From the field to the fermenter, barley and malt have a vocabulary of their own. Here are the essential terms — defined plainly — that appear throughout our malting barley guide.
- 2-row barley
- Barley (Hordeum distichum) with two rows of large grains — the type preferred for premium malting and brewing thanks to its plump, low-protein grain. See 2-row vs 6-row.
- 6-row barley
- Barley (Hordeum hexastichum) with six rows of smaller grains; higher in protein and used mainly for feed and some traditional beer styles.
- Alpha-amylase
- The enzyme that breaks starch into simpler, fermentable sugars during mashing.
- Covered (hulled) barley
- Barley whose husk (lemma and palea) stays fused to the grain; used for beer and feed, where the husk forms a natural filter bed.
- Diastatic power
- A malt's enzymatic capacity to convert starch into fermentable sugars — a key quality trait for malting barley.
- Dormancy
- A post-harvest resting period during which grain will not germinate. Low dormancy is desirable so the grain is ready to malt.
- Extract
- The yield of fermentable sugars obtained from malt during mashing — higher extract means more sugar per tonne.
- Floor-malted
- Malt produced by the traditional method of germinating grain spread by hand on a malthouse floor.
- Green malt
- Moist, freshly germinated grain — the product of germination, before it is dried.
- Hulless (naked) barley
- Barley whose grain threshes free of its husk; used mainly for human food such as bread and pasta.
- Kilning
- Drying and curing green malt with warm air to halt germination, preserve enzymes and develop colour and flavour.
- Malting barley
- Barley grown specifically to be malted and brewed — selected for low protein, plumpness and high germination.
- Modification
- The degree to which a grain's starch and proteins have been made accessible during malting.
- Plumpness
- The proportion of large, full grains in a sample; plumper grain holds more starch and yields more extract.
- Protein
- A grain component measured as a quality spec; lower protein (≈10–11%) leaves more room for starch and gives cleaner beer.
- Rachis
- The central axis of the barley ear to which the grains attach. Wild barley has a fragile, shattering rachis.
- Steeping
- Soaking barley in water to raise its moisture and trigger germination — the first stage of malting.
- Tillering
- The production of lateral stems (tillers) by a barley plant during the vegetative stage.