So, you’ve been brewing for a while. Like most brewers, you’ve started with kits or extract batches, and have lately been adding a pound or two of specialty malt. The beers are tasting pretty swell—at least your entertaining, deadbeat pals are sucking them down like there’s no tomorrow. Life is good, mostly.
It's that M-word: Mashing. The beast in the homebrew closet.
(Kinsley Dey)
But, there are nagging thoughts that the beers could be even better, fresher tasting, more complex. That you’d like to really get in control of your recipes, to know exactly what you’re putting in your beer. That you’d really like to brew the way the big boys do. But something is holding you back.
It’s that M-word: Mashing. The beast in the homebrew closet. A snarling tangle of chemistry, hoses, uncertainty, and chances for things to go terribly, terribly wrong.
Well, a monster can be a pussycat if you just scratch its ears the right way.
I won’t kid you and say that mashing won’t take a little more time and require a little more equipment, but it doesn’t have to be all that complicated. If you’re using adjunct grains in your extract beers, then you’re sort of doing it already. Think of it as just scaling up.
Start with the Basics
If I’m getting ahead of you, here are the basics. Mashing is the heart and soul of the brewing process. Malted grain is crushed and mixed with hot water to arrive at a gruel at about 150 degrees F. At this temperature, enzymes that have been activated during the malting process spring into action and snip the long starch molecules into smaller ones composed of variably fermentable sugars. At higher temperatures (150 to 160 degrees F), the wort produced is less fermentable; at lower temperatures (140 to 150 degrees F) it’s more fermentable.
There are lots of complicated subtleties, but the fact is that if you get within 10 degrees of 150 degrees F, and hold it for a hour, you’ll get a liquid that will ferment into a perfectly lovely beer without any of the tangy, stale, thin flavors the average canned malt extract delivers.
Lazy brewers should take note that the longest portion of mashing is felicitously called a “rest,” during which you can do likewise, or get lunch, or clean bottles or anything but fuss with the mash. It really doesn’t need your help for this, thank you very much.
Equipment
You will need two things you may not have: a reasonably accurate thermometer, and a modified cooler to mash in. The newer type of cooking thermometer/timer with the probe on a cable is perfect, and you can justify the purchase as a cooking device as well. Radio-linked remote versions are even available.
If you have a large plastic cooler, you simply need to add a sort of drainage manifold to it, which most brewers do by dry-fitting copper plumbing pipe into a trident shaped thingy that roughly fits the bottom of the cooler. Cut the long tubing pieces halfway through their diameter with a series of hacksaw cuts spaced about an inch apart to provide drainage. Force fit the narrow end of the trident into the cooler’s drain spigot, with the aid of a short piece of plastic tubing if needed. You could drive yourself nuts trying to figure out the exact best way to do this, but suffice it to say there’s almost no way to totally screw it up.
If you have a bunch of clean 5-gallon buckets lying around, they’ll make a fine mash tun as well. Add a spigot or a piece of hose with a pinch clip at the bottom of the one that will become the bottom vessel. Then carve out the bottom of the top bucket to resemble a three-armed peace sign. Next, attach a piece of bronze window screen to the inside by stitching it on with a piece of the wire you pulled off the edge of the screen, using small holes drilled in the plastic to stitch into. If you’re really nuts, get a 1/8-inch drill and make a zillion holes, but be warned that by the third hour this gets ridiculously boring.
If you’re planning on making stronger beers with this method, be aware that the 5-gallon size of this unit may be a bit small for your purposes, so you may want to go down to the local restaurant supply store and buy something in the 7- to 10-gallon range.
For more specific directions on building your mash tun, get on the web and poke around; you’ll find a million different ways to solve this problem. You’ll also find companies that sell parts and kits to do this. But do remember, simple works just fine.
