Technologies for the preparation of foam drinks were not formed on the same day. Mashing of malt is a delicate science; each of the beer varieties is carried out with some technological features. But even that beer is different, with its own unique organoleptic and other qualities!
A little about the technology itself
First, the most important ingredient needs to be twisted in a malt mill. The product should not become a homogeneous mass, but consist of dust fines, fine flour, coarse grains. Different varieties of foam will require a different ratio of large / small particles in the crushed mass.
Next, the detailed malt with water is mixed in a trowel, in this case, the functioning of enzymes is resumed, which was suspended after drying of the grain product. The enzymes that have resumed their work immediately begin to produce malt sugars from starch (for a minute, 70 percent of the grain composition!) . To accelerate in the fermentation processes, the mash (or pulp from malt) is gradually heated to saccharification temperatures (about 76 degrees Celsius). As a result, almost all starch is also broken down to dextrin and sugar, which dissolve in the liquid. This briefly summarizes the mashing of beer malt.
Then, the resulting mixture is pumped out for the cleaning process using a sieve - it remains closed from the bottom for now. The jammed product is left for a certain time here, so that all undissolved particles are deposited on the bottom (they are called grains). Due to the correct grinding of the malt, the pellet should not stick together and acts as an additional natural sieve. When it is opened, a light must, almost transparent, seeps through the thickness of the grains. It is a solution of sugar substances that have passed after mashing of malt.
Step by Step Technique
It involves a consistent increase in congestion temperatures and the passage of various temperature pauses. Why understand the science of mashing malt? Everything is very simple. When you understand exactly what you are doing, brewing will be completely under control, and, accordingly, the final results of brewing your own beer will become better, richer, tastier.
Temperature pauses during mashing, in turn, allow home masters to "control" the wort. And as needed? and according to an individual author’s idea, to get a sweet or dry beer, different in taste and velvety. It can be noted: the cooking effect improves if additional pauses are used. A knowledge of the process of mashing malt will help beginners set the necessary schedule for pauses. The result should be an amazing and tasteful authentic drink.
Methods for mashing malt and its modifications
Malignancy is a key process for a brewer. The purpose of mashing the malt - the continuation of work on malting, and affects the choice of mashing method.
The main thing in malting is the germination of barley (or wheat), then its drying, so that germination stops. For brewing, this is an important process, during which enzymes are formed, it triggers several important changes in the grains. For example, glucans are cleaved in the cell membranes, proteins are cleaved, and this saturates the original wort with the amino acid necessary for the functioning of the yeast. And also the probability of occurrence of protein turbidity in the final product is reduced, its biological stability is increased.
Degrees of breakdown of glucans with proteins are called modifications. Today, most malts are fully modified. Glucans with proteins are broken down to the extent that the brewer simply has to start the process of converting starches into sugars - this is a must and it is ready. But slightly modified malts allow the home master to fully control the processes occurring with the must.
About temperature pauses
During temperature breaks, chemical reactions occur, which gives the foamy drink the necessary indicators: color, taste, smell, density, and some others, called organoleptic. There are several varieties:
- Acidic, at 35-45 degrees Celsius. With it, the pH decreases, the acidity of the future drink increases.
- Protein, at 44-59 degrees. Here protein breakdown occurs.
- Saccharification, at 61–71. Starches turn into sugars. Saccharification is the main stage in the mashing process, with it several enzymes function, which affect the dryness and sweetness of the final foamy drink.
- Mash out, at 76-77. In this case, the enzymes already cease to fulfill their functions. But if you raise the temperature to 80 °, tannins will stand out from the mash, which will give the beer a tart aftertaste.
Newbie Tips
When brewing, it is important to consider the following recommendations:
- To get a stronger beer, increase the pause of saccharification. In this case, a greater amount of sugars is obtained and, accordingly, the strength of the final product grows.
- To brew a more dense beer, reduce the pause by 62 degrees, but increase by 72.
- To make the beer more transparent, increase the protein pause.
About the mill
The fermentation process will go well if the grain mass is crushed as high as possible. It is for these purposes that both in industry and at home they use a functional malt mill.
Professional equipment is a complete and complex unit. Such devices are used for one-time processing of a huge amount of grain. Home brewing mainly uses lighter, more manual options. The devices of this plan are intended for small-scale production of malt, for example, for home brewing beer or for distilling whiskey (moonshine). In home brewing, as usual, compact equipment is used, home-made or factory-made. It is brought into work by turning the handle, and according to the principle of action it resembles an ordinary manual meat grinder with some additions.
Cooking boiler
This device is also an equally important element of equipment for home brewing. It includes:
- tank with built-in filtration system (false bottom with a filter of the "bazooka" type);
- bottling agent (for example, a stainless steel tap or dispenser);
- heating element (heater made of stainless steel);
- controller for tracking temperature fluctuations (the so-called temperature pauses);
- thermometer.
Today, a brew boiler can be ordered in specialized online stores. And you can make such a simple system yourself.
You can do it yourself
Beginning brewers, by the way, can do without a "branded" boiler. Firstly, the container is successfully replaced with a pan (as an option, with an ordinary bucket, only with a lid - the volume is 15-30 liters, and it is better to take it with a margin). The container must be made of stainless steel or food galvanized. Secondly, in order to better withstand the set temperatures of the mash, we resort to folk tricks: we wrap the above pan in thermal insulation, which can be purchased today in any hypermarket (and costs pretty cheap). She glued a home-made wort boiler. And in order to simplify the task of wort filtration, thirdly, we make home-made filters. Here imagination can jump up, someone makes false, someone simple filter. In fact, building a fake bottom is a lot easier. And for these purposes, in the same market we get an ordinary sieve (its diameter should be slightly less than the diameter of the pan), and when installing - turn the device over.
To drain the wort, we get an ordinary plumbing tap, drill a hole the size for it and cut it into a container. Additionally, you need to install another filtering system. We buy a second sieve or mesh of metal, we turn it in the shape of a cylinder. We clamp the end with a bracket (clamp), let the second end of the cylinder onto the faucet, tightening it with a clamp if necessary.
Additional funds
From additional devices: you can make a chiller for cooling the wort using copper tubes. And you can cool the pan for the first time in a basin with running water. And for the first experiment you will need: a thermometer to monitor the temperature of the mash, a bag for mashing malt, a spoon to periodically interfere with the wort, a heat-resistant hose to drain the liquid into the fermenter. In general, to try, for the first time is enough.
It should work out - if you sincerely believe in yourself!