Malt 1880 - 1914

Towards the end of the 19th century some coloured malts, such as brown and amber became less popular and brewers relied on other malts to mimic them. This doesn’t seem to have been a total success, leading to a resurgence in their use.

“Brown and amber malts have of late years fallen somewhat into disfavour, black being relied upon for colour, crystal for flavour. There is. however, latterly a tendency to employ an increased proportion of brown and amber malt, and without doubt such malt if really well made gives a characteristic flavour not possessed by either black or crystal. It is, indeed, by a skilful blending of the several types of coloured malt that some of the most successful black beers are produced. It is true that in such grists the total proportion of the coloured malts will often be large and the cost price of the beer as a consequence high, but the result of the adoption of such grists generally fully justifies the expenditure." 

One of the problems with brown and amber malts had been their extreme variability, both in terms of flavour and colour. A brown malt from one maltster was often very different to that from another. However, changes in the method of manufacturing such malts to a large degree eliminated these differences making their use more attractive to brewers.

In general, malt made from foreign barley worked out cheaper than that from English barley. Looking from the point of view of the cost per pound of extract. Unsurprisingly, English pale ale malt was the most expensive.

Coloured malt analyses
	Black.	Brown.	Amber.	Crystal.
Extract per quarter (336 lbs. )	57.75	57.12	84.33	58.26
„ per cent. .	44.3	44.04	65.02	45.07
Acidity of wort	0.29	0.23	0.19	0.17
Total proteids or albuminoids	6.11	7.13	7.62	8.71
Soluble	3.99	4.81	5.69	5.88
Insoluble ,, ,,	3.99	4.81	5.69	5.88
Mineral matter or ash	0.32	0.29	1.2	0.76
Moisture	5.37	6.23	4.14	2.12
Source:
The Brewers Analyst, by R. Douglas Bailey, 1907, page 234

 

The cost of various malts in 1907
Oriigin	Malt type	Cost per lb. of extract. d.
English	pale ale malt	4.8
Smyrna	pale ale malt	4.4
Ouchak	pale ale malt	4.6
Californian	pale ale malt	4.3
English	stock ale malt	4.7
English	mild ale malt	4.5
Smyrna	mild ale malt	4.3
Californian	mild ale malt	4.2
Chilian (brewing)	mild ale malt	3.9
Chilian (Chevalier)	mild ale malt	4.5
Benghazi	mild ale malt	4.4
	Amber malt	4.7
	Brown malt	5.5
	Black malt	6.1
	Roasted barley	4.8
Source:
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 13, page 342.