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<p>Owenbrau@aol.com wrote:
<blockquote TYPE=CITE><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>In a message
dated 11/29/2000 2:49:16 PM Eastern Standard Time,</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>euphonic@flash.net writes:</font></font>
<br>
<br>
<blockquote TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px"><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>
I say this because no one really knows how the economic advantage of</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>the various malts brakes
down in terms of actual points of extraction</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>per pound per shilling.
Rather i think that drum malting is more cost</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>effective as it is less
labor intensive then floor malting and as a</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>result wood smoked malts
became a rarity.</font></font></blockquote>
<br>
<p><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>Floor vs. drum malting has
nothing to do with the wood-smoke issues. Floor</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>malt is still commercially
available, and isn't much more expensive than</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>drum. It also has no affect
on malt color. Coke-fired kilns made it easier</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>and cheaper to make pale
malts.</font></font>
<br> </blockquote>
Well if you look into how old style malts were made
you will quickly discover that hard wood fires were used during the kilning
process. Such processes are much more labor intensive then coke fired
kilns. Unfortunately, the unique character some malts had that were
made possible with the older production methods simply ceased to be commercially
viable with the introduction of new processes. Along with the
changes that allowed ale production to become a large scale industrial
enterprise malt products that were not well suited to mass production disappeared.
Hence, several old styles of ale disappeared.
<br> It is true that a few floor malsters exist, off
hand i can only think of three in England and none else where, they are
however more expensive then their drum competitors. I think that
the few floor malsters left have survived because they have mechanized
their operations and are not labor intensive. In any case, i doubt
that they will survive due to EU agricultural policy.
<blockquote TYPE=CITE>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>Owen</font></font>
<p><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>"Beer is living proof that
God loves us, and wants us to be happy" <i>B. Franklin</i></font></font></blockquote>
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