The cost of malting

When looking at Heineken;'s brewing records from the 1930s and 1940s, I was struck by the quantity of darker malts that they used. In their dark beers, obviously.

Each contained three types: kleurmout, broeimout (a type of caramel malt) and caramelmout. And the base was possibly donkermout rather than pilsner malt. Unfortunately, that isn't totally clear in the records.

As with everything else, the cost of malting was strictly regulated during the war. The price varied considerably, depending on the type of malt. With the darkest types costing more than double pilsner malt. Which makes perfect sense, as the darker kilning would use more energy and hence cost more.

You can see the prices here.

The cost of malting per 100 kg of barley
type	price (f)
lichtmout (pale malt)	3.79
donker mout (dark malt)	4.04
caramelmout (caramel malt)	7.90
kleurmout (colour malt)	9.16
Source:
Minutes of the management of the CBK on 23rd April 1942, held at the Amsterdamse Stadsarchief, document number 31121-1, page 51.