Malt

Once seen as a luxurious adventure—with high prices and inconsistent quality—local malts with fresh, unique flavors are winning over some brewers, even as the costs of imported malts rise.

A new category in the 2026 Great American Beer Festival competition aims to raise the profile of craft maltsters and their offerings. Here’s what the malt-minded pros suggest for brewing up an entry—and it starts with collaboration.

The stats that come with your malt can be a challenge to decipher, but cracking that code can lead to better, more consistent beer. From brewers and maltsters who know the scores, here are tips on how to make the best use of them in your brewery.

Special maltose-negative yeast strains offer an accessible route to nonalcoholic beer with a low cost of entry. While pitching the yeast is easy, however, dialing in a tasty NA product demands iteration and a careful process.

When done thoughtfully, fruited sours, spiked sodas, and even hard seltzers can address many of the same drinker demands as RTD cocktails.

First developed by multinational lager breweries, hybrid malting barleys are now available that can extend shelf life while eliminating DMS and improving quality, among other possible benefits. Will smaller breweries find a use for them?

Jim Eckert of California’s Eckert Malting & Brewing—the world’s first maltster to focus on rice—discusses how he got into malting rice and the unique challenges of his niche.

As the climate changes, so does our malt. With the weather in barley-growing regions more prone to extremes than it once was, brewers are often facing lower efficiencies, higher finishing gravities, or stubborn lauters—unless they’re ready to adjust.

Amid craft lager’s surge, smaller maltsters are sending up signals for an unlikely trend, producing small batches of unusual smoked malts made with a variety of woods. Brewers dig it, too—but will drinkers follow?

Amid the enduring popularity of soft, pale, hazy IPAs, maltsters have worked to develop wheat malts specifically meant to fit the (grain) bill. Here are two examples, with insights from brewers who use them.

When it comes to malt these days, brewers are spoiled for choice—and yet maltsters continue to try new things, working to release products that satisfy modern brewhouse demands … and, maybe, find a place in your next recipe.

Developing a malt especially for your brewery takes some planning, but there are potential benefits—such as nailing a target flavor within your process, making beer from truly local grain … or just the fun of finding out what it tastes like.

The farming practices are still new and not always clearly defined, but supporters of regenerative agriculture make the case that it could lead to better grains, better beer, and happier farmers.

From the barley farmer’s rain forecast to adjusting your grain bill, here’s how malt develops its protein content and what that means for your beer.

In IPAs, hops do the talking, but building the right platform gives them the best chance to have their say. Here, a few award-winning brewers share advice on creating that malt base—especially for the American and West Coast styles—plus, we look at a new base malt designed especially for IPA.

Could floor-malted barley provide an edge for your beers? It has old-fashioned charm and its share of fans, even if its differences with pneumatic malt are relatively subtle. However, new research is beginning to explore what makes floor-malted barley different.

Going beyond barley into ancient grains can be a way to form stronger connections with local farmers, promote sustainable agriculture, and produce more distinctive beers.

In the battle against staling, understanding your malt’s free amino nitrogen content is a tactic worth deploying.

Whether it’s the various costs involved, location, conveyance, or keeping peace with the neighbors, here are some key considerations when it’s time for your brewery to bulk up.

Despite recent troubles with input costs and supply chain, the vibes coming from the malt market seem relatively calm and upbeat. Hey, let’s not jinx it.