Most beginner all-grain and extract brewers start with a one-step infusion mash. The process consists of heating water to a certain temperature, slightly above the target temperature, and then adding crushed grain. If the calculations have been made correctly, the temperature of the resulting mash is usually in the range of 64.4-68.9°C. At this temperature, the combination of alpha and beta amylase breaks down the high molecular weight complex sugars found in barley into simple sugars that are easily fermentable. Changes in temperature also affect the body of the resulting beer. This process usually takes 30 to 90 minutes. To maintain the temperature, a cooler or vat with thermal insulation is often used, as well as more complex systems using a recirculation pump and a heating element. At the end of the mashing process, in order to separate the hot wort, the mash is washed with hot water through the grain bed and the filter device, and the resulting wort is then boiled.
Multi-step mashing, background
Multi-step mashing pauses at various temperatures - usually in a sequence from lower to higher temperatures, until a temperature of 63.9-69.9 ° C is reached, at which the breakdown of complex sugars occurs, and then the decantation is done. . In the old days, multi-step mashing was the standard, but it is largely abandoned in modern brewing. Historically, the use of multi-step mashing has been driven by the need to create optimal conditions for enzymes to improve the hydrolysis of starches. Before the processes of malting and roasting were well understood, most malts were, as we now say, undermodified. As a result, they were relatively low in enzymes, and additional steps were required to improve their performance.
Here are some typical steps (also called pauses) used in multi-step mashing, along with their formal description:
- Phytase, or acid rest 30-52.2°C - slightly lowers the pH of the mash. Lowering the pH has a number of advantages, but the phytase rest is rarely used by modern brewers because there are other ways to control the pH of the mash.
- Cytolytic pause 35-44.4°C - helps to increase the solubility of starches, for some malts it increases the extract. Beta-Glucanase Rest 35-45°C - Breaks down sticky high molecular weight starches for improved stability and extraction, especially for high protein mashes and additives such as wheat.
- Protein rest 45-55°C - produces free amino nitrogen, which improves fermentation.
Do you need to apply multi-step mashing?
If you're using enough modern pale malt, you won't need to use a multi-step mash to brew most styles of beer. Modern base malts have very high diastatic strength (high enzyme content) and this makes traditional multi-step mashes redundant. In 95% of the cases, a single mash step is sufficient for most styles of beer. The only exception that comes to mind is if you are working with a mash containing a high percentage of unmalted ingredients, such as raw grains, unmalted wheat, or a high percentage of non-traditional grains. . In such cases, it may be necessary to use a suitable pause to prepare or gelatinize the grain constituents, or one may switch to using prepared/gelatinized ingredients instead. For example, you can use torrefied, or flattened, wheat or barley instead of raw. You can use instant oatmeal instead of raw oats. Pre-treatment, flattening or torrefaction of unmalted grains allows them to be used in one-step mashing.
Temperature range: 35 - 45 °C
The acid rest can be used following the soak in any mashing method. During the acid break, the pH of the mash drops to the values we need, glucans are also destroyed, which turn the mash into a paste. The typical temperature range is 35-45°C, where the phytase enzyme breaks down phytin molecules, releasing phytic acid, which lowers the pH of the mash.
Phytase is very sensitive to heat, so most of it is destroyed when heated during malting. For the same reason, phytase is present only in lightly roasted malts. Moreover, it really reveals itself when using soft water with a small pH buffer and lightly modified malt. Typically, to change the pH of the mash, simply add acid while adding water to one of the rests. Another reason brewers often ignore this pause is that it takes at least an hour for a noticeable change in mash pH to take place.
The second role of this temperature pause is the breakdown of glucans. Beta-glucans are carbohydrates found in grains along with starch. Beta-glucanase is an enzyme that breaks down these carbohydrates. There are a number of similar enzymes active at temperatures up to 60°C, but the most important of these, 1,4 beta-glucanase, is most active at 45°C. Most beta-glucans are in rye, wheat, oats and lightly modified malts. Beta-glucans are known to be responsible for haze in beer.
Beta-glucans should not show up in fully modified malts, however, if there are problems with filtration or cloudiness of the beer, a 15 minute acid break should be taken.
Protein pause
Temperature range: 45 - 59 °C
In this temperature range, 2 enzymes work - proteinase and peptidase, known as proteolytic, enzymes from the class of hydrolases that cleave the peptide bond between amino acids in proteins.
Proteinase works with proteins from long chains of amino acids, splitting them to medium length. Pepdidase promotes the cleavage of terminal amino acids from protein molecules. The optimal temperature for the action of these enzymes is different, so it is possible to prefer the action of one enzyme to another.
