Growers who properly thresh barley at the right moisture and protein levels, and consistently cool and store it, will earn premium payments from maltsters.

At Busch Agricultural Resources LLC, Moorhead, the malting plant is one of two in the U.S. to provide malt needed by its parent company, Anheuser-Busch.

“Our goal is to provide the highest-quality malt barley possible,” says Alan Slater, director of U.S. barley operations at the malt plant. “Making malt is farming without soil. It has to germinate to make malt.”

At the Moorhead site, about half the barley for malting is supplied by growers in the western U.S. The remainder is supplied by North Dakota and Minnesota farmers.

ART OF MAKING MALT: Senior maltster Craig Mohr at Busch Ag Resources LLC, Moorhead, checks a tank of barley during the steeping process. A total of 24 tanks are used for steeping at the plant. Five tanks make about 9,000 bushels of malt.

Malted barley is a basic ingredient in beer production, providing the carbohydrates and sugars necessary for fermentation, as well as contributing unique flavors and colors. It takes about a bushel of barley to produce enough malt to make a barrel of beer, Slater says.

It takes about a week for barley to go through three malt steps: steeping, germination and drying. The process, while sounding simple, requires constant monitoring. Craig Mohr, senior maltster at the plant, explains the process.

“Malt is food for yeast,” he says. “To get that, we need to break down barley’s protein and cell walls, allowing it to convert starch to sugar.”

The malting process

LIVING GRAIN: During the malting process, maltsters look for rootling as one indicator of germination.

 In malt-making’s first step, steeping, barley goes into large tanks of water aerated at 60 degrees F. The process leaches out debris, tannins and polyphenols, and brings the grain moisture up to 45%. Depending on the barley variety and crop, the tanks are emptied, the grain rests, and tanks are filled again with water at least a second time.

The total steeping process takes 24 to 35 hours, with the grain underwater only four to five hours during that time. The goal is to clean barley, alive and ready for the next step — germination.

Clean, 45% moisture barley is moved to a large room with a temperature of 65 degrees F and 100% humidity. The grain is spread onto conveyors, with dampers and probes underneath to control grain temperature.

“I want the barley to grow to a certain point here,” Mohr says. Over the next 70 hours, he monitors the grain to watch for germination, which is seen initially as chits and later as rootlets. Here is where the barley reaches the "green malt" stage — the point where Mohr is ready to stop barley growth and move the grain to the kiln. At this point, the barley is at 48% moisture and fully modified.

SPRING BARLEY PLOTS: Busch Ag researchers will present trial results from 2016 trials at several grower meetings this fall and at the company’s 2017 Field Day.

Now the barley heads for the kiln, where drying takes place over a two-day period. The germinated grain moves through a double-deck dryer, going on the top deck first, where heat is slowly ramped up to 160 degrees F. The heat activates and deactivates enzymes, and dries the barley to around 15% to 20% moisture. The second day, the barley is moved to the lower deck of the kiln and dried to 5% moisture with heat at 190 degrees F.

When out of the kiln, the barley rootlets are knocked off, and the grain goes through a cleaner and is loaded onto railcars to one of the dozen breweries in the U.S.

“Pale malt is made here,” Mohr says. “So you probably are drinking beer made from our barley.”

Busch’s barley research

The barley research trials at the Busch Agricultural Resources malt plant are one of the company’s smaller research projects.

“Small” still entails around 570 plots with 400 entries, says Joshua Butler, senior manager of barley research for Anheuser-Busch InBev, Fort Collins, Colo.

Scientists are looking at ways to use marker-assisted genetic selection, comparing U.S. and international genetic materials; observing seeding rates, nitrogen applications, seed and foliar treatments; as well as evaluating larger-scale plots of commercial and upcoming malting barley varieties.

“There are up to 35 traits used in the selection process for new varieties,” Butler says. “Approximately half of those are related to agronomic and field performance. Some of the traits that bring value to the growers include increased grain yield, lodging resistance, cycle time, disease resistance, preharvest sprout tolerance and protein levels. In addition, we want to develop sustainable traits that help reduce water and fertilizer use around the world.”

Butler notes that AB is unique when compared to other private-sector breeding efforts.

“We are open with our breeding methodology, use of technology — and we share our germplasm,” he says. “Our main focus is to maintain a supply of high-quality malting barley in order to deliver a high-quality end product [beer] to our consumers. What is good for malting barley growers is beneficial to us in order to maintain that supply. We share trials, data and research results with all of the university programs that work on malting barley variety development, and also with the USDA malting barley breeding team. We have also been involved with collaborative projects for the development and understanding of barley genetics and the technological tools that can make barley breeding more efficient.”

Push for winter-hardiness

Busch is researching both spring and winter barley varieties. Unfortunately, its winter barley that was seeded last fall didn’t survive the winter due to a combination of factors, including lack of snow cover and wildlife damage to the plots by geese.

“One of the challenges that we are trying to overcome with winter barley is winter-hardiness,” Butler says. “Our breeding effort for winter barley has been focused on less harsh winter environments in the past, so it is expected that we would face some challenges when working into new areas. We are in the process of exploring the barley genome to identify the key genes that are related to winter-hardiness that we can then use in the development of winter barley varieties with improved winter survival and an expanded production zone. We also collaborate with our agronomist team to review rotations and best cultural practices that may help winter survival.”

Butler adds that the company had plans to seed a new generation of winter barley trials at Moorhead this fall, and will continue to collaborate with the University of Minnesota to develop improved winter barley varieties.

“Developing new varieties through conventional breeding methodology is a multiyear process,” he says. “We continue to explore technologies that can expedite the process and improve our selection efficiencies to deliver a superior product to our growers on a more frequent basis. Anheuser-Busch InBev has been committed to continuous improvement of malting barley for 30-plus years and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.”