Malt houses key to truly New York beer

The hops revival has been underway in New York for several years.

But now an even bigger component of beer is ramping up production to make New York craft beer a truly Empire State experience.

Malt.

That's barley, germinated and dried under highly controlled conditions to release enzymes to help convert starches to sugars. Those sugars feed the yeast, which, through fermentation, make alcohol.

While hops are needed in minute quantities to flavor and preserve beer, it takes a lot of malt for beer.

And in order to make malt, you need farmers to grow barley and malt houses to convert that barley in malt.

New York Craft Malt in Batavia began selling product last month, Pioneer Malting in Chili made its first sales this week and Flower City Malt Lab on Buffalo Road in Rochester is about to come online in the next few weeks.

These three malt houses follow a couple others that have opened in Tioga and Tompkins counties, and will be joined by others in Buffalo, Albany, Niagara County and Madison County.

"It's phenomenal," says Mike Alcorn, founder of CB Craft Brewers, about the burgeoning industry of craft malt in New York.

Later this fall, the Honeoye Falls microbrewery hopes to release its first ever 100 percent local beer with local malt.

While the state's 104 microbreweries are generally excited to use and promote New York-grown ingredients in their beers, for the state's new legion of farm microbreweries — and there are now 57 of them — New York malt is essential, notes Paul Leone, executive director of the New York State Brewers Association.

"Every beer has a story and local is one of the stories we like to tell," says Paul Guarracini, co-owner and brew master at Fairport Brewing Co.

The Fairport farm brewery is using New York-grown barley that is malted in Massachusetts but considering placing an order with one of the three new local malt houses, which will help save on freight costs, says Guarracini.

Craft brewing is a $2.2 billion industry in New York, according to a 2012 economic impact study, and New York ranks third in the country, behind California and Texas.

The new law that went into effect last year requires farm breweries to use mandated proportions of New York-grown ingredients. Right now, 20 percent of the hops and 20 percent of all other ingredients must be grown or produced here (that does not count water). In 2018, the proportion jumps to 60 percent for both categories, and by 2024, no less than 90 percent of hops and 90 percent of the rest of the ingredients must come from New York.

Answer for one farm's future

Ted Hawley wanted to revive his fourth-generation family farm in Batavia, which went out of production in the 1980s. He initially thought he would grow grains for locavore bakeries, but while attending a NOFA-NY (Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York) conference in 2011, someone suggested that malting barley was a ripe opportunity for anyone with an entrepreneurial spirit.

Having launched other successful businesses, Hawley took that idea and ran with it. New York Craft Malt finished its first batch in mid-August and is now selling malt to craft and farm breweries across the state, from Buffalo to Brooklyn. Their malt is also available for home brewers at retail outlets in the Buffalo market.

"It's been quite a journey," says Hawley, whose research and education has taken him to Canada, Europe and China, where he had the equipment manufactured for his state-of-the-art fully automated malt house, based on his own designs.

Right now New York Craft Malt is producing only base malt, the majority of grain used in brewing. But Hawley and his wife, Patty, want to add specialty malts such as chocolate, roasted, crystal and caramel malts, which are used in much smaller quantities to add unique flavor profiles to beer.

Given all the work that it's taken to get the malt house operational, the Hawleys have chosen to contract with with CY Farms based in Elba, Genesee County, but will eventually plant their own fields as well.

New malt houses getting online

New York Craft Malt was the first in western New York, but the others are following right behind.

Just this week, Pioneer Malting in Chili got the green light from the state agriculture department to start selling its malt, and customers include both brewers and distillers. The VB Brewery in Victor and Black Button Distilling on Railroad Street are among its customers.

While New York Craft and other malt houses in the state use high-tech automated systems, Pioneer is resorting to floor malting, a traditional method where the grain is germinated on the floor and raked by hand.

Barley is the main grain, but corn, rye and wheat have been written into the business plan to supply distilleries, says Paolo Filippetti, a former lawyer who owns the business with his brother Adam and another partner, Andrew Suppo. Pioneer is also bringing in Canadian barley to supply breweries.

"Our focus is New York state products, but we want to work with all craft breweries," says Filippetti.

Meanwhile Flower City Malt Lab on Buffalo Road is open to selling to all craft beer makers but is honing in on the farm breweries.

"I need to hold my product for people who took a chance and gambled to get a farm brewery license. And they have no other choice," says president Mark Russell, who is also an apple grower at his family's operation, Whittier Fruit Farm.

Flower City is still weeks away from going live, but has secured barley grown as close as Bloomfield and Canandaigua.

The demand for malting barley right now is very high, with many fledgling malt houses complaining that they struggle to find enough.

No wonder Bill Verbeten's phone keeps ringing off the hook with inquiries from curious farmers.

