a morning with maltsters, part four

Making Malt: in the final presentation we were taken from ancient times and traditional floor malting into the present day, where modern germinating kilning vessels can make up to 500 tons of malt at a time, in a continuous batching process.

Most of the malt made in Britain is used in the brewing and distilling industries, with roughly 500,000 tons of malt each year being used by commercial brewers and 800,000 tons going to the distilleries. There are around twenty million casks of whisky maturing in the 115 distilleries around the UK. Our third speaker, Eric Walker, was a man with lots of experience in every aspect of the malting, brewing and distilling industries. He began with a quick look at making malt in the distant past, pointing out that malt has been important for a very long time.

Its' origins are lost in the mists of time.

There's a story that ancient Egyptians, around 3000 years ago, may have made their malt by putting grain into baskets, then lowering the basket into a deep well. The basket could be raised and lowered, effectively steeping the grain. It would germinate in the basket and was shaken at regular intervals to prevent the rootlets from matting. Green malt was dried in the sun. The method is described in detail here on the Briess Malt web page. I'm not so sure this was an efficient way to make large amounts of malt for brewing. Perhaps enough could be made for small scale brewing.

It would be interesting to do some experimental and practical work, to assess the validity of the idea that malt can be made in a well, using a basket. I wondered how much malt could have been made in this way. There would not be enough to supply large vats like those at Hierakonopolis, a predynastic site in Egypt, which were probably used as mash tuns.

Beer was being made here in industrial quantities.

The vats, probably mash tuns, at Hierakonopolis, Egypt. Source here

The Egyptians must have used floors for germinating the barley. A malting floor is not an obvious thing to identify in the archaeological record. All that's required is a smooth level floor surface within a building. It's something that has been overlooked in the interpretation of archaeological sites. Archaeologists don't often interpret the remains of a building as having possibly been a grain barn or a floor surface as having been being suitable for making malt.

Eric talked about malting floors and the potential evidence for the manufacture of ale in prehistory. I was rather pleased that, on his next slide, he showed some of the evidence for the making of malt and ale in Neolithic Britain. That's my research.

There is good evidence for the manufacture of malt and ale at some of the Orcadian neolithic sites, such as Skara Brae and Barnhouse, six thousand years ago. At Skara Brae there were sherds from a large 30 gallon pot found beside the central hearth. Excavated by Vere Gordon Childe in the 1930s, no residue analysis was done on these pot sherds. Its' location would be an ideal spot for a fermenting barley wort. At the site of Barnhouse, another neolithic village, there was a possible malting floor as well as many drains which are essential for a brewer. Analysis of pot sherds using the technique of Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry revealed "unidentified sugars and barley lipids" in the fabric of the pottery. It's a possible indication of sparging. If they were sparging to obtain a wort then they must have been making malt and ale. 

If you want to read more about neolithic and bronze age evidence, I suggest you have a look here at an article we wrote for Orkneyjar a few years ago. It's about the prehistoric transformation of grain into ale. You'll also find links to my published academic papers and to my thesis. I know of no other archaeologists who are working on the archaeological evidence for the manufacture of barley malt and ale in the neolithic. It seems to be considered a controversial topic by some academics, or so I am told. That's why I was pleased to see my work referred to at this malting seminar. Clearly the professional maltsters, brewers and distillers have no problem with the idea.

Eric described how floor malting is labour intensive, requiring skilled and dedicated people. It was the only way of making malt until the mid 19th century. The malt must be turned and raked on the floor, as well as being moved around the maltings from steep tank to germination floor, and from there to the kiln floor. It takes many workers to make the malt.

Modern pneumatic maltings changed all of this.

Two Belgian malting engineers, Galland and Saladin, are considered to be the fathers of modern pneumatic malting. In 1873 Galland designed a system of aerated rectangular boxes. A few years later, in 1880, Saladin introduced a mechanised turning system. The new integrated system of aeration and mechanical turning of the malt by Archimedes screws was called
a saladin box.

A few Saladin boxes are in use today, this one is at Tamdu Distillery

, source here

The workers who turned the malt cannot have been happy about this. For many, it meant the loss of their job. It was, in so many ways, a revolution in the malting industry, although it took several decades, until the 1960s, before Saladin boxes became commonplace in a maltings.

The technology of making malt developed rapidly. By the early 1970s, Saladin drums were being made and used. These are far larger and capable of producing thirty to fifty tonnes of malt at a time, in a continuous batching process. They can be operated all year round, in contrast to a traditional floor maltings that were subject to weather and temperature (see previous post). Much less manpower is needed, there is a lower cost of production. They consistently produce good quality malt in the quantity that is required today in the modern brewing and distilling business.

