Angus Mcdowall also adds value to his wheat by milling it on his arable farm

When the maltsters unexpectedly rejected Angus Mcdowall’s trailer loads of contracted quality barley back in 2006 they did him a huge favour.

Although tests by other maltsters subsequently accepted his barley was perfectly suitable for malting, that 2006 harvest where grain was plentiful and prices went through the floor lingers long in his memory.

While it wasn’t a happy situation at the time, it was the jolt he needed to look at other markets for his grain.

His adventurous and ambitious spirit means he is now in the enviable position of being able to add value to every tonne of wheat and barley he grows by processing it all at home on his 550-acre arable farm in East Lothian.

It all began with the unlikely news that a small, half-built malting vessel was lying in Prestonpans, just seven miles along the road. It had been built as a prototype and needed radical alteration, but Angus jumped at the chance of trying something new and no longer being in thrall to global markets.

“We had the welding expertise on the farm at the time so we got the vessel home and built it on location,” he said.

“But that was just the beginning. It was a steep learning curve and, because the malting is all done in the one vessel, the process takes much longer than when it’s done on a large scale with several tanks.

“The process is the same, though. You put in the barley, add warm water, go through all the steps, drain it off and germinate it for five days while turning it over and blowing air through it to keep it cool.”

Angus didn’t advertise his Mungoswells malt, but demand grew by word of mouth and he has built up to producing two tonnes of malt a week.

“Distillers and brewers are interested in buying artisan malt and interest is growing all the time. We have customers as far afield as Tayport, Loanhead, Larbert, Edinburgh and the Lake District,” he said.

Until it is crushed the malt can be stored for at least 12 months, and once crushed it is stored in 25kg bags and has a shelf life of around three months.

It was the quest for a way to crush the malt which led to his second, even more unlikely, on-farm investment.

“We could have used a traditional grain bruiser but it was noisy, dusty and shook the whole building, and it’s

Alison Campbell is the miller-maltster at Mungoswells.