Malted barley is essentially a barley that has been allowed to germinate to a degree and then dried. Barley is a seed of the barley plant. During the seed's initial stage of self-sufficient growth, germination occurs. The seed contains its own storage of starch for food. During germination, the seed produces diastase enzymes that can convert the starch into usable sugars for its own consumption. As the seed grows, the starch is depleted and chlorophyll production sustains the plant. However, before the plant begins to rely on the chlorophyll, the barley is dried. Finally, a simple matter of removing the rootlets from the partially germinated seeds is required. The germination and drying stages capture fermentable sugars, soluble starch, and the diastase enzymes for beer brewing. Malted barley is the eventual source of the fermentable sugar consumed by the yeast.
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