“Local” is synonymously used with craft beer. When you think craft beer you think local and when you think drinking local . . . you get the picture. And you want to include local ingredients when you are brewing for your community. If you are making a Kentucky Bourbon, you would like to use Kentucky rye. Or for an Upstate lager, you want New York grown barley. And what would a Michigan Wit be without Michigan wheat? Wherever you are, you now have the opportunity to toll malt your local grains with Briess.
Toll malt processing is a relatively new initiative from Briess which enables brewers and distillers from across the country the ability to malt their local grains. You may be asking, “What is toll malt processing?” Essentially it is when the customer owns the raw ingredient and then ships it to Briess for processing. Raw ingredients could be barley, wheat or rye. Briess then works with you to identify what type of malt you want to be made with your raw ingredient, which can range from brewers or distillers malt to specialty kilned and roasted malts. You then choose the packaging size that works best for you, which includes 50 lbs bags, super sacks, and bulk options.
“Briess is uniquely positioned to provide high-quality, toll processed malt to brewers and distillers,” Mike Scanzello, Director of Brewing and Distilling, explains. “This is because Briess has a lot of flexibility in our batch sizes between our three facilities. We can work with customers to meet their needs and toll malt a batch as small as 15,000 pounds.” Many large maltsters have challenges processing small batches and may require high minimums around 250,000 lbs to toll process. On the other hand, smaller maltsters also face difficulties if the desired batch sizes exceed their capacity. “We fit right in the middle,” Scanzello says.
“I think this is really exciting for brewers and distillers because they will have a well-respected maltster who can produce high-quality malt with their local ingredients,” Scanzello notes. Over the last year, Briess has successfully toll processed approximately 1.5 million pounds of raw ingredients for brewers and distillers across the country. We have successfully malted non-traditional varieties of barley, wheat and rye grown in states such as Kentucky, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota and Oklahoma.
If you are interested in learning more about toll malt processing, contact your regional Division Manager or feel free to reach out to Mike Scanzello at info@Briess.com.