found it one of the more perplexing ingredients in beer. I felt like I had a pretty good handle on what a number of hops tasted like from drinking single hop beers and smelling hops. I could drink beers made with a yeast and get some idea of what the flavor contributions were. But when I worked with malt I was usually using multiple malts that I found difficult to parse in the final beer and seemed highly influenced by mashing temperature and yeast selection. I can't say that reading Malt has totally helped sort that out, but moving to all-grain brewing and continuing to make beer has helped some. As with the other Elements books, Malt does a great job breaking down the basic history, biology, chemistry, use and handling of malt. Not everything in here is practical for the homebrewer, for example there is an entire chapter on malt handling that can easily be skipped since it focuses on malt storage and conveyance for breweries that measure their malt storage in tons rather than pounds. It's interesting but for me you could replace it with "be careful with your back when lifting heavy stuff." I think I do more than an average amount of reading about brewing and I found plenty of new and interesting information here that was practical and worth the read. My one minor beef is that I didn't feel like the writing had much character. I've heard John Mallett speak on this subject and he was entertaining and personable, but much of that is lost here in a book that's practical to the point of being fairly dry. That aside the writing is clear and easy to understand and if you're reading a book called "Malt" it means you probably are interested enough in the subject matter to find it entertaining.

[Clay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Of the four book in the Beer ingredients series, I was least impressed by this one.
Too much superfluous info and not enough applicable info. It was poorly organized and I found it to be awkward.
Useful information can be gleaned, but I felt like it was lackluster.

[Jean Vu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty comprehensive overview of the contributions of malt/barley for the purpose of brewing. The description of malt varieties would be more interesting if the author discuss about their enzymatic activities & barley quality requirements.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clear and accessible, the guide delivers on its promise to cover the entire journey of grain to malt and is filled with practical information. It is a bit repetitive and filled with anecdotes that some might love and others might skip. Lacking a bit on some of the more technical information but to its credit gives references to where others might find those details.

[Paul Klammer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very readable for a technical book. Useful as a reference. Varieties of malts, S/T ratios, and reading/using COA info were most valuable takeaways for me. Malt is a topic that in my experience, rarely receives detailed scrutiny or discussion by home brewers. However, I think for those who like to compete at homebrewing contests in malt oriented categories/styles, or who want to really dial-in every aspect of a favorite beer recipe, there is important information here that will allow one to be able to explore and choose the best malt products and sources for their purpose. All of this of course, assumes one can obtain malts from the many maltsters not typically found at supply stores or the major on-line sources. There are some extensive tables included on available malts and maltster statistics that are likely dated though the book is only about 10 years old at this point. They do point the way to further exploration via internet resources however.

[Craig Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

A "natural history" of the seed of a grass and its impact on civilization. A grain. A corn. Barleycorn.
When I requested my local bookseller to order this for me I was not aware of the extent to which the book might contain those aspects of industrial agriculture and product processing. It was, however, fascinating and informative to that extent.
Descriptions and comments about the growth of the grain in the fields, to delivery of the kernels to the malter... the first step in it's conversion to the form used in brewing, to the brewing itself, the author delivers clear, educational content.
As a home brewer, I found that these aspects have added to my knowledge of the overall process.
Recommended.

[Jürgen Defurne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything that you could need to know about malt, from barley to milled malt. How barley is grown, how it is malted, history of malting, etc. A full overview of this subject. Everything that provides more details is a university level course for a degree in biology or biochemistry.

From the perspective of the simple homebrewer, the first five chapters and the last, about milling, are the most interesting. The other chapters are either for those whom can't satisfy their curiosity, or those that have plans to want to do more than homebrewing, or the terminally perfectionists.

All in all a satisfying read, but in some places maybe a bit too US centric. A reference of brewing measurements would also have been a good addendum (actually, in all four of the books).

[Christina Puma · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had some great practical knowledge that I feel confident I can apply to my brewing. I appreciated the attention to the chemistry and agriculture as applicable to malt. I skipped over the "malthouse tours." I also just skimmed the last few chapters, which felt more applicable to people who want to start a brewery (especially the malt quality and analysis and handling and preparation chapters which were really only applicable to breweries). The book advertises itself as applicable to brewers of "all experience levels," but I wouldn't recommend this for anyone who is just beginning. This is more useful for folks who have the basic process down and want to take a deeper dive. Excited to read the other books in this series.

