Since 1870 we’ve lived and breathed malting. With this passion and expertise, and by combining traditional and modern techniques, we create an impressive range of malted and non-malted products, including several unique and exclusive barley malts.
We have a wide range of malts suitable for brewing and distilling to provide you with the foundations for creating your next beer or whisky.
There is nothing more we love than talking to brewers and distillers so if you have any questions, or would like to arrange a call with a member of our team, please feel free to get in touch – we would love to hear from you!
Part 2
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In Part 1, why does the malt price change each year? Part 1: Barley, we explored how barley prices influence the cost of malt. In Part 2, we look at the other major factors that affect malt pricing, including energy, water, production, quality control, and distribution. Together, these elements determine the cost of producing high-quality brewing malt and distilling malt. There can be dramatic swings in raw material costs, and these then reflect through into the malt price.
However, many other factors affect malt prices, and some are more variable than others, as we shall see as we work through the various cost elements.
Energy is a high cost and a major focus for the environment; hence, we do all we can to minimize usage. However, the malting process requires drying and ventilation before & during storage, and continuous airflow throughout the malting process to keep temperatures under control and ensure an even modification of the grains, culminating in the drying and curing of the malt to meet the desired specifications. Hence, significant operating costs for both gas & electricity.
Obviously, we want to minimize our energy use, so many energy-saving devices are used in the maltings to help. Probably the biggest is the heat recovery system in the kilns. At the start of kilning, when the air coming out of the kiln is saturated as the malt starts to dry, the air is passed through glass tube heat exchangers, over which the incoming air is passing. This warms the incoming air significantly, without it coming into contact with the damp air, making use of this otherwise wasted heat. Later in the kilning process, as the malt is in its final stages of drying, the air from the kiln is not saturated, so it can be recirculated to reduce the heat demand on the boilers. At our largest site in Great Ryburgh, Norfolk, England, we also have a CHP (Combined Heat & Power) plant, which meets the majority of the site’s electricity needs while producing heat as a by-product. This heat is also used in the kilns, and because we have a 24-hour demand for heat, it makes the CHP plant as efficient as possible.
Finally, using significant economy measures where possible, and especially on the more powerful fan motors, we have fitted inverter-speed controls, so these motors can run at their most efficient speeds at all times to minimize power wastage.
As I am sure all brewers and distillers are aware, if energy use is relatively constant, then the variation in cost must derive from the energy price. In a similar way to barley, this comes back to both national and global influences, with local factors being gas stocks or the number of power generators running, and global factors being oil prices and supply & demand.
Again, like brewers & distillers, the maltster has to use significant volumes of water to steep the barley, which in turn creates substantial volumes of effluent that have to be treated – so another high cost. Actual usage will be influenced by malt type, time of year (so crop maturity and the ability to absorb water) and the ultimate cost of this will depend on where the water comes from (borehole likely to be significantly cheaper than mains water) and where it goes, on-site effluent treatment will involve significant capital investment but then have lower unit cost of treatment than going to the main sewer and local treatment works.
Working along the lines of the old saying “A lot of little bits make a lot,” the other costs are many small amounts that add up to a significant total!
The biggest in here are labor, maintenance materials, and depreciation; no surprises there, with complex plants needing people to operate them, but also requiring significant investment in maintenance and replacement.
In here I include all the bagging, crushing, palletizing and delivery – another high cost that will vary depending on package type and delivery location.
Our laboratory analyses all barley, in-process and malt samples, and it is the latter that provides the data for your Certificate of Analysis. Still, there is a lot more work undertaken than just that, with a multitude of trial work, bespoke analysis and micromalting to ensure we are delivering the best product for you at all times.
Last but not least, a mention (and another cost!) for the admin and support team that takes orders, organizes deliveries, and provides technical support and backup to keep you all brewing great beer and distilling great whisky!
While barley remains the single largest contributor to malt cost, and quite rightly so given its importance in malt! Energy, water, production, quality assurance, and logistics all play an important role. Understanding these factors helps explain why malt prices naturally fluctuate from year to year while maintaining the high standards brewers and distillers expect from Crisp Malt.
So could it have been a much shorter piece, something along the lines of “Like barley, it’s because energy costs are also high and variable,” but who (apart from me) would have been satisfied with that?
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