At The Swaen, we believe that while malting is a craft, the bridge between a raw harvest and a consistent, premium product is built on the rigor of our Quality Control (QC), Quality Assurance (QA), and Laboratory protocols. Our verifications for consistent quality begin with the raw grain and continue through every process phase until the finished malt is dispatched to brewers and distillers worldwide.
Before your malt hits the mill, you deserve to know exactly how your runoff will behave, how your yeast will perform, and how your final product will look. At The Swaen, a Certificate of Analysis (CoA) isn’t just list of numbers, it’s the technical blueprint that supports your craft and a guarantee against brewhouse headaches.
1. Process stability: preventing gushing and stuck mashes
A masterfully crafted beer should never be compromised by technical failures like “stuck” mashes or uncontrollable foaming.
Mycotoxin defense
We rigorously monitor for Fusarium and Deoxynivalenol (DON). By screening for these and other mycotoxins, we guard against primary gushing, ensuring your bottles remain stable upon opening.
Wort viscosity management
We utilize the Fluorometric method to analyze malt for optimum Beta-glucan content. By ensuring these levels stay within strict limits, we prevent “gummed up” grain beds and ensure a smooth, efficient flow during lautering.
2. Base malt: the enzymatic engine
Your malt should work as hard as you do. Our base malts are malted to provide the enzymatic power necessary for maximum extraction efficiency.
Diastatic power (DP)
We monitor Diastatic power aka Enzymatic power of our malt with modern day equipment to ensure that the malt you receive has sufficient enzymatic power for optimum conversion of starch to sugar.
Fermentation health
Beyond sugar release, a well-modified malt must provide essential nutrients. The QC on FAN content ensures stress-free yeast fermentation and a clean flavour profile.
3. Roasted & caramel malt: precision flavour and colour
When you open a bag of Gold Swaen© or Black Swaen©, the aroma should be recognizable immediately.
Colour standardization
We follow EBC standard colour measurement method to ensure that every batch is true to specification. This precision allows you to hit your target colour and aroma profiles consistently, batch after batch.
4. Food safety: field-to-FOB traceability
True quality also involves the variables that are not visible. We operate our malthouse with the hygiene standards of a food-grade kitchen.
Contaminant monitoring
Continuous oversight of food safety parameters ensures that no contaminants are concentrated during the malting or roasting processes.
Physical purity
We strategically place high-intensity magnets and precision sieves prior to critical stages – such as steeping and final discharge. This removes stones, dust, and foreign seeds, ensuring 100% physical purity for your mill.
Traceability
From the growers to the glass, every batch of malt is assigned a unique identification code that allows us to track its journey through every critical stage of production, from the raw barley to the precise parameters recorded during steeping, kilning, and roasting. This granular transparency ensures that we can verify the variety, origin, and safety profile of our grain at a moment’s notice. For the brewer and distiller, this means total accountability and the assurance that every bag delivered meets our strict European food safety standards and your specific performance requirements.