Brewers don't need proteins from the long chains of amino acids in their wort. A high concentration of such proteins leads to cloudiness and instability of the beer. At the same time, we are interested in proteins from medium chain amino acids - they add stability to the foam and body to the beer. The optimum temperature for peptidase is 45-53 °C, for proteinase - 55-58 °C. A pause of 15-30 minutes in the proteinase-optimal temperature range reduces haze and does not adversely affect beer foam or body.
Another important point is that low temperature rests are more effective in thick mashes (1.7 - 2.1 liters per kg ground malt). Further, the mash can be made more liquid by bringing its temperature with hot water to the saccharification pauses.
A weak action of beta-glucanase is also observed during the protein pause. For this reason, some brewers do this very protein break. Do not protein rest at 45-53°C to avoid problems with head retention in your beer. If you are brewing beer with lightly modified malt, then a temperature range of 55-58°C will be helpful in reducing the viscosity of the mash.
Whether or not this pause affects the breakdown of proteins, and the quality of the wort depends on it. Excessive stirring and the time spent on the pause has a positive effect on the extractivity of the mash. This is especially true for brewers who mash the mash infrequently or tend to get poor brew efficiency.
Saccharification
Temperature range: 61 - 72 °C
The only temperature pause that cannot be dispensed with is the saccharification pause. When using fully modified malt, it is often limited to it.
Starch conversion is carried out by two enzymes that attack the starch molecules in different ways. These enzymes are called diastatic. Usually pause saccharification is carried out at 61-71°C. Sometimes a narrower range of 66-70°C is used. Remember that enzyme action does not stop completely outside its temperature range.
Beta-amylase bites off the ends of starch molecules, resulting in maltose. Since starch molecules can be very long, the process can take up to two hours. A long pause at the beginning of the temperature range makes your beer drier.
Another enzyme, alpha-amylase, acts in the higher temperature range of 68-72°C, although it also works at lower temperatures. Alpha-amylase breaks starch molecules at random locations in the chain. This enzyme is rather bulky and cannot act at the branching sites of the chains, resulting in non-fermentable sugars - dextrins. These sugars give the beer body and sweetness. A short 20-minute rest in a fairly thick mash (2 liters of water per 1 kg of malt) will produce a very dense, full-bodied beer.
This is especially true for beers that are brewed with low diastatic malts, such as pale.
Alpha-amylase is usually used along with beta-amylase to produce a beer with a moderate and dense body. Here the idea is that by breaking the starch molecules, alpha-amylase gives new ends of the molecules for beta-amylase to work. Operating at 66-67°C, these enzymes produce moderately fermentable wort that is popular with homebrewers. A temperature of 68°C will produce a fuller-bodied beer, but not overly sweet or intrusive.
A typical duration of a saccharification pause is 60 minutes. Most types of malt saccharify much faster.
Alpha-amylase is less active and less stable in wort that is low in calcium ions. This is especially true for liquid mash.
Mash out
Temperature range: 76 - 78 °C
Any beer that needs to be full-bodied needs a mash-out, a five-minute rest at 76-77°C. Also, make sure that the pellet bed stays at this temperature during rinsing and filtering. The filtered wort must also not cool below this temperature, otherwise the enzymes will continue their work already in the collected wort. Mashing also reduces the viscosity of the wort and improves the filtration rate of the wort.
Mashout or mash-out (sometimes mash-out) is the last, final temperature pause, very important, and at the same time, sometimes completely useless.
Why? read this article.
What is mashout.
As you already understood, the mashout is the last temperature pause, after which the mash is filtered and the wort is sent to the boil.
Why do we even need to take such a short pause? What happens during a mashout?
In fact, the mashout is a pause, albeit a short one, but no less important than, say, . On the other hand, when brewing homemade beer, a mashout may not be of any use at all. Why, you will understand later.
What happens during a mashout.
Mashout is the only temperature pause during which none of the switches turn on. Her goal is exactly the opposite. Disable all enzymes.
Simply put, during this short temperature pause, all enzymes are inactivated and fermentation in the mash stops.
This is very important to do, because observing the duration of the temperature pauses can greatly affect the taste of the beer.
A prolonged belly to stop the enzymes is not needed, so the mashout usually lasts from one to five minutes.
At what temperature is the mashout done?
If you read an article about, then you already know that the last enzyme of interest to us (alpha-amylase) stops working at a temperature of 77 degrees.
Knowing this, it can be assumed that the pause temperature at which all enzymes must be turned off should be above 77 degrees. As a standard, it is customary to set a temperature of 78 degrees for a mashout, and from the point of view of biochemistry, this is reasonable and correct.
