Craft Malt

From role-playing as a medieval abbey brewer to finding specialty craft malts online, here are a couple recent picks from our editors.

Corn has long held an important place in brewing across the Americas, from chicha in the Andes to Mexican and American adjunct lagers. Today, craft maltsters and brewers are seeking more flavorful heirloom varieties to see how far they can push those flavors.

Whether you source some alder-smoked malt or go all the way and build your own Stjørdal-style kiln, this style could be the pinnacle for smoke fiends: extreme smoke character enveloped in a dark, plush malt body. Jan Chodkowski of Denver’s Our Mutual Friend explains how and why they love brewing it with the Colorado Farm Brewery.

We all know how profoundly the types of malt we use can change what we brew. Less obvious is how independent brewing is changing how barley itself is being grown—leading, eventually, to exciting new options for brewers.

These craft maltsters from across the country work with online retailers, making it possible for homebrewers to have a wide variety of unique malts sent straight to their doorsteps.

The cofounder of the Fort Collins, Colorado, craft maltings dives deep into the science of malt, from field to fermentor.

Dennis Nesel from Hudson Valley Malt gives you an inside look at their craft malting operation.

Andrea and Christian Stanley malt between 5 and 6 tons of grain per week, between their 4-ton malting system and the floor malting operation.