
The Mash

The Sparge
The sparge, also known as lautering, is the step where you rinse your grains after you've completed the mashing process. Once you begin collecting the wort, you must rinse the grains with hot water. There’s a lot of sugar left on the grains after draining the initial liquid from the mash, and so it’s essential to rinse all those residual sugars off the grain. For this process, you need to collect more water and heat it to your infusion temperature. I typically heat it to 179°F to get a strike temperature of 165°F. You then slowly pour this hot water overtop the grains and allow the water to flow through them and into your pot freely. This is a bit of a slow process, but well worth it.The Boil
Once you’ve collected all your wort from the mash and sparging process, you can now begin the most self-explanatory stage of the brewing process: the boil. Besides being the easiest to understand what you’re to do — you know, boil the liquid — the boil is also where you add your hop additions and other ingredients like Irish moss (it helps to clarify your beer). This process lasts for typically an hour.Flameout (Cool Down)

Racking
This isn’t a big step of your brew day, but it’s a brewing term that, unless you know what it is, would leave you scratching your head. Racking simply means that you move your wort/beer from one vessel (brew pot) to another (fermenter). This best way to do this is to use an auto syphon and hose.Pitching
This ain’t baseball, it’s beer. To pitch yeast means merely to pour the yeast into the fermenter on top of your properly cooled beer (65 °F). Once this step is complete, it’s time to put the airlock on and hope the yeast does its job. Your brew day is officially done … well, unless you haven't cleaned as you go, in which case now you have to clean up everything! Understanding these terms is essential to having a great brew day. Oh, and of course having a couple cold ones wouldn't hurt either. Cheers!MORE READING
- Home Brewing Essentials: Understanding Yeast
- Home Brewing Essentials: Cleaning and Sanitization
- Home Brewing: Make What You Love – Irish Red Ale
Home Brewing is written by Jared Kovacs. Jared comes from a long line of food and drink connoisseurs. His father was a chef, his grandparents owned a diner, his grandfather is a home brewer, and his great-great-great-grandfather was a brewmaster in Germany. He loves sharing good food, beer (especially home brews), and cider with friends and family. You can follow him at The Hesitant Chef or on social media at Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
Leave a Reply