The grading of malt barley is not as mysterious as it once appeared, says a veteran malt buyer.
For decades, farmers have complained that grading barley as malt was as predictable as the weather.
Jack Foster of Prairie Malt says malting companies have refined their practices to meet the more stringent needs of brewers and have taken most, but not all, of the subjectiveness out of the process.
Foster said the standards used by the maltsters have mostly been set by their brewer customers and international competition.
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Also affecting the selection process and delivery calls are the daily operations of a malt plant and the realities of the domestic supply and international markets, said Garth Massey of Prairie Malt.
Prairie Malt in Biggar, Sask., owned by Cargill and Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, buys 300,000 tonnes of barley annually and processes the malt almost continuously.
“But we can only store 50,000 tonnes, which means that when we grade it in the fall, we will be making choices about which barley we take in (and) when because we operate year round,” said Foster.
Top quality malt barley will often be selected but delivery will be put off until the following spring. If the barley is very dry it will keep better, he said.
But, “if the germination drops to 94, 95, 96 (percent) and it was 100 coming off the combine, we want to get it into the plant now because it’s starting to slip,” said Foster.
Massey said if the barley fails to sprout or sprout fully, it will damage the quality of the malt by adding unwanted, unconverted material to the product.
At harvest, often the first sample of the day might be cold or be read by on-the-go combine monitors. This can impair the ability of the moisture tester to provide an accurate reading, even with the use of conversion charts.
Foster recommends “bringing it into the house. Let it warm up to room temperature and then test it.”
He said once harvest is complete or when the selection sample is being submitted, grain bins should be probed rather than using samples taken from the “endgate of the truck and placed in a jar on a shelf in the house.
“That is how barley gets selected and then ends up rejected on delivery … it changes in the bin environment,” he said.
In the past, barley, like most other cereals, could be harvested, binned and sold to the maltsters at 14.5 percent moisture.
Barley sold internationally for brewing makes a long voyage through some warm and humid conditions and the more moist it is, the worse it will travel.
Foster said new standards have been set at 13 percent and even domestic maltsters have seen an increase in germination rates as a result.
Australia and the European Union sell malting barley at 13 percent moisture and Canada now competes with that standard.
Today’s maltsters base their systems on grain that sprouts uniformly and converts fully.
The grain must be of the same quality, with hulls intact, and of the same variety.
Foster said brewers now perform DNA testing on malt samples to confirm the variety.
“In the steam tank we need that barley to sprout and convert at exactly the same rate. That’s why we prefer to buy bin lots from the elevator,” he said.
“Oxbow was one of those varieties that was too unpredictable in the steam tank. Some would sprout immediately, some not. It was totally out of control and that’s why we don’t like it,” he said.
The popularity of a malting variety also makes a difference at selection time.
For many years Harrington was the most popular variety. Because there was a large pool to choose from, selectors’ standards could be tightened and more grain was rejected. Foster suggested that producers consult with grain companies and maltsters before selecting a variety.
“If you are growing a variety that is in strong demand and shorter supply, then we have to make some accommodations for it,” he said.
“Manley is a prime example. It is very popular and lots of you grow it, but that means we have a greater pool from which to draw and can be tighter on our selection process. We have a market for Kendall and limited supply,” he said.
Foster said staining indicates the presence of fungus and other organisms that will grow rapidly in the grain while it is sprouting in the steam tanks.
“Staining matters. When we get a bad batch of barley going mouldy in the plant, I get people in the grocery store in downtown Biggar stopping me to say ‘you really messed up that batch, Jack.’ That won’t make good beer.”
