Peating
At Simpsons Malt, we have produced peated malt for many years and, in 2024, we commissioned a new peated malt production plant at our Tweed Valley Maltings in Berwick-upon-Tweed.
This has enabled us to better service our distilling customers that use peated malt, while also improving our peat use efficiency.
Peating with finished malt
Peated malt is made at our Tweed Valley Maltings on a separate part of the site to where our white malt (base malt) is produced.
Prior to peating, the malting barley goes through our entire white malt production process – barley intake and storage, steeping, germination and kilning – meaning that we produce peated malt from finished white malt.
This differs slightly for what is considered typical for peated malt, where peat is used as the fuel during the kilning process.
The reason we produce peated malt this way is that our Tweed Valley Maltings has ten germination & kilning vessels (GKVs), meaning that the germination and kilning processes take place in the same vessel anyway.
Once kilned, the individual grains are also more robust, meaning there is less chance of them being damaged during movement to different areas of the site, along with less movement around the site generally.
Types of peated malt
Once at our peating plant, our Scottish-sourced peat is burned to produce smoke and the aromatic compounds in the smoke, including phenols, are then adsorbed by the malt, imparting a distinct smoky flavour to the final product.
There are different levels of 'peatiness' determined by the phenol content in the malt, which is measured in parts per million (PPM) and determined by several factors, including:
Amount of peat used: More peat creates a heavier, smokier malt.
Duration of exposure: Longer exposure to the smoke increases the phenolic content.
Moisture content: Higher moisture means greater smoke absorption, intensifying the flavour.
In light of this, we are able to produce four different – and very imaginatively named – types of peated malt: Lightly Peated Malt, Medium Peated Malt, Heavily Peated Malt and Very Heavily Peated Malt.
