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​Water Use in Malting​

Water use in malting is a key aspect of sustainability and efficiency improvement for leading malting companies and a requirement from customers making malt-based beverages. There is now an expectation from brewers that malting companies will utilize recycled water and less water overall as part of their environmental social governance commitment and raw material reduction programs. The greatest hurdle for recycling and reusing water from steeping is the presence of polyphenol inhibitors that slow down germination if not removed by the steepwater treatment process. Various options for steeping are discussed in this article to show how they are effective and that the technology exists to reduce water use by more than half while still making the range of high-quality malts demanded by the industry. However, there is a need for malting wastewater treatment to go beyond potable water standards to eliminate polyphenol inhibitors of malting performance. The goal is to improve reclaimed water quality during the steeping process to ensure both efficient use of water and vigorous germination without loss of quality.

Keywords: brewing, hydration, malting, membrane bioreactor, Optisteep, oxygenation, polyphenol, steeping, sustainability, United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, water recycling, water use​