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Author Topic: Malt Analysis?  (Read 2539 times)

Offline quattlebaum

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Malt Analysis?
« on: April 07, 2015, 10:02:00 pm »
Forgive me for such a long post. You guys are great and i value your opinions.  I have been asked by a local, new small malt house to give him some feedback on his small "craft malting house". He grows and malts his own. He has been approaching a few breweries in the area and would like to eventually sale his product to them. He is trying to refine his product for the local "craft" industry. i could use some feedback on the malt analysis sheet he provided so that i can determine the best process to evaluate the malt/beer in the end. This is my understanding of each. Any suggestions or corrections?

Friability (79.4): it’s the measure of a malt’s readiness to crumble when subjected to crushing.  Should be at least 80%. For infusion mashing should be at least 85%.
So if this is low it could have an impact on conversion?  So if this malt is 79% it may benefit from a step mash?

F/C Diff (1.5):  Fine Grind and Course Grind difference.  Not that important in the brewhouse? Basically anything lower than 1.5 indicates a well modified malt. Not worried about this in this malt.


Turb (NTU) (50): Caused by proteins and beta glucans that have not been sufficiently degraded, this attribute has relatively little impact on the brewing process but can contribute haze to the finished beer.  Anything >15 NTU haze will be evident.  So haze will definitely be a problem in this malt with a 50!  What are some suggestions on “processes” that may help with this, finings (whirlfloc)?

Beta Glucan  (304): High beta glucan levels have long been associated with lautering difficulties, due to the effect they have on mash viscosity. Viscosity is a more practical indicator of how a malt will effect brewhouse performance.  Should be <180 for trouble free runoff.  Don’t have the viscosity info. This seems really high! I  may have problems with lautering?

Total Malt Protein ( 10.2): Total protein is reported separately on a Malt Analysis because it impacts brewhouse performance. It varies for 2-row and 6-row varieties, with high protein barley potentially causing reduced extract yield and higher color. Total protein values for all malts are typically <14%. So this seems OK?

Soluble malt Protein (5.53): Cant get a good understanding on this one.  Is it important?

S/T (54.2): S/T Ratios are used often in malting as guidelines to determine the extent of modification. A minimum S/T of 30 is required to prevent lautering issues with malt. The higher the number, the more highly modified the malt. Malts destined for infusion mashing should have an S/T of 36-42%, or up to 45% for light-bodied beer. At a percentage much over 45% S/T, the beer will be thin in body and mouthfeel. For traditional lager malts, 30-33% indicates undermodification, and 37-40% indicates overmodification.  So defiantly highly modified malt? So beer could be thin and could possibly benefit from dextrin malts to add body? 

FAN (243): FAN is another analysis that can indicate the amount of free amino groups available to yeast during fermentation.  This analysis is only performed on Base Malts. It has no significance in specialty malts. A standard FAN value for most base malts is 180ppm and above.  So don’t need to be concerned about this?



DP (134): Diastatic Power indicates the total enzymatic power of a malt, both Alpha Amylase and Beta Amylase. Levels of 50 or above are required for a normal mash program.  Lower levels may still be effective with special mash programs. So shouldn’t be an issue.

AA (59.2): Alpha amylase levels will indicate the ability of malt to convert a standard mash properly.    Alpha amylase is primarily a dextrinizing or liquefying enzyme.  It chops starch into shorter chain dextrin and allows the Beta Amylase access to all of the reducing ends of the dextrins to break them down into sugars that yeast can use.  While high levels of Alpha Amylase are more  important for brewing high adjunct beer than to the craft brewer, they must be sufficient to allow for consistent and adequate conversion. An all-malt mash can be converted with Alpha Amylase levels of 30 or above. Any concerns with this higher %?

Wort Color (2.36): Lovibond, SRM or EBC. They don’t tell me what they are measuring at I am assuming 2.36 Lovidond.

Extract Fine Grind As is (78.3): cant really find much info on this.

Extract Course Grind As is (77): The Extract/Coarse Grind as-is data most closely indicates the performance you can expect in the brewhouse, thus it has the most impact on your brew. As-is extract should be as high as possible? Don’t know the normal ranges?

Moisture ( 4.5): The closer a malt is to 1.5% MC, the less it risks mold growth and the less flavor and aroma it loses over time. For this reason, colored malts should never be "slack," that is, over 4% MC. The upper limit for acceptable moisture content in any malt is 6%. The moisture content generally reflects the quality of the malting itself; high MC malt may be poorly malted or kilned. I assume storing conditions can affect this? 
 

Offline morticaixavier

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Re: Malt Analysis?
« Reply #1 on: April 08, 2015, 06:26:10 am »
It seems like your friend has some issues with consistancy in the germination rates and is being to conserviative in the kiln.

The low friability and high glucan and turbity implies that the modification process is happening incosistantly or not finishing completely so the proteins are not being broken down as much as they should be. The reasonable total protein content says to me that it's not the barley he's using so much as the malting process.

The high diastatic power combined with the slightly high moisture content makes me think he's not kilning enough. It's pretty low color too for pale malt.

The turbiditiy and beta glucan issues could be dealt with with a protien rest but if the S/T ratio research you did is correct it's somewhat overmodified. which Again makes me think he has consistancy problems in germination.

I'm really excited about the boom in small scale malt houses right now but I suspect we are going to have to work through a period of learning while the maltsters figure all this stuff out.

I just ordered some malt from a super small startup malt house here in VT and I'm pretty excited to give it a try.
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Offline kramerog

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Re: Malt Analysis?
« Reply #2 on: April 08, 2015, 07:11:36 am »
I think Mort hit it on the head with consistency issues otherwise the various results seem contradictory.   A glucan rest should take care of the glucan for folks who have issues with wheat, oat, and rye adjuncts.

Additional thoughts: the FAN and the S/T indicate very over modified on average so the glucan rest should be on the low temp end to avoid breaking down the proteins anymore.  Double milling of the grain may be helpful because of the low friability. 

Let me add that I really know nothing about malting!

Offline quattlebaum

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Re: Malt Analysis?
« Reply #3 on: April 08, 2015, 07:22:06 am »
Much appreciated! By all means looks like i have some learning to do myself just not at that level yet but here i am thrown into a situation to learn. Glad hes not depending on me for the finial say. Just wants to know what i think. He already has more batches he has with another analysis so lots of free grain but i would like to learn and maybe give him some constructive feedback. He does know that he has some issues and is working on them. i will be going out to his farm soon to check out his set up. Thanks again