However, you should remember that your thermometer, with which you measure the temperature of the mash, can lie, both up and down. If you overheat the congestion and heat it up to 80 degrees, then nothing critical will happen. On the other hand, if you hold the mash for 2-3 minutes longer on saccharification, and even at the limit of the operating temperature of alpha-amylase, then again, nothing critical will happen.
Is it mandatory to make a mashout?
We come to the most interesting. Is it really necessary to mash out?
To be honest, I've had a lot of doubts about this question lately, and here's why:
Let's think logically, the mashout is carried out at a temperature at which no enzyme works, but the enzymes are not destroyed, but only turned off. Therefore, if the temperature drops by 2-3 degrees, some of them will slowly start working again.
A loss of 10 degrees will turn on the saccharification process to its fullest.
Now let's remember what we do after . That's right, you pour in the flush water. If the water is hot and the temperature of the wort does not drop, then everything is fine, however, if it is colder than the mash, then the temperature of the wort decreases and the fermentation process continues.
Another aspect is the filtering time. Filtration takes some time, and depending on the filter design, batch size, hose section and many other factors, this time can be quite long. Naturally, the longer the filtration takes, the more heat the wort loses, which means that the more active and longer the enzymes work.
It turns out that if we talk about production, then mashout is necessary there, because. production capacity is enough to maintain a uniform required temperature for any period of time. In home brewing, the role of the mashout is highly questionable.
Personal experience.
Reservation: I must say right away that I do not urge you to do the same and do not claim that this is correct, however, if you have arguments for holding a mashout, I urge you to bring them in the comments, I will be very grateful.
Recently, I use cold water for washing, at room temperature, and given that filtration takes about 20 minutes, the temperature of the wort before boiling is 50-60 degrees. However, my experience at , has shown that normal fermentation requires more time and a lower rate of heat loss, since the temperature of the optimal functioning of the enzymes is quickly overcome. And outside the optimum, enzymes work at times worse.
As a result, even when mashing, the wort still cools down to 50-60 degrees and then heats up again when boiling. There is a deviation from the calculated norms for the work of enzymes, but is it really that important? do you count the activity of fermentation depending on the time of transition from one pause to another? Personally, I don't.
Mashing wort for beer is one of the most complex processes in home brewing, which largely shapes the final result - the organoleptic characteristics of beer. The most important thing is to clearly observe the desired temperature during cooking for a set period of time. We will look at the theoretical aspects and find out what each temperature pause affects.
Mashing malt is the process of making beer wort, in which malt is mixed with hot water, then sequentially heated to certain temperature ranges in order to activate different groups of enzymes responsible for taste, strength, density, transparency and foaming in beer.
From a chemical point of view, mashing malt is a continuation of the malting process - the germination and drying of grain to form enzymes that catalyze reactions. During malting, glucans (polysaccharide molecules) in cell membranes are destroyed, and proteins are also split, which reduces the likelihood of turbidity and increases the biological stability of the wort.
Malt modification is the degree of destruction of glucans and proteins in the grain. The process has nothing to do with genetically modified products, it takes place in a malt house in a natural way and is safe for human health.
Most malt sold today is fully modified, so you can limit yourself to saccharification. Mandatory observance of all temperature pauses is required only for homemade and malt of unknown origin.
An electronic thermometer is the best way to control temperature when you don't have an automated brewery. Temperature pauses when brewing beer
The exact duration of all temperature pauses depends on the recipe of the beer and the type of malt.
1. Acid pause(35-45°C, 15-70 minutes). Reduces the acidity of the mash. The result is a clear beer. It is mainly required for malt that has undergone light roasting, or when adding malt from wheat, rye or oats to the wort. The problem is that a noticeable decrease in acidity is achieved only after 60 minutes of cooking.
For reinsurance, modified barley malt without roasting is enough for a 15-minute acid pause.
2. Protein pause(44-59°C, 10-15 minutes). There is a breakdown of proteins, which reduces the stability of the foam. Also, the protein rest increases the extractivity and reduces the viscosity of the mash in case of occasional stirring during the boil.
3. Saccharification(61-72°C, 50-120 minutes). An obligatory pause for any type of malt (degree of modification), at which the starch is converted into the sugar necessary for fermentation and the density of the beer is formed.
Two enzymes are responsible for saccharification of beer wort: alpha-amylase and beta-amylase. At 61-67°C, beta-amylase is activated, the longer this enzyme works, the drier and stronger the beer is. When the temperature rises to 68-72°C, alpha-amylase comes into action, forming non-fermentable sugars, which make the beer sweet, but reduce the alcohol content, since the concentration of sugars suitable for yeast to be processed into alcohol decreases.