Germinating Kilning Vessel at Crisp's Maltings, source here

Germinating Kilning Vessels, can make up to 500 tons of malt at a time. I've not yet seen a large industrial maltings and have never looked inside one of these Germinating Kilning Vessels, but here's a man who has. Jeff Evans, on his blog inside beer, describes the experience:

"I climbed the stairs of one of these enormous, modern cylindrical towers to discover vast stainless-steel steeping tanks, malting floors and kilns. Having seen the simple, homely methods of the floor maltings, the scale and functionality came as a shock. Each of the tanks handles more than ten times the amount the entire floor malting facility can process in one go. 

At the push of a few buttons, the process gets underway – steeping, germination, kilning. Such are the efficiencies that germination is a day shorter here, and kilning only takes two days. The equipment is also much easier to clean, so you can see why new technology has its supporters in the industry. 

Once malted, the grains are quickly shipped out to breweries or malt merchants. Crisp’s job is done. The brewer will ultimately claim the credit for his wonderful beer, but, as the old saying puts it, you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. There’s a lot of skill and care that goes into that drink even before the brewer starts his work. 

The next time you are entranced by a hoppy aroma as you raise a pint to your lips, stop, wait and think. Look beyond the green, tangy, zesty glory boys that steal the limelight and remember the malt and the maltster, the forgotten heroes of brewing."

In his final remarks about malt and malting techniques, Eric Walker reminded us of some of the fundamental principles.

Malt is a living thing. If it is not correctly steeped it can either drown or asphyxiate. It needs careful handling. The maltsters who make malt in these large vessels take as much care of it as the traditional floor maltster, there's a whole new set of skills and knowledge involved in the craft of making huge batches of good quality malt. The maltster's rub, whereby the maltster judges when it is ready for kilning, still applies. Ancient skills and knowledge are combined with modern technology.

Malting, he said

"is a process utilised by the ancients to produce palatable alcoholic beverages: ale and beer."

I couldn't agree more.

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further reading:

Who were the first maltsters? Archaeological evidence for floor malting. 

The craft of the maltster

PS In one of my earlier blogs I've asked:  where have all the malting floors gone?

where have all the malting floors gone?

There are only a handful of malting companies in the British Isles who still use the ancient and traditional technique of floor malting. One of these is Tucker's Maltings, in Newton Abbott, near Exeter, Devon. They are the only Maltings in the UK who offer regular guided tours. Another is the Warminster Malt Company, established in 1855. Guinness owned and operated this Maltings between 1950 and 1994. It provided the malt for the famous brew. When they moved out, the new company provided quality floor malt for several small independent craft breweries.

The Crisp Malting Group is a large company, with malting plants operating in Scotland and England. They own Maltings in Alloa and Portgordon, Scotland, and also in Ditchingham, Great Ryburgh and Mistley in Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex, respectively. The site at Great Ryburgh is the largest and, as they say on their web page, it provides an insight into the technical developments and innovations that have taken place in the malting industry over the last 150 years. The Ryburgh Maltings was set up in the 1850s. It eventually became the largest floor malting plant in Europe. They still have and use some of the traditional floor malting facilities. Today, however, because of demand, most of the malt is produced using modern equipment. These are the Saladin Maltings, installed in the early 1960s. Circular germinating vats, also known as drum maltings, were added in 1973. In the early 1990s, modern computerised systems were introduced.

These modern systems can deal with large amounts of grain but the fundamental processes of steeping, malting and kilning remain unchanged. If you want to see just how huge the modern computerised GKV systems can be, here is a time lapse video of one being built between August 2011 and February 2012 for the Great Western Malting Company. It will replace the drum maltings. In the 21st century, making the equipment for malting has become a big industry in itself. 

raking the malt on the germination floor

There is also Thomas Fawcett & Sons Ltd, based in Castleford, West Yorkshire, where the original malting floors are still in use, alongside the Saladin Maltings and a state of the art germinating kilning vessel. The family has been making malt since the 1760s. Established in 1809, the family business and company has seven generations of experience of making malt.

We contacted them not long after visiting the Corrigall Farm Museum on Orkney where we had seen the traditional 18th century grain barn, complete with threshing and malting floor. Fawcett's were kind enough to take us on a guided tour round the Maltings and explain what they did. That was in 1997, just before I completed my thesis. It gave us an insight into the complexities of malting on an industrial scale. A more recent description of a tour around Fawcett's is here. It seems that not a lot has changed there over the last 17 years.

So, where have all the malting floors gone?
Replaced by modern technology, almost every one ...

It's crucial to turn the malt regularly. This aerates it and prevents the rootlets from becoming entangled and matted on the malting floor. This important job has traditionally been done by people, who pulled a specially designed malt rake through the germinating grain. It is a time consuming process. As the malting floors became larger and larger to cope with the demand for beer and whiskey in the Victorian era, so the task of turning the malt became increasingly labour intensive and expensive.

In the 1890s, a new mechanised system was invented by Charles Saladin, a French engineer (1878-1942). Named after him, the Saladin box was a large concrete or metal box in which revolving metal forks moved slowly from end to end, turning and aerating the grain as it germinated. The picture below is from a Belgian malting company's web pages, Dingemans, who began to use the new mechanical system in the early 20th century. The malt needs to be aerated and, as time went by, the basic design has been improved with perforated floors, and air being blown through the germinating grain to maintain an even temperature. Drum maltings are essentially the same system, but with circular grain beds, not rectangular boxes.

