complex scheduling because if something goes wrong, there’s nowhere to go. “All the consultants we talked to,” Manning acknowledged, “all they could tell us was the minute you start working with GKVs, the collisions get far more spectacular in terms of process problems because you’re backing up batches on top of one another. I’ve got two 10-tonne steep tanks feeding four 10-tonne vessels, so if something goes wrong on day five,” he said while pointing to the steep tank, “I don’t have a home for the 10 tonnes of steeped materials. You don’t have the ability to tap dance and fix things as easily as we do on the floor.” After walking up a flight of steps to the top of GKV #4, Manning twists a lever to open a round glass cover. A blast of cool air hits him in the face blowing his wavy hair as he swings it wide. “Feel that? We need that air in addition to the turning to manage all that heat that’s coming out during germination. If we just turned, it wouldn’t be enough.”
Inside the tank is about 24,000 pounds of grain with a center pole running from top to bottom. Attached to the pole is a metal arm extending to the tank wall. Below the arm are several blender-like blades that Manning calls ribbon mixers. He said the floor of the tank turns, moving the grain through the ribbon mixers for raking. And just like the floor malt, the material is raked three to five times a day. He says GKV grain will take a little more than a week to process — two-and-a-half days of steep, four days of germination, and one day of kiln. The final step before bagging is debearding, where the rootlets that formed in the kernel during germination are removed. “The rootlets are our enemies all the way through the process,” he explained. “So now at the end of the kiln, we’ve burnt that delicate plant material to a crisp. Brewers and distillers don’t want that material in there.” The finished malt is sent through a specially designed auger that creates friction between the kernels to separate out the rootlet. “We’ve made malt, but we’re not out of Getting ready to hot steep test various malts at the woods yet. We have testing Riverbend Malt House. The American Society of to do because brewers and Brewing Chemists flavor poster is on the wall. distillers have expectations,” Manning said with a grin. Manning, Simpson, and their 17-member team test every malt batch they
make for quality control and to ensure viability and flavor. Some tests are mechanized, making them easier, like moisture balance and the friabilimeter, which gauges how readily the grains of starch in a finished malt break apart, offering an indicator of how well-modified the malt is. Manning often invites guests to join him with the last, most important test to learn what Riverbend malt is all about — the hot steep flavor test. “Hot steep was developed by the American Society of Brewing Chemists (ASBC) about seven or eight years ago. It gives us a standardized lexicon for flavor.” A poster from ASBC with a malt flavor wheel hangs on the lab’s wall, and Manning said they have a computer app developed by DraughtLab of Rochester, New York, to track each batch. “Each batch has a report that we create as a ‘true to brand,’ as a way of keeping us on track so all of our customers know that batch XYZ of Southern Select malt tastes just like ABC batch of Southern Select.” Hot steep is basically creating a malt tea. Hot water is added to a container of malt that looks like a Thermos. It steeps for about 15 minutes and then Manning pours the contents into a jar with a fine-mesh filter. Next, they pour the liquid into tasting glasses checking for color, aroma, and taste. Speakeasy, their flagship distillers’ malt, is a light tea color with a bright, slightly sweet Hot steep testing dark Munich malt.
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