Extract determination in malt by density measurement of wort with DMA M

In the quality control lab of the malt house the determination of the extract content of malt is important as it is directly related to the quality of the malt. Density measurements with DMA M provide the required information fast and reliably.

The production of malt

Malt is produced from barley in a so-called "malt house" or "malting" which can either be part of a brewery or a separate plant. The conversion of barley into malt begins with soaking the barley in water to initiate the germination ("steeping"). Over the next few days the germinating barley is slowly turned to achieve even growth and moved towards the kiln where it is gently dried with hot air ("kilned"). At this point flavor and color compounds are formed and the moisture is reduced to 1 % to 5 %.A standardized procedure is applied using crushed malt and distilled water to produce wort. The extract content of the wort corresponds to the quality of the malt. For the manufacture of beer, malt, water and hops are fermented with yeast.

The malting process

During the malting process enzymes with the ability to convert starch into various sugars are produced within the grain. These enzymes are set free in the "mashing" process, where crushed malt is combined with water.

Now the enzymes formed during malting convert the starch contained in the barley into sugars ("saccharification"). The resulting sugar solution is called "wort", and its concentration is of fundamental importance for the final product beer, because this fermentable sugar is converted into alcohol during the fermentation step of the brewing process.

The last step in the malting process is the purification where soluble extract and insoluble particles are separated.

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