Malting

The malting process at Wilson's of Hadleigh, 1947.

The malting process at Wilson's Maltings, Hadleigh showing the various stages of the process, at a time when much of the work was still done by hand. The barley in its raw state and then the screening process. The barley is steeped in water and then spread with shovels on the 'working floor' to germinate. During germination the film shows how the grains of barley produce the 'acrospire', a shoot that grows under the skin, and also rootlets. The germinated barley is lifted into the kiln, again by hand, and spread for roasting. During the roasting, men have to climb into the kilns to turn the steaming barley by hand. The roasted grain is screened again to remove the 'culm' which is then sacked and used for cattle food. The finished malt is weighed off into sacks and loaded for delivery. Concludes with a histograph recapping on the stages of processing.

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Wilson's Maltings

Keywords

Malting

Intertitles

This is malt. Malt is obtained by subjecting carefully selected barley to various processes at the 'Maltings'. The barley is first screened to remove undersized grains, weed seeds, etc. The 'screenings' are drawn off. The good grain is then stored until required for the cisterns. To enable the barley to germinate, it is steeped in changes of water from 45-60 hours. The barley is removed to the 'working floors'. This is how it appears at this stage. It remains on the floor about 10 days at a temperature of 60O F. It is periodically raked and turned. Here the barley germinates. This is its appearance after three days. A shoot known as the acrospire is growing up under the skin on the grain, here seen broken away to show this. Small rootlets also form. About the tenth day the acrospire has almost reached the end of the grain, under its skin, here shown broken away again for our camera. The barley is now ready for the kiln......where it is levelled on the perforated tile floor. The temperature in the kiln is gradually raised from about 100o to 200oF over 4 days the grain frequently being turned over. After removal from the kiln the grain is put through another screen. The screen removes the rootlets, which are then known as 'malt culms' and used as cattle food. The grain is now pure malt and is weighed off into sacks ready for delivery.

Background Information

In 1946 Peter Boulton and Gilbert Hawker set up Boulton Hawker Films. Their main objective was to make educational films. This is one of a series of films on local crafts made between 1946 and 1947. Boulton Hawker also made films on agriculture, market gardening and geography. (See D. Cleveland, East Anglia on Film, Poppyland Publishing, 1987. See also background information on: Holbrook, Suffolk, 1949, The Dairy Farmer.)