Extract Determination In Malt Using Density And Water Content

Beer is an extraction of malted barley ("malt") in water, flavoured with hops and fermented with yeast.

Malt is produced from barley in the so-called "malthouse" or "malting", which may be a part of a brewery or a separate plant. There the conversion of barley into malt is brought about by first soaking the barley in water to make it grow ("steeping"). The germinating barley is then "kilned", which means the barley is gently heated with hot air. During this procedure flavour and colour compounds are formed and the moisture is reduced to approx. 4 %. The resulting product is malt.

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 at elevated temperatures. 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 sugar is converted to alcohol during the fermentation step of the brewing process.