
Spirits & Distilling Course
Craft Malt for Craft Distillers
The better you know your raw materials, the better the spirits you can produce.
In this ingredient-focused technical course, Todd Olander and Mike Myers of Colorado’s Root Shoot Malting guide you through the entire malting process—from planting to kilning—as well as the importance of maintaining quality in every step.
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Based on a fifth-generation farm in Loveland, Colorado, Root Shoot Malting has become a go-to option for some of the best-regarded small breweries and distilleries in the region. In this course, Root Shoot founder Todd Olander and head maltster Mike Myers guide you step by step through the malting process, beginning with crop selection and planting, including considerations for barley, rye, wheat, corn, and kernza. From there, Olander and Myers dig into the malting process itself, including steeping, germination, and kilning, plus the external factors that can affect the process and the importance of focusing on quality.
During the full-length 55-minute course, included with a Craft Spirits & Distilling subscription, Olander and Myers also cover:
- the importance of understanding your seed selection for planting
- key notes for selecting barley, rye, wheat, corn, and kernza
- the impact of farming practices on starch and protein levels in grain
- the steps of the malting process and how time, temperature, and moisture play a role
- the importance of focusing on the quality of your raw materials
- what to look for and ask for in a malt certificate of analysis (COA)
- the importance of sensory evaluation with your raw materials
And more.
Course contents
16 lessons, 55m of video
- Introduction | Craft Malt for Craft Distillers2:02
- Intro to Grains | Craft Malt for Craft Distillers3:44
- Variety | Craft Malt for Craft Distillers4:24
- Protein Levels | Craft Malt for Craft Distillers3:53
- Rye | Craft Malt for Craft Distillers3:37
- Wheat | Craft Malt for Craft Distillers4:36
- Corn | Craft Malt for Craft Distillers4:09
- Kernza | Craft Malt for Craft Distillers1:38
- Storage | Craft Malt for Craft Distillers1:33
- Malting | Craft Malt for Craft Distillers6:16
- Barley Processing and Behavior | Craft Malt for Craft Distillers3:33
- Temperature | Craft Malt for Craft Distillers3:32
- Post-Kilning: Cleaning, Storage, Quality | Craft Malt for Craft Distillers3:46
- COA | Craft Malt for Craft Distillers5:34
- Sense and Intuition | Craft Malt for Craft Distillers2:03
- Parting Thoughts | Craft Malt for Craft Distillers1:07