[Al Culbertson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very comprehensive book on malting but I was expecting something a little bit different. I was hoping he would focus less on malting grain and more on mashing grain. I guess I should have read the title first before I formulated my expectations.

I read the book, sometimes having to force myself to keep reading, but now that I've done it, I'm happy I did it. I now have a much better understanding of what I am using in my beers. I was also a little bit biased because I grew up in Michigan (where bells is located) so I immediately loved the book before I even started reading. John mallet is clearly a well educated brewer (as shown by bells brewery awesome line a beers).

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice guide to themes like the history of malting, ecology of barley, chemistry of how malting happens, process of malting both today and historically, and varieties of malt, with stories from brewers (and malters) breaking it up. Most was beyond what I would need to know, but it is after all a "guide from field to brewhouse".

My main quibble is that there wasn't enough about the end results: aroma and flavour were only briefly touched on, and colour barely at all. All could have used more time devoted to it.

[Geoff Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

This otherwise useful and informative volume is undermined by sloppy production (numerous spelling and grammatical errors) that raises questions about overall accuracy of content. A more careful and thorough edit would inspire greater confidence and push it up a notch. That being said, I learned a lot about the subject.

[Zachary Perrotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Has some great history and craft beer industry nerds should find it a fun read. But, if you're a homebrewer looking for a helpful technical piece then you may find this book lacking. With the exception of the malt variety section, nearly all the info is geared towards professional brewers. Still a good book but temper your expectations.

[Fabricio Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a deep lesson about barley and malting

I was delighted to read the complete book, very well written by John, and going from good overviews to the deep details about barley and malting. Very easy to see the passion of John on this important element of our beers! I learned a lot and recommend all brewers to read it!

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Certainly comprehensive and technical, but weirdly superficial in some areas. Would have loved to see more in there about landrace/heirloom malt development. If you're a homebrewer interested in malt, the chapter in Palmer's How to Brew is more than sufficient.

[Darren Carthy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Similarly to the brewing elements book "water" the knowledge contained in this book was a little hard won. I found the structure of the final chapters a little disjointed, in contract to the opening chapters which had a very clear flow to them.

[Kalama · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly Recommeded

For those of us that view brewing as more than a hobby, this book serves as required reading. A must buy for your brewing library.

[Joost · Rating 2 out of 5]

While there is a lot of good information in this book it is not very handy as a reference to come back to.

[Grndpa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, but probably more useful from perspective of a bit bigger brewery.

[Chris Heier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read for anyone interested in making beer. Great history on malt and a good resource for modern brewers.

[Mario Rivas · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a good book to understand the malt and how its made, the full process of malting is described however I found the topics disorganized and sometimes boring.

[Russell Yarnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read to understand how those starchy grains help make beer. It covers the history of how malt has developed over the years.

[Paige Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introduction into the science of malt for brewing.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent introduction to Malt. It teaches the basics, and gives a good starting place for further research.

[Patrick Reeves · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yeast is better.

[Zachary Richards · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a history and how it's made book than a guide on the different types of malt and when to use which types

[Ramon van Dam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite dense, but it does what it says on the tin. John Mallett really goes deep into all aspects of malt and not everything is relevant to me, but that's not the books vault.

[Jason Carlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too much storytelling. Like the hop book, it started getting good by the halfway point once the storytelling stuff ended. Still a good book, lots of great information and history

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Essential reading for serious brewers (home or professional) and goes deep (like… really deep) on barley and malt. Really treats the grains like the first class citizen that it is -- goes into everything from the agriculture and varietals (including heirloom grains), to the malting process, to the chemistry of the grist. Like I said about "the Water book", you'll want to brush up on your chemistry a bit. Also, I wasn't a fan of how it was structured (back and forth between the plant itself, malt varieties, blights and rusts, grist biochemistry, malting operations and malt dust explosions…) -- but there is an extensive index making it easy to re-find the choice bits.

[David H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book! I understand so much more about malt now. It was mostly easy to read and entertaining, though the chemistry section was (by necessity) pretty heavy for someone unaccustomed to those types of discussions.
I'll likely reread it in a year or so. Perhaps I'll be able to get more out of it after more brewing experience.