S - like grist

Grist

What is the effect of the shot?

For the production of single malt whisky, the grains of barley malt are first crushed into grist in a mill so that the important ingredients - such as starch, sugar and proteins - can be processed in the later course of production. For this to succeed optimally, the composition of the crushed malt must have a very specific ratio.

Why is barley malt ground?

In preparation for the next production step, mashing, the barley malt is coarsely ground. This is done in our special equipment: a four-roller grist mill. For this purpose, the malt quantity of 2.2 to 2.5 tons taken from our malt silos and controlled by means of a built-in scale is conveyed directly to the dry grist mill. This consists of four hardened rollers which ensure an excellent grist result of our barley malt.

What is the shot result?

The milling is a very important production step. This is because we cannot process barley malt in the form of whole grains, as it is not possible to get at the ingredients - the starch, sugars and proteins. Therefore, the barley grains have to be broken up, i.e. milled. This is done in our mill by means of the two pairs of rollers. The milling result is of great importance. The percentage distribution of the three components of the barley malt grist is in the following range for many distilleries:

  • 70 - 85 % husks
  • 10 - 20 % starch or grit
  • 5 - 10 % flour

How is the shot result controlled?

The milling result is checked using a simple method: a shaking sieve. This wooden sieve box consists of a lid and a base and two layers in between, each equipped with a sieve of different mesh size. If exactly 100 g of the malt grist is placed on the upper sieve, the box is closed with the lid and shaken manually, then the husks remain on this upper, coarser sieve, the starch or semolina on the somewhat finer sieve of the layer below, and the flour on the bottom of the sieve box. By weighing out the individual components, one thus obtains a check on the percentage composition of the ground material and, if necessary, can readjust the degree of grinding accordingly at the mill by changing the roller spacing.

Why is this composition so important?

The correct mixing ratio of these three grinds is particularly important for the subsequent mashing-in process. This is because hot water is added to the grist during mashing in the mash tun so that the valuable sugar components of the malt in particular can be dissolved out. After a certain period of time, this sugar-containing solution, known as wort, is filtered off through the sieve bottom of the lauter tun, our mashtun. On its way to the bottom, the liquid passes through the spent grains cake, which consists of the water-insoluble components of the barley grist. The husks in the grist provide air in the spent grains cake, making it relatively loose and thus well permeable to the wort. If the husks are too small after milling and/or too few in number, the spent grains cake becomes compacted and the wort can no longer drain off well and sufficiently. If, on the other hand, there is too much flour in the malt grist, the wort becomes too gelatinized and can also no longer drain properly through the spent grains cake and over the sieve bottom in the lauter tun. This would result in a loss of sugar yield and the alcohol obtained from it.

What is the composition of the grist at St. Kilian?

After many test series, a shot result of

  • 82 % husks
  • 10 Starch or Griese
  • 8 % Flour

emerged as the optimum for our productivity and represents an important step on the way to the finest St. Kilian single malt whisky.

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