Malting Plant Production Line Worker and Operator
In our malting plants, which operate continuously 365 days a year and 24 hours a day, production line workers take part in automated outsteeping (malt discharging) and product transfer operations. They often work in a pair along with the production operator, who pilots and oversees the various operations involved in turning barley into malt : loading the grain for steeping, loading the germination boxes, and kilning. The operator is also responsible for proper equipment hygiene.
Following the “recipe,” that is, the desired quality of malt, the production operator closely watches the progress of the grain and its watering. The operator regulates the temperature of the heated air that dries and roasts the grain, and adjusts the duration of the different operations throughout the process.
In the light of various factors – barley varieties, the geographical provenance of the grain, climatic conditions during the harvest year, storage conditions and duration – the line worker and the production operator check the proper development and quality of the product at each stage of the process. The production operator monitors the progress of the transformation of the grain into malt, and has an intimate relationship with the product – observing it, smelling it, touching it, tasting it. It’s said that the operator “is the malt.”
