Double-row malt ?!


Question: Beer brewers talk about "single row" or "double row" malt... to my understanding, "malting" means letting the grain just barely begin to sprout, then drying it before the plant can grow. So what's the difference between how many "rows" of malt ? Something to do with how many grains have sprouted, or how much the sprout grows, etc ?


Answers: Beer brewers talk about "single row" or "double row" malt... to my understanding, "malting" means letting the grain just barely begin to sprout, then drying it before the plant can grow. So what's the difference between how many "rows" of malt ? Something to do with how many grains have sprouted, or how much the sprout grows, etc ?

When referring to "malt" by itself, it implies malted barley. The rows refer to the rows of seed kernels on a single stalk of barley. Two row (not double row) has two. The other (less commonly seen) is six row. Six row barley has smaller kernels but there is a higher concentration of enzymes per kernel.

Malting is just as you said, partially germinating the seeds. If you're using a grain other than barley, it's mentioned in the name, like malted wheat, malted corn, etc. These are much less frequently found as they are much more difficult to malt consistently without clumping, rotting, or sprouting too far before kilning to stop the sprout. They also don't have the same concentration of enzymes for starch conversion (mashing).

In the context of brewing supplies, unless it is specifically noted that the malt is six row, they'll all be two row malts regardless of whether it's a pale malt, crystal malt, chocolate malt, etc. They're all different variants on malted two row barley.

Here's a thorough comparison of two row and six row barley. It starts out ok, but gets a little technical and dry further on.
http://www.brewingtechniques.com/bmg/sch...
Wiki to the rescue:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barley#Cult...
...and if you REALLY want to get your geek on:
http://crop.scijournals.org/cgi/content/...

The double or single row refers to the wheat it came from. There's more to it than I can put here, so read the link. Very informative.





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