Verbeten is an agronomist for Cornell Cooperative Extension's Northwest New York Dairy, Livestock & Field Crops Team, which has been overseeing malting barley trials across the state and educating both farmers and maltsters about the particulars of malting barley.

Two years ago, Verbeten estimates about 500 acres were devoted to malting barley; this year, about 2,000. A lot of those fields are in western New York. Future demand could justify as many as 30,000 acres.

A different kind of barley

High-protein feed barley for livestock is plentiful in New York, but it is a different crop than low-protein malting barley, which must meet very exacting quality standards for malting.

The barley is analyzed for moisture and protein content, germination rate, and other quality variables. If the malting barley does not meet specs, the maltster won't buy it and the farmer must find a secondary market, which could be livestock or distilling.

Another deterrent to farmers is the lack of crop insurance for malting barley, says Verbeten.

And of course, bad weather and disease are always dangerous variables, as Hawley knows all too well. He is using barley from the 2012 crop because the 2013 harvest was lost to pre-germination and the 2014 crop succumbed to winter kill.

But the gamble does pay handsomely. Feed barley gets about $3.50 a bushel, while high quality malting barley can pay as high as $14 a bushel, notes Hawley.

There are two main varieties of barley: winter barley, which is planted in the fall and harvested in the spring, and spring barley which is planted in the spring and harvested later in the summer.

Barley also is categorized by the number of seed rows in the head. Traditionally, two-row barley was considered better for brewing, but now six-row barley can produce beer that is equally high in quality, and it is easier to grow and has higher yields, says Verbeten.

Throughout the country, the demand for malt is so high that some brewers will use just about anything they can get their hands on. Hawley knows of North Carolina brewers using feed barley with decent results.

While he hasn't gone to that extreme yet, Fairport Brewing's Guarracini says he's able to adjust recipes to compensate for uneven malt quality. Fortunately, batch-to-batch variation is not a concern for him or his customers.

What does concern him is the lack of selection of malt styles and the high price — about double what he would pay for mass-produced malt from the Midwest and Pacific Northwest. Canada and Europe also supply the brewing industry with malt.

He keeps his ratio at 20 percent New York-grown because he can't afford a higher ratio. If prices remain high when the law steps up the proportion to 60 percent, he may opt for a different type of brewing license.

KMILTNER@DemocratandChronicle.com

Twitter.com/KarenMiltner

HOW BARLEY IS MADE INTO MALT

Turning malting barley (the type of barley designed for malting, as opposed to feed barley) takes about seven days. Here are the steps:

Steeping: Maltsters steep the barley seed in water for up to 48 hours. As water is absorbed, the seed sprouts little rootlets or acrospires at the end. When the proper amount of water has been absorbed, the steeped barley is said to be chitted.

Germination: Chitted barley is put in a germination tank where the temperature and humidity are controlled to promote conversion of starches to sugar and to develop enzymes. The barley must be stirred to keep the rootlets from growing together. The process takes about four days.

Kilning: Warm air is passed through the barley kernels to halt germination while preserving essential enzymes. Variations in kilning techniques result in different flavors. The process takes about a day.

Properly dried and stored, malt can last for at least a year.

LOCAL BREWERY EVENTS

Nedloh Brewing Co. is hosting its grand opening noon to 7 p.m. Oct. 4 and 5 at 6621 State Route 5 and 20 in East Bloomfield, Ontario County. (585) 360-7272, nedlohbrewing.com.

CB Craft Brewers is hosting its annual Festival of Ales 1 to 5 p.m. Oct. 4 at Honeoye Falls Fireman's Field, 321 Monroe St., Honeoye Falls. Forty beers, food, music and other activities. Advance tickets are $30, at the gate admission is $40, $7 for non-drinkers. For a list of places where you can purchase tickets, go to cbcraftbrewers.com.

ROC Brewing is hosting Boos and Brews Haunted Hayride Oct. 12. The brewery opens at 5 p.m. with a bus leaving at 7:30 p.m. for Verhulst Haunted Hayride and Haunted Corn Maze in Spencerport. Tickets are $32. ROC Brewing is at 56 S. Union St. (585) 794-9798, rocbrewing.com.

Rohrbach Brewing Co . at 3859 Buffalo Road in Ogden is hosting a food and beer pairing 6 p.m. Oct. 14. Tickets are $30 (deadline is Oct. 10, tax and gratuity not included). Call (585) 594-9800. rohrbachs.com.

The New York Wine & Culinary Center at 800 S. Main St. in Canandaigua is hosting New York on Tap, featuring more than 12 New York breweries with food pairings. Event runs 7 to 9:30 p.m. Oct. 24. Tickets are $45, VIP tickets are $60 (VIP events start at 6 p.m.). (585) 394-7070, nywcc.com.