EFFECT OF MALTING UFOJN BARLEY. 509 



for malting.* The barley of the light lands in Norfolk is celebrated in the 

 North of England for its malting properties — and the brewers refuse the 

 barley of the county of Durham, even at a lower price, when Norfolk 

 barley is in the market. When unfit for malting, barley affords a fat- 

 tening food for pigs and for some other kinds of stock. 



§ 14. Effect of malting upon barley. 



During the germination good barley increases in bulk one-half. In 

 order that it may do so, it must be uniformly ripe — a quality of great 

 value to the maltster. This maximum bulk is generally acquired in 24 

 hours after it has been moistened and laid in heaps. In drying, how- 

 ever, the barley again diminishes in bulk, so that the dried malt rarely 

 exceeds by more than njth or f^th the bulk of the grain as it came from 

 the market. The well-dried malt, however, is lighter by |th tnan the 

 barley from which it is made — 100 lbs. of barley yielding about 80 lbs. 

 of malt. This is not all loss of substance, since by a similar drying the 

 barley itself before malting would lose about 12 per cent of water. The 

 loss of substance, therefore, is only about 8 per cent. This diminution 

 of solid matter arises in part from the loss of the little roots which form 

 the malt-dust {cumtnins), of which I have already spoken (p. 436) as 

 being a valuable manure, and of which 4 or 5 bushels are obtained from 

 100 bushels of barley. 



The colour of the malt varies with the temperature at which it is dried. 

 If the heat does not exceed 100° F. a very pale malt is obtained, which 

 gives a very white beer. A heat not rising above 180° gives an amber 

 coloured malt — while for brown malt the temperature may rise as high 

 as 260° F. By mixing these varieties beer of any colour may be made. 

 But in the porter breweries it is usual to prepare a quantity of malt of a 

 brownish black colour {burned malt), by adding a portion of which any 

 required shade of colour is imparted to the liquor. 



During germination a variable quantity of the gluten is converted into 

 diastase (p. 119), and about two-fifths (40 percent.) of its starch into 

 sugar or gum (dextrine). The quantity of diastase produced depends 

 upon the extent to which the germination has proceeded. It is greatest 

 at the moment when the gemmule is about to burst from the seed, and to 

 form the young shoot. 



I have already explained the beautiful purpose served by this diastase 

 in converting the insoluble starch of the grain into soluble sugar and 

 gum. When the beer is to be made wholly from malt, it is unnecessary 

 to continue the germination till the largest quantity of diastase is pro- 

 duced. It is sufficient if the gemmule, on holding up a grain of the 

 barley, be seen within the skin to have attained one-half or two-thirds of 

 the length of the seed. The diastase then produced is more than enough 

 to convert the whole of the starch of the grain into sugar (p. 120). But 

 if raw grain, as in some of our distilleries, is to be added to the malt, 

 then the malting should be prolonged till the bud is about to burst througli 

 the husk, so that the largest possible supply of diastase may be contain- 

 ed in it. In this way ^so malt is prepared when it is to be employed 



• " The barley on the compact clays (in Hants) is of a coarser quality, but produce greater— 

 on the light chalk soils it is well calculated for malting— the skin is thin, and colour rich but 

 light— in fuUness of meal and plumpness of appearance it never equals the barleys grown in 

 Staflbrdshire, and upon loamy lands."— Mr. Gawler in British Husbandry, ili. p. 12. 



22 