In the British Isles, the malting floors began to be replaced by Saladin box maltings slightly later than in Europe, with the first being installed in Edinburgh's North British Grain Distillery in 1948. They became increasingly popular during the 1950s and 1960s. Saladin boxes and pneumatic maltings, where the germinating grain is aerated, have been improved upon by larger capacity drum maltings and more recently by enormous computer controlled state of the art Germinating Kilning Vessels.

Malting equipment in the modern food processing industry has become huge and complex, yet it is still based upon the fundamental processes of steeping, germination and kilning. There is a very good analysis of modern malting techniques and equipment here, Chapter 3 of ' Engineering Aspects of Cereal and Cereal Based Products' edited by Raquel de Pinho Ferreira Guine, Paula Maria dos Reis Correia.

malthouses
Apart from the Nottingham cave maltings, dated to the 13th and 14th centuries, there are very few recorded malthouses or facilities for making the malt in the medieval era. Mostly, malt was made in the grain barn. The cave maltings are unique. Because of the ambient temperature being the same all year round, they could make malt all the time. In a traditional grain barn or malthouse, it was only made in the cooler months of the year, those months with an 'r' in, that is, any month except May, June, July and August when it was too hot to make malt. Over the centuries, as the breweries gradually became larger and more centralised in towns, so the malthouses and malting floors had to become much larger to supply them.

Great Dunmow Maltings, now a museum

The details of the commercialisation, industrialisation and mechanisation of the malting process in England is very well told by Amber Patrick in her report for English Heritage. She explains that the basic 16th century malthouse had two floors, the top being for grain storage and the ground floor was the growing floor. The kiln for drying the malt would be at one end. A good example is the Boyes Croft, Great Dunmow, Essex, a Grade II listed building.

By the end of the 17th century, commercial malting was on such a scale that it warranted taxation. The Malt Tax was introduced in 1697 and was not repealed until 1880. The malting industry became highly regulated and the buildings became larger, sometimes with two malting floors, one above the other. Amber Patrick explains that the trend for the last three or four hundred years has been for the malthouses to become bigger and bigger.

The Industrial Revolution and the construction of the canals, then the railways, greatly accelerated this trend. It became easier to transport large quantities of malt to the breweries quickly and efficiently. More multi storey Maltings were constructed in the 18th and 19th centuries, usually right by the canal or the railway.

The Bass Maltings, above, were built between 1903 and 1906. There was an engine house, to provide the power for shifting around the huge amounts of malt that was made there. It was originally planned to build eight more malting buildings, mirroring the eight that did get constructed. It was a state of the art, hugely mechanised turn of the century floor Maltings, one of the last to be built in Britain. It closed down in the 1960s, with the introduction of box and pneumatic maltings, which could produce more malt at a cheaper cost.

While browsing about on the internet, I found some fascinating images of the inside of the Maltings, on a blog about decaying industrial buildings, www.adarkertrantor.co.uk. They were taken in 2012 and they show how this important industrial site was abandoned with much of the equipment still there.


Malthouses were huge, multi storeyed and functional, yet they could still be attractive buildings. As I was writing this blog, I looked on the internet for a suitable image of a disused Maltings that I could use. The difficulty in finding an image online of an industrial malthouse is that most of them have been closed down or demolished in the last few decades. Many have been converted into flats and housing developments. Some have become offices and others are Listed Buildings. I came across this recent story from the Newark Advertiser, about a Grecian style Maltings that is up for sale and future development. It is a good story, well worth reading, since it tells you who owned it and how it came to be built. The Maltings was built in 1864 and it was last used to make malt in 1966. It could be the story of any industrial maltings.

Making malt in the the ancient and traditional way is being revived in the USA. That's great news - I know about a few people who are doing this. If you are making malt on a small scale, using traditional techniques and I have missed you out, please let me know.

 Valley Malt, Hadley, Massachusetts

 Riverbend Malthouse, North Carolina

Rebel Malting Company - they use a Saladin system

Colorado Malting Company

further reading

Amber Patrick Maltings in England a report for English Heritage, 2004

Christine Clarke, The British Malting Industry since 1830 published in 1998
Summary: "Malt is the main ingredient in the national beverage, beer. For centuries the malting industry has provided a principal bridge between agriculture and the brewing industry, yet its history has been little studied. The British Malting Industry since 1830 is the first overall account of malting, dealing with the processes, products and sales, owners and employees, and with the evolution of what in 1830 were almost all small, local businesses. Christine Clark traces the influence of the growing demand for beer in Victorian England, and of the increasing power of the large breweries, on the malt industry ..."

Roger Putman, Beers and Breweries of Britain (pages 9-12),published 2004