Our unique malt house

Our brewery is unique in several ways. No beer lover should miss our original malt house, where barley is soaked. The malt house was founded in 1872, and in 1887 it became an asset of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand d’Este. These days, the malt house only buys high-quality barley from local suppliers. There are only six such malt houses in the Czech Republic. Annually, the malt house produces more than 2 200 tons of malt. Out of that, 450 tons are used in the brewery itself. The rest is sold to other Czech breweries or exported abroad.

THE PROCESS OF BARLEY-SOAKING

While soaking barley in the soaking vessel, the original content of water in the grain is increased. This provides conditions for its germination and thus activation of bio-catalyst enzymes. In the next stage of the process – germination of the grain on the threshing-floor – the consistency is changed through the action of enzyme complexes – mainly proteolytic, amylolytic, and cytolytic – which are gradually activated in the cereal grains. High–molecular starches and proteins undergo gradual fission. After the end of germination (5 to 7 days), the so called green malt is generated. It is kilned on the malt kiln with the maximum temperature of 80–85°C. Through the modified regulation of the temperature increase and moisture decrease, an optimal amount of characteristic color and aromatic substances is ensured. These substances are necessary in the next production of the wort.

BENEŠOV MALT CONQUERS THE WORLD

As we have written above, not every brewery has its own malt house, and other breweries must procure malt from elsewhere. It is no coincidence that many domestic small and medium-sized breweries purchase their malt in Benešov. This is proof for the Ferdinand Brewery malt house that we really know to produce malt here. This is also confirmed by our business cooperation with German wholesale company Weyermann, which then sells the Benešov malt to the entire world.