Implementation

Step 1 – Crushing

Crushing involves grinding barley malt grains to facilitate starch hydrolysis under heat, thanks to the natural presence of amylase developed during malting. From this stage onwards, it is possible to differentiate between an industrial and an artisanal process.

The crushing process should minimize the amount of flour to around 20%. Crushing must therefore remain coarse. To achieve this, the spacing of the crusher rolls is adjusted to break the barley kernels into 4-5 pieces, resulting in around 40% hulls, 40% pieces and 20% flour. This coarse crushing, combined with stirring during mashing, limits the formation of "gel", which would be problematic for juice extraction....