MALTING BARLEY 133 



ing barley grains. Water is added to the fresh barley 

 grains and kept standing on them about three days, 

 being changed two or three times during that period. 

 The wet grains are then spread out on the floor of the 

 malting house, and occasionally raked over so as to 

 allow the air free access to them. The temperature 

 of the grains rises considerably during the week or so 

 they are left on the floor. This is due to the production 

 of heat by the respiration of the grains, which absorb 

 oxygen from the air. The starch stored in the grains 

 is converted into sugar, and much of this sugar is split 

 up in respiration. At the end of the " malting," however, 

 the sprouting grains are still full of sugar and of soluble 

 nitrogenous organic substances the reserve stores of 

 the seed are mobilised for the growth of the young plant. 

 The malt is then removed to kilns and dried for 

 one or two days at 70 or 100 C., according to the kind 

 of beer that is to be produced. 1 The kilned malt is 

 removed to vats to which water is added at 50 C., the 

 temperature being afterwards raised to 76 C. This is 

 the process of infusion of the malt, the liquid produced 

 being the wort, which is now filtered off, the malt 

 residue, which still contains a considerable amount of 

 nutritive substance, being used as cattle food. The wort 

 is boiled with hops for two or three hours to extract the 

 bitter aromatic substances from the hops, and then 

 sieved off and run into underground marble vats, where 

 it is cooled to 8 C., and the yeast a pure culture of a 

 particular strain of yeast 2 is added. Here it stands 



1 The details of malting and brewing procedure given are those 

 followed at the famous Carlsberg Brewery at Copenhagen, where 

 " Pilsner " and " Lager " light beers are the products. The malt is 

 kilned at 70 C. for the former and at 100 C. for the latter. 



In the case of " Pilsner " and " Lager " beer a so-called " bottom 

 yeast," which sinks to the bottom of the wort. For brewing the 

 heavier English beers " top yeasts " are used. 



