Business Is Booming For Small Batch Malting Company
“I’d been home brewing for years and originally had a vision of starting a craft-beer company that grows its own barley and hops,” says Adam Wagner of Fisher, Minn. “The critical step in brewing beer is processing your raw barley into a malted barley product. As we began experimenting with malting our own barley, we learned there is a lot to the process. Our focus shifted to the growing and malting of barley, and that’s how Vertical Malt got its start.”
Wagner says they began malting 10-lb. batches in buckets and soon discovered that nobody manufactured small-batch malting equipment, so he and his father set out to develop their own.
Vertical Malt Company was started in December 2015 by Adam and his father, Tim, who operates a 2,100-acre farm in northwest Minnesota. Malt is made by soaking barley in water to start germination, then halting germination by drying the spouted grain with hot air. The malting process develops the enzymes needed to convert the grain’s starches into fermentable sugars.
The Wagners developed several machine prototypes and eventually settled on a two-vessel setup - a steeping tank for the initial soak and a rotating drum for germinating and drying. The pilot system makes a batch of 250 lbs. of malt and is capable of producing one batch per week. They’re about to begin malting in a new 4,000-lb. unit and hope to add 3 more 4,000-lb. units by the end of 2017.
The Wagners are grateful for the assistance they’ve received from various partners in setting up the pilot plant. Their craft malting concept won a $10,000 award in the Northwest Minnesota Foundation’s IDEA competition, and Adam just learned that Vertical Malt will receive a value-added grant from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
“More craft brewers are coming online every month in our area, and most brewery startups need 800 to 1,500 lbs. of malt for a single batch of beer, so we’re excited about the opportunities in the year ahead.”
Adam says one of the advantages of Vertical Malt’s small-scale malting is their ability to customize their malts to each brewer’s needs and recipes. “We can do what large malt companies with huge batch sizes would struggle with: specifying varieties, kernel size, germination time, heat, and other factors to produce subtle flavor variations in small batches for individual customers. We can tell brewers the year the grain was grown, what field, even the days the grain was harvested or malted. Craft brewers appreciate that kind of information because beer lovers like to trace their beverage’s heritage from ‘field to glass.’”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Vertical Malt Company, Fisher, Minn. 56723 (www.verticalmalt.com)
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Business Is Booming For Small Batch Malting Company SPECIALTY/SERVICES “I’d been home brewing for years and originally had a vision of starting a craft-beer company that grows its own barley and hops ” says Adam Wagner of Fisher Minn “The critical step in brewing beer is processing your raw barley into a malted barley product As we began experimenting with malting our own barley we learned there is a lot to the process Our focus shifted to the growing and malting of barley and that’s how Vertical Malt got its start ” Wagner says they began malting 10-lb batches in buckets and soon discovered that nobody manufactured small-batch malting equipment so he and his father set out to develop their own Vertical Malt Company was started in December 2015 by Adam and his father Tim who operates a 2 100-acre farm in northwest Minnesota Malt is made by soaking barley in water to start germination then halting germination by drying the spouted grain with hot air The malting process develops the enzymes needed to convert the grain’s starches into fermentable sugars The Wagners developed several machine prototypes and eventually settled on a two-vessel setup - a steeping tank for the initial soak and a rotating drum for germinating and drying The pilot system makes a batch of 250 lbs of malt and is capable of producing one batch per week They’re about to begin malting in a new 4 000-lb unit and hope to add 3 more 4 000-lb units by the end of 2017 The Wagners are grateful for the assistance they’ve received from various partners in setting up the pilot plant Their craft malting concept won a $10 000 award in the Northwest Minnesota Foundation’s IDEA competition and Adam just learned that Vertical Malt will receive a value-added grant from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture “More craft brewers are coming online every month in our area and most brewery startups need 800 to 1 500 lbs of malt for a single batch of beer so we’re excited about the opportunities in the year ahead ” Adam says one of the advantages of Vertical Malt’s small-scale malting is their ability to customize their malts to each brewer’s needs and recipes “We can do what large malt companies with huge batch sizes would struggle with: specifying varieties kernel size germination time heat and other factors to produce subtle flavor variations in small batches for individual customers We can tell brewers the year the grain was grown what field even the days the grain was harvested or malted Craft brewers appreciate that kind of information because beer lovers like to trace their beverage’s heritage from ‘field to glass ’” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Vertical Malt Company Fisher Minn 56723 www verticalmalt com
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