The inheritance of and relationships between diastatic power, seed texture, steep mass, malt mass, dry malt mass, rate of moisture uptake during malting and percentage moisture of malt were analysed by means of a factorial crossing design, which involved the crossing of three grain sorghum females with eight males, as well as by means of correlation and path coefficient analyses. Especially in the case of diastatic power, but also for the other characteristics, the observed components of variation indicated a lack of genetic variability and the necessity to increase the number of plots and seasons for such experiments. Malt mass was the characteristic most strongly related to diastatic power. Its use in a breeding programme is discussed.