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Thursday 29 September 2016

The Process Of Brewing Using All Grain Kits Explained

By Peter Martin


Hail the magical golden fluid of conversation also known as beer. It is so good a whole month is dedicated to celebrate its existence. If one is really an aficionado of beer, over time brewing a personal crafted beer may not be so far fetched of an idea. Brewing, after all, is an art and a science.

Brewing comes in two different ways, all grain and extract brewing. For the beginner sticking to extract brewing is preferable since the malt can be bought and the process is simple. The all grain kits method is meant for brewers with a good amount of knowledge on brewing.

This way of making beer is a smaller way of making the beverage all the way starting from the grain. It is like a smaller way of how the big manufacturers do it. Admittedly, there is an investment involved in setting up the kit since there are specific instruments needed to accomplish the task. It will all be worth it once the perfect craft beer has been made.

There are no malt extracts used for this method and the sugars are pulled solely from the grains. This gives the brewer complete creative freedom but also risks a lot of mistakes. This is definitely a process for those experienced brewers and like mentioned earlier, people with good know how in homebrewing.

There are a number instruments and supplementary instruments that are needed for this. Imagine a bigger chemistry set. A mash tun with a false bottom, a boil kettle and a hot liquor tank are the main components comprising the set. Supplementary tools include stands, a thermometer and more.

Mashing is when the starch from the grains is converted in to sugars. The total pounds of grain that are going to be used is calculated against the water to be used. Remember that water from a tap source need to be filtered using active carbon filters. Doing this is one measure to ensure that there are no unwanted flavors on the final product.

Temperature plays a large part in the final outcome. 148 to 152 degrees produces a dryer beer while a high 154 to 158 produces one with a maltier flavor. For a compromise, the mid range of 151 to 154 is a great range. When adding the grains to the water, there should be a nine to fifteen temperature drop due to the grains sitting in room temperature. It is important to remember that grains are supposed to be added to water and not the other way around so that there will be no dough balls.

Wort is produced through mashing, but this runoff is not initially clear. This is when recirculation and the runoff is placed on top of the grain bed. This clears the mash so no debris will be visible. After this process, proceed to the last part.

The sparge is essentially rinsing off the mash for the sugars to go into the boil kettle. This process goes at about 45 to 60 minutes. Make sure that there is excess water. There is a calculation to have the right ratio between the grain, sugars and water. During this process the temperature should stay at 170 degrees and should go no higher. At the end of this step there should be around one to two gallons of wort more than the expected final amount.




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