Question about malts.

[Klamer1]

So I am very new to the whole home brewing thing and I have question.
Why are grains, liquid, and dry all called malts, does malt stand for something that puts those things in a category ? Or are all three things the same thing, just in different forms ? Then why do we add them at different times ?
If someone could drop some knowledge on me it would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Malt is just a fun word for germinated cereal grains. Just like hops, there are different kinds of grains so their addition time and quantity is directly related to the end flavor.

 

[Klamer1]

Thanks for solving that for me FloppyKnockers. I also have one more question if you could answer it, what is the difference between mashing and steeping ?

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Ahhh...A bit more of a tricky one so I'll try to keep it simple. Mashing is mixing all your grains (grain bill) with water and heating without a bag (unless BIAB, we'll talk about that later), with temperature pauses in a mash tun (cooking kettle). The end result is mash. The point is to make a fermentable concoction called wort

Steeping is soaking (specialty) grains in a bag to extract flavors. Steeping grains is really not intended to make wort, just flavor it.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

---duplicate post---

 

[Chadwick]

Yep, malts are simply any malted grain. It could be barley, wheat, corn, rye,..... grass, clover, crap grass.....

Like was mentioned above, hops fall under a similar windfall of descriptions. There are hundreds of varieties of hops, all with individual flavor characteristics and profiles, but they are all called "hops".

I prefer malted grains from the family commonly referred to as "barley" malts. More specifically I like the species referred to as "2-row" barley malts. That is my preference, others may prefer other versions of barley malts. It's really all a matter of personal preference.

As for dry malted powders and stuff. Those are all made from the same barley malts I like to use except that they make the malt liquid, and then dehydrate it into powder for your ease of use. It makes things easier for you, if you are new to brewing, because you don't have to deal with mashing raw malted grains that have been milled. In effect, they take a huge part of the process out of your hands so you don't have to think about it.

This is good for new brewers that are attempting brewing for the first time. It makes things simple and easy to deal with. I recommend all new brewers work with these extracts when they start brewing. It simplifies things and ensures a good result.

 

[Klamer1]

Thanks for the information Chad and floppy.