Continuing on in my ramblings of the 4 ingredients in the German Beer Purity Law, I will discuss Malt. As stated in the title, to me Malt is the backbone of beer, actually it is more like the whole skeletal system, but the backbone will work. Often when a beer is being judged in a contest you will hear a phrase like "the malt backbone..." or "malt structure..." or something else along those lines. They all mean basically the same thing; the malt provides the structure to build a beer on.
As you may be thinking malt is more than just a backbone or a structure to build on. Without various colored malt, beer would be just one color, whatever that might be. Just imagine a world where beer was so harmonious, unfortunately that is not too difficult to imagine. Also malt is the main sugar that the yeast uses to turn the alcohol in the beer. Malt provides various flavors for you to enjoy in your beer. So yes malt is probably more than a backbone, but to me that is the best image I can come up with.
Malt simply stated is the kernel of grain that was soaked and allowed to sprout. Then at the proper time of growth it is dried and then kilned to a desired outcome. You may notice that I said "kernel of grain" and did not say barley, since just about any grain can be malted. Also various malts are kilned a different amounts of dryness. Caramel/ Crystal malts are kilned fairly wet allowing for the sugars to become "caramelized" during kilning. There are many different methods and tricks malt makers use to come up with the desired malt.
Before I get to much further I want to point out that the term malt is used in regards to the malted grain used in all grain brewing. Also there is the term malt extract describing the syrup or powder used by extract brewers. I will try to clarify what exactly is malt extract. A few malt producers take the malted grain and run water through the grain bed to produce wort, a sugar filled liquid that is fermented by yeast to produce beer. Once they have the wort they handle it one of two ways to produce malt extract. Liquid malt extract is produced by boiling the wort in a vacuum to concentrate the wort. Dry malt extract is produced by spraying the wort and is dried as it falls and by it hits bottom it is a dry powder. They both are readily used in extract brewing; it is totally up to the brewer to chose which one or both to use.
Back to malt. There are companies around the world that make malt. A few of the more recognizable names are Briess, Simpson, Rahr, Weyermann, Crisp and Fawcett. Each maltster has its own way of producing malt, so one companies Crystal 90L may not look or taste the same as another companies malt. So if you have a favorite beer and want to "clone" that beer try and find out what brand of malt the brewer used to make the beer. Also you can try different brands of malts to brew the same beer and find out which brand you prefer. So there is a lot of experimenting a brewer can do to find the "perfect" beer.
Besides different brands there are different types of malts, from light roasted to the heavily roasted malts. A good place to see the various colors and types of malts is at http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewing/brewing-ingredients/grain-malts. The lighter roasted malts are usually used as base malts. Longer roasted malts are used in smaller amounts due to their attributes, such as color, taste and the caramelization of the sugar in the malt. For an example a beer such as a stout will have around 85% base malt and various amounts of different dark malts to add color and flavor. For a good primer on what malts are and how to use them go to http://www.brewingwithbriess.com/Homebrewing/Products.htm . Briess malt is a name recognized by most brewers and they do a good job in plain English explaining the malt.
Barley malt makes up the majority of the malt used in brewing and by strict application of the German Beer Purity law the only malt that can be used in beer. There was an exception for wheat malt to be used in the German wheat beers. Other grains that I am aware of that have been malted for usage in beer include wheat, oats, corn, sorghum and milo. I'm sure there are many more around the world that I am unaware of.
I have only just scratched the surface of malt and its usage. If you want to find out more I suggest going to the above websites to start with and then explore on from there. Like the backbone, malt does carry the beer and allow the other ingredients to build upon it and produce a beer.
QC Beerguy
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