Oh, I’m not 100% certain, but highly suspicious! I’d be very interested in trying some heirloom malts to see if they are really different. Of course floor malting would have an impact too.
Now you’ve done it…brought up something else I have questions about! What is the difference floor malting makes and why?
Okay, I’m NOT the expert, but whether or not the longer process makes a difference, I can see that lacking constant air flow, temperatures could spike and more CO2 could be trapped in the piece. That sounds to me just like what’s done towards the end of germination to produce Brumalt/ honey malt/melanoidin malt (does it go by any other names?) Makes you think, since floor malts are supposed to have a richer flavor. Again, not an expert.
Floor malting is a marketing term. Sure, the barley is malted traditionally on the floor and turned/shoveled by hand after each steep but that’s it.
There is no other difference. Modification is the same unless purposefully cut short.
Now if it said “Wood fire kilned” as opposed to an electronically controlled kiln profile then yes there would probably be a noticeable difference.
I haven’t tested it but a triangle test would most certainly indicate that there is no discernable difference. Maybe someone (Brulosophy, Experimental Brewing, etc…) can do an experiment on this.
Trying malting your own sometime and you’ll see what I mean.
As far as adjuncts are concerned, I don’t believe they’re required to make a light lager, one can use all malt, proper mash temps and perhaps amylase enzyme.
Well, I’ve used quite a bit of Mecca Grade malts and they’re mechanically floor malted I doubt any maltster of any size uses human labor to turn them, but I could be wrong. In the case of Mecca Grade I believe that more difference in flavor comes form the barley variety they use than the way they malt it.
Are you sure they lack constant air flow? The one floor malting operation I’ve visited indicated that it was constant. I’ll try to double check on that.
IIRC Weyermann outsources and uses human labor to turn the malt.
Absolutely - barley variety, terrior, and obviously kiln method/profile are the flavor components.
Maybe you’re thinking of air flow OVER the malt, but I was thinking that it’s not constant up through the piece. Again, I know I know just enough to be dangerous, but always eager to learn. I’m also with you on the possibility that variety makes all the difference. The floor malts I’ve used are the Weyermann Bohemian Dark and Pilsner, but I have no pneumatic example to compare, of course.
I can’t say I agree. I can never pick out the corn unless it’s way over done, but even a little rice is detectable.
Temperatures are not allowed to spike and CO2 does not become trapped. This is why the piece is manually turned at regular intervals after each steep. Excess heat would simply contribute to uneven and excessive acrospire growth or at worse mold growth and rot. The only thing during the steeping step that contributes to the flavor of the malt would be the final moisture content (affects kilning) and perhaps any steep water additives.
Thanks for disabusing me of my mistaken assumption. As I said, always eager to learn. So am I to assume that floor malting makes no difference, and variety really is everything? And while you’re educating me, why does the temperature and CO2 increase do no harm in Brumalt (etc.) production? Just that it’s a short time? (I get my info on that process from an article by Herr Dr Prof Narziss in the Winter 1993 Zymurgy.)
I don’t know that BruMalt is viably made in a floor malting process. What does the article say?
The article is an overview of specialty malt production, and of course refers only to modern methods. I expect you’re right. It indicates that the fan is switched off for the last 20 hours or so, and that as the temp. rises embryo growth is halted but enzymes continue to produce low-molecular weight breakdown products which form aromatic substances at kilning (short version.) I just always wondered if something like this could happen on a limited scale in floor malting. I gather not. I guess I kept that issue all this time because it led me to such idle musings! (And it has useful sample grain bills for different styles.)
Most if not all malts labeled as floor malted are base malts, though I suppose a marketing campaign could claim some specialty malts as “floor malted” (i.e. steeped/turned/germinated on a floor as opposed to an automated machine).
Articles claiming that floor malted malts are under-modified, more aromatic/flavorful etc… are questionable and mostly just repeating false information (i.e. researched on the internet…).
At any rate, I’d be surprised if experiments indicated a discernible difference.
I have been using Weyermann Floor Malted Pilsner from before I knew it was Czech produced, but I didn’t know of any readily available Czech malts. It seems to me that the hand crafting of Malts is becoming the new “thing”.
I will try others, but since I use Weyermann for most German styles, I will get the Floor Malted Pils to be able to also make Czech beers a little more authentically.
I must admit I haven’t tried the Barke Pils yet and I intend to get to that soon.
As to the American lagers, I enjoy making Pre-Pro lagers more than the adjunct laden lagers, but I appreciate how difficult the American lagers can be - nothing to hide behind.
Can you distinguish floor malted from regular? I malt my own and can’t distiguish unless I give the malt special steeping treatment and/or kilning.
Okay I’ve never malted my own, but if you do, how are you NOT essentially floor malting? Do you have your own Saladin box or something?
That’s exactly the point, the process is essentially the same as what is termed “floor malting” and produces no distinguishable difference from either floor malted or a normal malt (IMO). Try malting your own and see what the marketing term “floor malting” really means. If floor malting makes such a tremendous difference it would be touted by the breweries in the final products, and maybe it is, but such beers do not outsell beers made with regular malt. I don’t know that you’d find a brewer who says that floor malted malts are the key difference in their products.
I’m not advocating for small maltsters as a craft thing, but I like Czech beers and like to think that I am getting closer to them at the homebrew level by using Czech made malts. Just a part of the hobby, like using certain hop varieties fir bittering. Maybe there’s no difference in the end, but you get to try it for yourself.
You are closer to Czech beers by using their malt, not because it’s “floor malted”, but because it uses the barley variety, terrior and steeping schedule and kilning profile that gives it what you’ve come to expect.