Malt is one of the largest ingredient purchases a brewery makes, but changing malt suppliers isn’t a decision most brewers take lightly.
Once a brewery has its recipes dialed in, there is an understandable reluctance to change anything. A different base malt can mean adjusting the mill, monitoring extract, watching lautering performance and making sure the finished beer stays consistent.
But staying with the same supplier simply because you’ve always used them isn’t necessarily the best decision either.
Pricing changes. Freight changes. Availability changes. And sometimes another malt simply offers a better combination of quality, consistency and value.
If you’re considering a new malt supplier for your brewery, here are the things worth comparing.
Start With the Malt, Not the Price
Price matters. For a brewery using thousands of kilograms of malt every year, even a modest difference in cost adds up.
But comparing malt strictly on price per bag or tonne can be misleading.
Two base malts aren’t necessarily equivalent just because they’re both labelled Pale, Pilsner or 2-Row.
Look at the actual malt specifications, including:
- Extract
- Protein
- Diastatic power
- FAN
- Beta-glucan
- Moisture
- Color
- Kernel size and uniformity
A lower-priced malt that produces poorer extract or inconsistent brewhouse performance may not actually cost less by the time it reaches the fermenter.
The better comparison is value and performance, not price alone.
Consistency Matters
Brewers build recipes around repeatability.
If the malt changes significantly from one shipment to another, the brewery may need to compensate through milling, mashing or other process adjustments.
This is where analytical data becomes valuable.
A Certificate of Analysis (COA) allows a brewer to see how a malt performs against important specifications instead of relying only on the product name.
When evaluating a new supplier, ask for the malt specifications and compare them with what you’re currently using.
The goal isn’t necessarily to find identical numbers. It’s to understand the differences before the malt enters your brewhouse.
Consider Where the Barley Comes From
The raw material behind the malt matters too.
Canada is one of the world’s major producers of high-quality malting barley, with Western Canada producing barley varieties selected specifically for malting and brewing performance.
At Grist Malt Company, our base malts are produced using blends of CMBTC-recommended Canadian barley varieties, including Copeland, Churchill, Connect, Synergy and Fraser.
The blend can vary according to the characteristics of the barley and analytical results, allowing the finished malt to be built toward targeted specifications rather than relying solely on a particular variety name.
For brewers, the important part is the result: consistent malt designed around measurable performance.
Availability Is Part of the Equation
Great malt isn’t particularly useful if you can’t get it when you need it.
Ingredient supply became a much bigger consideration for breweries over the past several years, and it shouldn’t be overlooked when comparing suppliers.
Consider:
Is the malt stocked locally or shipped long distances?
What are the typical lead times?
Can you purchase the quantities that make sense for your brewery?
Is there dependable access to the same core products throughout the year?
Freight and inventory can have just as much impact on your actual malt cost as the price printed on an invoice.
Don’t Ignore Service
Buying malt shouldn’t be complicated.
Breweries should be able to get product information, specifications, pricing and availability without chasing down answers.
A good malt supplier should understand the products they’re selling and be able to provide the information a brewer needs to make a purchasing decision.
For smaller and independent breweries especially, responsive service can make a meaningful difference.
You Don’t Have to Switch Everything at Once
Changing malt suppliers doesn’t have to mean immediately replacing every malt in the brewhouse.
In fact, that’s probably the wrong way to approach it.
Start with one product.
Compare a new Pilsner, Pale or 2-Row malt against the base malt you’re currently using. Review the COA, run it through your normal process and record what happens.
Look at:
- Mill performance
- Mash conversion
- Lautering
- Extract and brewhouse efficiency
- Fermentation
- Finished beer flavor
That gives you actual brewery data instead of making the decision based solely on a specification sheet or sales pitch.
If the malt performs, you can decide where to go from there.
Give Grist Malt a Try
If you’re happy with your current malt supplier, we’re not going to tell you that you need to change.
But if you’re looking for another option, comparing suppliers, dealing with rising ingredient costs or simply curious about how another malt performs in your brewhouse, Grist Malt Company is worth putting to the test.
We supply high-quality malts for breweries and distilleries, backed by detailed analytical data and a focus on consistent performance and straightforward service.
You don’t need to overhaul your grain program to find out if Grist is a better fit.
Start with a base malt. Run a batch. Compare the results.
Your brewhouse can make the decision from there.
