All alcoholic beverages are made by the fermentation (and sometimes subsequently the distillation) of natural sugars. These are obtained from many fruits (like grapes for wine), vegetables (like the potatoes used to produce original and real vodka), and grains (like the barley used to produce beer and whisky). Barley has been used for centuries to produce beer. However, it must first be malted before it can yield up its starches for conversion into fermentable sugars. Grain comes from the farmers' field as dry and hard as possible. When dry, grain can be stored for very long, for ever in ideal circumstances without losing its capacity to sprout life. Malting begins with the grains being submerged in water.
This action is known as STEEPING, and it takes place in vessels known as kettles. The steeped barley is then spread in layers of about 4 inches deep on stone floors for the purpose of GERMINATION. Thanks to the water, the grain pops to live, and the active germ produces several diastases, which gradually break down the starch of the grain, convert the proteins, and produce the natural sugar known as maltose.

The maltster can monitor progress by watching the grains. On the first day, they sprout shoots, known as radicles, and about 30 hours later they begin to branch. They become longer and intertwine. The entire layer of grain tries to form a compact mass. To prevent suffocation, the maltster regularly turns the grains, sometimes by hand, more often mechanically. The rootlet develops from the heart of the grain toward the tip. When the rootlet is three-quarters the length of the grain, the germination is stopped by the drying of the "green" malt, in a KILN. The green malt is spread on a sieve like metal rack, through which warm air is blown, at 120 degrees Fahrenheit. When the malt is dry, the heat is increased to apply a degree of toasting or roasting. Five hours at 180° F will produce a pale malt, while higher temperatures are used for greater degrees of color.
This is already one way to influence the color and taste of the final product, the beer. Slow drying or fast drying and roasting are other techniques. The malt-shoots are removed, and they provide a nitrogen rich cattle feed.

Part III