Green malt needs to dry in order to bring the germination process to a stop. The drying process implies removing water from the green malt, making it stable and storable with no risk of decay.
This process takes place in low temperatures and using high volumes of air in order to keep the enzymes necessary to transform starch and protein along the beer brewery process alive. When the humidity level gets to approximately 10%, the drying temperature is increased, allowing malt to develop the desired levels of aroma and colour. By the end of the kilning process, humidity is between 4 and 5%.
Soaking barley in potable water is the first step in malting production, and also the most important to stimulate germination after a post-harvest storage stage. By the end of this stage, barley reaches and approximately 40% humidity.
The process that had begun with soaking goes on. The barley grain develops, grows roots and secretes hormones that stimulate the enzymes production. Those enzymes have a role to play along the malting process as well as later on, in the beer production process itself. Green malt is the result obtained by the end of this germination stage, containing 40-42% humidity.
