Episode 78: Making the Most of Malt

Spending some time with beer’s raw ingredients is important. Finding out what is new, exciting, or how other brewers are utilizing them to create world class beer helps make the whole industry stronger and pints taste better. This month, we’re taking a look at malt and speaking with two industry professionals who are intimately involved in the processing and promotion of grain.Andrea Stanley is the co-owner of Valley Malt, a craft malthouse in Western Massachusetts supplying craft brewers, distillers, and bakers with locally grown malts and grain. In 2009 Andrea read an article about local farms and bakeries in the fertile CT River Valley reviving the lost art of growing and processing local grains. As an avid supporter of local food, Andrea saw an opportunity to connect this emerging local grain growing with craft brewing. She reached out to a local vegetable grower in her hometown of Hadley and convinced him to plant 25 acres of barley as a crop rotation.Initially her goal was to prove that malt barley could be successfully cultivated in Massachusetts and malted into an ingredient that local breweries would want to use. In October 2010, Andrea shoveled the first 1-Ton batch of locally grown malt and has since worked with her husband, malting team, and the local farming community to build a supply chain in the Northeast that continues to grow, despite many challenges to overcome. In 2022 Valley Malt underwent a major expansion, adding 1 million pounds of grain cleaning and storage and the capacity to malt 1.5 millions pounds annually.  Valley Malt now supports over 700 acres of grains annually in NY, VT, NH, MA, ME and CT with the plan to keep growing in the coming years by installing additional germination bins.  On the larger-scale commercial side of malt, Zach Kelly the territory sales manager in Northern California for the Country Malt Group. After a career in the brewhouse - where he worked for companies like Russian River and Hen House, he now helps brewers make smart decisions when it comes to finding the right grain bill for their next brew. Passionate about lagers and west coast IPA, Zach shares insight on what’s exciting, reliable and available. The BYO Nano Podcast Episode 78 is sponsored by:NanoCon OnlineRegistration has opened for NanoCon Online. On October 23rd craft brewing industry experts will present a full-day of live seminars covering Brewery Operations, Business Operations & Sales, and Start-Ups for the small-scale, taproom-oriented brewer. Get your questions answered live and have future access to NanoCon Online video recordings and course materials for all sessions. Register now at NanoCon.beer and save $25!BYO Nano+ MembershipGet access to hundreds of hours of on-demand videos covering small craft brewery strategies with BYO’s Nano+ Membership. Learn from craft beer experts watching replays of past NanoCon seminars plus a complete library of in-depth workshops. You’ll also have full online access to all of BYO’s digital content and an annual digital magazine subscription. Check out byo.com/nanoplus for more details.BYO Nano Brew Podcast Episode 78Host: John HollGuests: Andrea Stanley, Zach KellyContact: nano@byo.comMusic: Scott McCampbellPhoto: Andrea Stanley