Mashing:
Once milled the malt is mixed w/ water creating the Mash. The milled grain is steeped & heated to between 100°F & 170° F. During this step a whole bunch of science happens. The temp of the mash helps to invigorate enzymes that will break down both proteins & starches creating simple sugars w/ maltose & maltotriose being of chief importance. Brewers need these sugars bc without them yeast has nothing to dine on & fermentation doesn’t happen. Then there’s no beer & everyone is sad.
Lautering:
Once the science is done the mash is strained to remove the solids (spent grains) from the liquid. This straining process is referred to as Lautering.
Inside the Lautering Tun, which is basically a large cask, the mash is heated, lowering the viscosity making it easier for the rakes inside the tun to separate the mash from the liquid. Water is sprayed over mash to further extract sugars in a process known as sparging.
Boiling:
Brewers will now bring the liquid, known as wort, up to a boil helping to sterilize it by killing off any bacteria that’s looking to spoil flavor.
During this prolonged boil (anywhere from 60-90 mins) hops are introduced. The boil helps the acids from hops become soluble in the wort.
Boiling the hops helps bring bitterness to the beer, while also providing aroma & flavor giving individual beers their distinct characteristics. To help emphasize aroma, hops curated for their aroma may be added to the late stage of the boil.
Cooling:
A wort that is too hot will quickly kill any yeast that is added for fermentation. To quickly cool breweries may use heat exchangers that flow cold water adjacent to the hot wort bringing down the temp of the wort while also raising the temp of the cool water which will then be “recycled” to heat mash.
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