Malter - Malt Extract

Malt Extract

Malt extract is also known as extract of malt. It is a sweet, treacly substance used as a dietary supplement. It was popular in the first half of the twentieth century as a supplement for the children of the British urban working-class, whose diet was often deficient in vitamins and minerals. Children were given cod liver oil for the same reason but it proved so unpalatable that it was combined with extract of malt to produce "Malt and Cod-Liver Oil." It was given as a "strengthening medicine" by Kanga to Roo and Tigger in The House at Pooh Corner.

The 1907 British Pharmaceutical Codex's instructions for making nutritional extract of malt do not include a mash-out at the end of extraction, and include the use of lower mash temperatures than is typical with modern beer-brewing practices. The Codex indicates that diastatic activity is to be preserved by the use of temperatures not exceeding 55 °C (131 °F).

Malt extract production

Malt extract is frequently used in the brewing of beer. Its production begins by germinating barley grain in a process known as malting. This procedure entails immersing barley in water to encourage the grain to sprout, then drying the barley to halt the progress when the sprouting begins. The drying step stops the sprouting, but the enzymes remain active due to the low temperatures used in base malt production. In one before-and-after comparison, malting decreased barley's extractable starch content by about 7% on a dry matter basis, and turned that portion into various other carbohydrates.

In the next step, brewers use a process called mashing to extract the sugars. Brewers warm cracked malt in temperature-modulated water, activating the enzymes, which cleave more of the malt's remaining starch into various sugars, the largest percentage of which is maltose. Modern beer mashing practices typically include high enough temperatures at mash-out to deactivate remaining enzymes, thus it is no longer diastatic. The liquid produced from this, wort, is then concentrated by using heat or a vacuum procedure to evaporate water from the mixture.

The concentrated wort is called malt extract. Brewers have the option of using a liquid (LME) or dry (DME) form of it. Each has its pros and cons, so the choice is dependent solely on the individual brewer's preferences.

Liquid malt extract is a thick syrup. Some brewers choose to work only with LME, because they feel it works best for the result they wish to achieve. Also, it requires one less processing step, so it is appealing to those favoring the purest form of product available. However, it is very sticky and, therefore, messier to work with and has a shorter shelf life, and some feel the results are just as good with DME.

A new encapsulating technology permits the production of malt granules. Malt granules are the dried liquid extract from malt used in the brewing or distilling process.