mew said:
I am fairly new to brewing, but making all grain batches intrigues me. I realize that I will have to start with partial grain, but I don't know much beyond crush the grains, steep in hot water for some period of time, and then sparge with hot water. Can someone set me straight on the basic steps please? Also, what is the purpose of these steps (in other words, what does it do to the grain)?
Thanks
Post 2 (the Baron) gives very good advice.
For an extremely basic explanation, starting with malted grain:
Malted grain (or malt) contains starches (complex carbohydrates), and enzymes (chemicals that can convert starches to sugars), enclosed in a husk (skin).
To make beer, we need to introduce yeast into a solution containing sugars.
Step 1 is to crack the grain. (You don't want to crush it, just divide each kernel into two or three pieces.) This exposes the insides of the grain (which contains the starches and enzymes).
Step 2 is to mash the cracked grain. This simply means that you add warm water to the cracked grains, and mix so that the whole gooey mess gets to a temperature of 142 - 158 degrees f. This activates the enzymes (which were exposed by cracking), and allows them to convert the starches into sugars. This usually takes 20 minutes or so.
Step 3 is to rinse the sugars out of the mashed grain, which produces a wort. This is called sparging.
With extract brews, the cracking, mashing, and sparging has already been done, and the resulting wort is either concentrated (LME) or dried (DME).
-a.