Malt - online puzzles

Malt is germinated cereal grain that have been dried in a process known as "malting". The grains are made to germinate by soaking in water and are then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air. Malting grains develop the enzymes required for modifying the grain 's starches into various types of sugar, including monosaccharide glucose, disaccharide maltose, trisaccharide maltotriose, and higher sugars called maltodextrines. It also develops other enzymes, such as proteases, which break down the proteins in the grain into forms that can be used by yeast. Depending on when the malting process is stopped, one gets a preferred starch to enzyme ratio and partly converted starch into fermentable sugars. Malt also contains small amounts of other sugars, such as sucrose and fructose, which are not products of starch modification but were already in the grain. Further conversion to fermentable sugars is achieved during the mashing process.

Malted grain is used to make beer, whisky, malted milkshakes, malt vinegar, confections such as Maltesers and Whoppers, flavored drinks such as Horlicks, Ovaltine, and Milo, and some baked goods, such as malt loaf, bagels, and rich tea biscuits. Malted grain that has been ground into a coarse meal is known as " sweet meal ". Various cereals are malted, though barley is the most common.