Many historians contend that primitive malting arisen as part of ordinary cooking, where it would have rendered the grain more nutritious and digestible. It was developed by trial and error.
The beer processing spread throughout Europe and Africa early in its history. In 1268, befoore he achieved sainthood, Saint Louis IX of France in 1268 enacted laws to ensure the quality of beer.
The making and selling of malts was often controlled. In Nurnberg in 1290 only barley was allowed to be malted, while in Augsberg between 1433 and 1550 beer was only to be made from malted oats.
The development of large breweries particularly in the 19th century, led to the industrialization of malting and a progressive increase in the size of production units and of the batches of grain processed.
In some respects, the malting technology used in the UK was beginning to differ from that used in North America and Continental Europe by the mid 1800s. Outside the UK, the introduction of mechanization and pneumatic malting was easily adopted.
The pro-active approach of the industry to research and development is exemplified by the observation that the malting industry was using gibberelic acid as a malting aid in commercial production of malt in 1960.
History of modern malting
