Grain and malt traits important for malting quality were studied on a set of 131 genotypes including two and six row types barley of indigenous and exotic origin grown at two locations for two seasons. Observations on seven grain and seven malt traits were recorded and malting was done with Phoenix® automatic micro-malting system. The correlation studies indicated that the hot water extract (HWE) is correlated with a number of grain (hectolitre weight, plump %, thin %, protein %, TGW and hull %) and malt (friability, homogeneity, wort viscosity, filtration rate and Kolbach Index) traits either positively or negatively. The multiple regression analysis indicated that hectolitre weight, TGW, hull content and malt friability can be used to predict HWE, the ultimately important trait with malting and brewing industry, in early generations of a breeding programme or for initial screening of germplasm accessions.