The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Diastatic Malt?

HeiHei29er's picture
HeiHei29er

Diastatic Malt?

If I grind this in my Mock Mill, will it function similar to diastatic malt?

happycat's picture
happycat

Probably not esp if it doesn't say diastatic or enzymatic. It notes colour (lovibond) and flavour which I would guess is its primary contribution.

alcophile's picture
alcophile

This rye malt has a high diastatic power of 100° Lintner. Here is a link to the maltster's website where you can get more information.

In general, I have found that malt color can be used as a first guess for a malt's diastatic power. A malt with little color (low °Lovibond) will be diastatic and a malt with a higher °Lovibond willl be non-diastatic. The cutoff between diastatic and non-diastatic malts is around 30° Lovibond. Above 30L and the malt is probably non-diastatic. Between 20L and 30L is a gray area and below 20L is likely diastatic, but it's best to check with the maltster to be sure.

happycat's picture
happycat

That's helpful knowledge, thanks!

I guess I foolishly expected the label to be more explicit :p

mariana's picture
mariana

Yes. According to Proximity, its diastatic power is 100 L. The most diastaticly active barley malt power is 110-160L, so this one is good.

https://proximitymalt.com/product/malted-rye/

HeiHei29er's picture
HeiHei29er

Thank you!

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

When I taste my Diastatic Malt it has a distinct taste of sweetness (sugar).

As stated, light colored malt was probably not subjected to the higher heat necessary to make dark colored malt. As you probably know high heat is how non-diastatic malt is made.

mariana's picture
mariana

Abe, of course, it tastes sweet. It has sugar added to it. It says so on the label of your diastatic malt.

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

Mariana, I thought you had me. I checked the back package labeling and it says, “no added sugar”.

mariana's picture
mariana

Abe, it says so on the label: malted barley flour, wheat flour, dextrose. Dextrose is a simple sugar (identical to glucose), so a little dextrose added to it gives it sweetness to taste.

I buy a different brand of diastatic malt and it is also sweetened with dextrose.

The label on your package says 'no added sugar' and the nutritional label says 'zero sugar', because they did not add 'table sugar', they added one of its components - dextrose/glucose.

Regular table sugar is a "mix" of two simple sugars: dextrose and fructose in equal amounts. 

Diastatic barley malt powder on its own is very low in sugar content: about 1%, it's pure milled barley malt. Whereas non-diastatic malt powder, for example King Arthur Flour brand, is extremely high in sugar: 63%, all of them sugars ADDED to it. 

 

alcophile's picture
alcophile

In the USA, the FDA does not exclude dextrose from labeling laws regarding added sugars. To conform with USA labeling, this product should contain <1 g (<1%) of added sugar. I don't know whether this low level of dextrose would be noticeable with dextrose only ≈75% as sweet as sucrose.

mariana's picture
mariana

Ok, thanks.

The strangest thing about this malt is that its nutritional label which can be seen on amazon says zero sugars and zero added sugars in 100g of diastatic barley malt powder, yet it does have a distnct sweet taste and its own native sugars (barley malt has sugar and wheat flour has sugar ) and added sugars (dextrose).

The brand that I use (Hoosier Farms) has 4g of sugar in 14g of diastatic malt powder. King Arthur Flour brand has added cane sugar in their diastatic malt. It is always sweetened.

four_row's picture
four_row

There is a difference in beer brewing between using grains (usually cracked in a mill) and using extracts. Grains are used in what home brewers refer to as "All Grain Brewing." This is the method that is also used by most professional beer brewers. Essentially it involves making grain tea- you keep the grains & water at specific temperatures for specific amounts of time to allow the enzymes naturally occurring in the grain to change the character of the sugars. Once you have processed the grains this way you have what brewers would refer to as "wort". This is cooled off and yeast is added to it. One of the reasons that you go through this process is to make the sugars more digestible by the yeast. 

If I understand things correctly the malt that is added to flour is more likely malt extract powder. Malt extract powder is made by going through the "tea making" process and then drying the entire solution. What is left is the powder. Purchasing malt extract powder is a convenient short cut for home brewers. Although many will say it doesn't give you as much control over your beer. 

My sense is that grinding the Rye Malt will not be the same as adding malt powder because of the difference between grain and malt extract. The malt extract is further along in the brewing process and should behave differently.

It would be more of an adventure to figure out what impact grinding malted rye has on the bread in terms of development and flavor. Could be fun through. 

-Peter 

 

albacore's picture
albacore

In the UK, we tend to use bakery grade barley malt flour, eg Diax, DP 120-180. There is also a spec sheet in that link. I think your rye malt should work fine as an alternative.

Adjust the quantiity of rye malt to account for the reduced DP. For most purposes I would use about 0.5% Diax.

 

Lance