Mashing And Crystal Malt?

[hupnupnee]

Hi all,

I've been doing a few extract plus specialty grains over the past couple of months, and I'm going to be trying my first AG over Easter, but more on that later....

What I'm wondering is why do some grains require mashing while others do not. And why can't we do to other grains what ever it is that we do to crystal malt so that we don't have to do the mashing stage???


Cheers

Tim

 

[PostModern]

Malted grains need to be mashed for the enzymes in the malt to convert the starches into fermentable sugars - stuff the yeast can use.

Crystal malts do not require mashing as the mashing has been done by the malster. Essentially crystal or caramel malts are mashed in the husk. Conversion is already done. You simply need to soak the grains in tepid water to dissolve the sugars into solution.

All grain brewers tend to put the crystal malts into the mash as they can be steeped at mash temperatures.

This is just a basic intro to the topic. Much much more can be learnt from reading and googling.

Cheers,
PoMo.