Understanding the Mash for KIT BREWERS
Adding MASH Character to your kit:
Many brewers brew for years from kits because the science of mashing appears too complicated. They read obscure brewing texts that discuss "temperature stepped decoction mashing" and articles about "modified malts". When they want to find out about mashing, the gobbledygook from other brewers and many brewshops only helps to confuse. The truth is, that you can add mash character to your kit beers easily and simply.
This article is for you. Keep it simple, then move forward.
In laymans terms, a Mash is just a grainy porridge of Malt and hot water. The trick to it is to develop an understanding what happens when the water meets the grain. For this experiment, we are not interested in the degree of malt extraction, or any specifics. We are only interested that extraction occurs and that we can add it to our kit to improve our brewing.
Firstly, we start with MALT, not MALT EXTRACT (thats whats in a KIT). The purpose of MALTING is to germinate then dry the grain so that it can be easily used for brewing. There are other uses for it but we are only interested in the Brewing bit!
Malt is any GRAIN that has been germinated then dried. Without getting too scientific, during the germination of barley grain, several AMYLASES are formed naturally within the grain. It is these AMYLASES that convert the carbohydrates in the grain into sugars during the MASH.
We can dramatically improve the quality of a kit beer by adding the results of a small grain mash to it. At the same time you will learn that whether you mash 1 KG of grain or 1000 KG of grain, the process is the same, only the equipment gets bigger.
Heres how we do it;
1. Purchase 1 KG Pale Malted Barley and crush it or have it crushed for you.
2. Place into a 7-9 Litre cooking saucepan. (Some people use a small plastic esky)
3. In a kettle or other saucepan (same size) bring 3 litres of water to 7075 Deg C.
4. Pour the hot water into the saucepan (esky) with the grain in it and stir well to make porridge. (this is called THE MASH)
5. Check the MASH temperature with your thermometer, it should be about 65 68 Deg C.
6. Insulate with a towel, leave on the kitchen bench and go and do something else for an Hour and a Quarter. On your return, stir the MASH well and test it by sticking your finger in it then putting it in your mouth, it will taste very sweet.
7. Sieve the MASH via a colander into another saucepan and rinse through with about two litres of hot water.
8. Remove the sieve and boil the result for one hour.
9. Add to your fermenter with your kit and ferment as usual.
