The QBrew Brewing Primer: The Mashing Primer
Author: David Johnson
Description: A quick and dirty brewing primer for the Qbrew program.

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# The Mashing Primer

This primer assumes you are familiar with the basic procedures of extract brewing. If you are not, brew at least one beer using the extract method.

Mashing is the process of creating malt extract or wort from whole malt grains. This is the way all brewers brewed until about 100 years ago. It is a little more time consuming, but the results are well worth it. With mashing you get the freshest possible wort and the widest variety of beer styles available to you.

The mashing method used here is known as infusion mashing. It is the method most used ales and stouts. Because it is the simplest method, it is also a favorite among homebrewers. Other mashing methods are the step mash, the decoction mash, and the weird and rarely used turbid mash.

## The Recipe

This recipe is for an all grain version of a basic pale ale. As always, you can change the hops and yeast around to suit your taste, but for right now keep the malts the same.

- 10 lbs. Pale Ale Malt
- 1 lb. 50-60L Crystal Malt
- 1 tbl. Black Patent
- 1 oz. Northern Brewer (1 hour)
- 1/2 oz. Northern Brewer (20 minutes)
- 1/2 oz. Northern Brewer (2 minutes)
- 1 smack-pack English-style Ale Yeast
- 3/4 cup Priming Sugar

The black malt may seem strange in a pale ale, but it is there for a reason. Black and roasted malts are very acidic, and your mash needs to be slightly acidic (5.2 to 5.4 pH) in order for it to work efficiently. This bit of black malt will help your mash pH, but the amount is so small that it won't affect the flavor or color of the finished beer.

## Crush Your Grains

Crushing your grains properly is critical for a good mash. There is no substitute for seeing first hand what properly crushed malt looks like. Many mail order supply houses will ship you your grain pre-crushed, for only ten to twenty cents more a pound.

The kernel of the grains should be crushed into grits, but not so fine as to be flour. The husks of the grains should be whole. They will act as a filtering agent in the mash. If you do use a grain without a husk, such as wheat or rye, make sure you are also using plenty of barley malt, or add rice or oat hulls to your mash.

## Heat Your Strike Water

Measure out one quart of water for every pound of grain being mashed. For this recipe, this will be eleven quarts (2.75 gallons). Heat this water to 170 degrees Fahrenheit, in a five gallon or greater brewpot.

If you are going to be using a combination mash/lauter tun, pour a half gallon of near-boiling water into it, and cover. This will pre-heat the tun. Dump this water out just before adding the grains during the next step.

## Mashing In

If you have a combination mash/lauter tun, pour the heated water into the tun, otherwise keep it in the brewpot. Slowly pour in the crushed grains, stirring at the same time. All the kernels should be thoroughly wet. Make sure that there aren't any lumps. Take the temperature of the mash. It should be 155 degrees. If it isn't, adjust with boiling or cold water. It helps to have a teapot ready on the stove. If you're off a couple of degrees, don't worry about it.

If using a combination tun, cover it up. If using a brewpot to mash in, or an uninsulated mash tun, put the lid on, and cover and wrap with plenty of towels to act as insulation.

At this temperature, the enzymes will convert the starch in the malt to sugars and dextrins. At the beginning, the mash will look like porridge, but as conversion takes place, the liquid in the mash will clear, making the mash look more like a thick grain broth.

## The Mash

Let the mash sit for one full hour. The temperature will slowly drop over this time. Every twenty minutes, take a temperature reading. If it has dropped to 150 degrees or less, add a little bit of boiling water and stir. If you are using a brewpot to mash in, sticking it into a preheated 155 degree oven is a great way to eliminate worry. Unfortunately, most ovens don't have this low of a setting.

While the mash is working, prepare five gallons of 180 degree water, and one gallon of boiling water.

## Mashing Out

After sixty minutes is up, transfer the mash to your lauter tun, if you aren't already using a combination tun. When transferring, don't just pour it in. Gently add the mash with a ladle. Avoid splashing or vigorous stirring.

Add the one gallon of boiling water, and gently stir. Cover the lauter tun while you set up your sparging equipment.

Heating the mash with this water will raise its temperature up enough so that the sugars will flow easily from the grains.

## Sparging

You should have some sort of apparatus that will slowly transfer the five gallons of 180 degree water to the lauter tun. This usually consists of a hot liquor tank, tubing, and a sparge arm to sprinkle the water on the mash. Set this up now.

Open the spigot on the lauter tun, slowly drawing off a quart of extract. This will be cloudy. Gently pour it back into the tun. Keep doing this until the runoff clears. This process helps set the filter bed in the mash. You shouldn't have to take more than a gallon or two to do this.

Start the sparge water flowing from the hot liquor tank to the lauter tun and into the brewpot. This should be a slow stream, timed so that the entire sparging process takes 45 to 60 minutes. Sparging gently washes the sugars out of the mash. Collect six and a half gallons of wort in your brewpot.

## Afterword

Your mash is now complete. You are now ready for the boil. The rest of the brewing process is the same as for extract brewing, with one exception.

The wort needs to be boiled for a total of 90 minutes. The mashed wort is high in proteins, and the extra thirty minutes of boil allows the protein to coagulate and precipitate out, eliminating a lot of haze in the finished beer. After thirty minutes of boiling, you can add your first hop additions.

©David Johnson, Stephen Lowrie, 1997 - 2008
Permission is given to freely copy and redistribute this document.

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