A big thank you to MotorCity Malthouse for malting the first batch of Cheese City barley! Malting the barley is necessary in order to develop the enzymes that modify the starches in the barley into fermentable sugars that can be converted into alcohol by the yeast that is added during brewing. The malting process is achieved by steeping the grain in water (through a sequence of submerging and draining the grains), allowing the grains to germinate (essentially tricking the grains into growing, as pictured above), and kilning the grains (drying the grain in order to reduce the moisture content and to halt the germination process).