4. Mesh out or mash out(77-79°C, 5 minutes). Required to stop the work of enzymes. Produced before adding hops. The practical goal is to reduce viscosity, increase wort filtration rate, and increase beer body.
It is very important that when washing the grain pillow, as well as the wort itself after filtering, have the right temperature, otherwise the enzymes will continue to work.
At temperatures above 80°C, tannins appear in the must, as a result of which astringency appears in the taste.
Single break mash(66-67°C, about 60 minutes). A technique for beginner brewers who do not have automated equipment. Only suitable for modified malt. The temperature range of a single mash is the sweet spot for alpha and beta amylase. As a result, a moderately strong and fairly dense beer is obtained, but the ability to correct the organoleptic properties of the drink only by changing the temperature and duration of brewing is lost.
The practical combination of different types of pauses in home brewing with minimal effort is described in detail in the video.
Effect of Temperature on the Mashing Process
10-35 0 С – activity of proteolytic enzymes. Strengthening of the phenomena of germination (in particular crushing)
40-45 0 C - the formation of mainly phosphates
45-52 0 C - temperature of peptonization (formation of protein cleavage products). Danger zone of activity of proteolytic enzymes; the breakdown of proteins into albumins, peptones, polypeptides and amino acids.
50 0 C is the optimal temperature for the formation of formol nitrogen.
55 0 C is the optimum temperature for the formation of non-coagulable soluble nitrogen.
53-62 0 C - the formation of easily fermentable maltose.
63-65 0 C - maximum formation of maltose.
65-70 0 C - a decrease in the formation of maltose and an increase in the formation of dextrins. The optimum temperature for the liquefying enzyme.
70 0 C - the breakdown of proteinases.
70-75 0 C - increase in the rate of saccharification. Formation of weakly fermentable sugars and dextrins.
76 0 C - the limit of activity of the saccharifying enzyme.
80-85 0 C - the formation of dextrins. Well-established liquefying activity.
85-100 0 C - starch digestion under the influence of heat.
Since I like moderately dense and drunken beer, today we are doing a multi-pause mash. And let's start with a pause of 52 degrees. In our case, the temperature of 54C is enough. The filling is warm, it will not give a big drop in temperature.
So, we fall asleep and mix thoroughly.
The temperature has dropped to the desired level. 53C. Close the lid and wait 10 minutes.
We turn on the steam generator and raise the temperature of the mash to the next pause. Basic.
During the heating process, the mash should be stirred to avoid local overheating.
And again we turn to competent opinion.
Personally, I think that only two rests are definitely needed for modern malt: 62 (+/- 2 degrees C) and 72 (+/- 2 degrees C). The first pause gives us edible sugars for the yeast (fermentable sugars). The second pause, although historically called the saccharification pause, does not produce any sugars. A gives us the absence of starch, turning it into short pieces of starch called dextrins. Yeast does not eat dextrins - they "do not crawl into their mouths." It is dextrins that make real beer thick, viscous, jelly-like, give the very state that in jargon is called "a dense, full body of beer."
So, if you start mashing with a pause of 62 deg. and if you keep the mash at this temperature, the amount of fermentable sugars will increase every minute. And thus the alcohol strength of the beer will grow.
You can always estimate some possible maximum strength of beer. If from 1 kg of malt we can bring into solution 80% (plus / minus depending on the quality of the malt) of the total mass of malt, then from this amount of DM, the maximum amount can be converted into fermentable sugar, also 80%. Of course, there is a big plus / minus here, taking into account the quality and types of malts and maintaining the mashing regime. For example, malt can have too much protein - but it does not give us alcohol. In colored, caramelized malts, the sugars are roasted (caramelized) and are also largely less fermentable. It's one thing if you keep a pause of 62 degrees for an hour and a half, and quite another if you make a pause of 62 for only 10 minutes, or skip it altogether. After all, even during fermentation, yeast can stop working for a variety of reasons.
With a certain degree of error, we can consider this: in our 12% beer, 80% of the sugars will be fermentable at a pause of 62 degrees for an hour.
Those. at a density of 12%, we have 120 grams of sugars in a liter of must. Of these, 120x0.8 = 96 grams can be made fermentable (maximum, theoretically). Of these 96 grams, exactly half will turn into alcohol after fermentation.
But even if you skip the 62-degree pause completely and immediately reach a mash temperature of 72 degrees, there will still be alcohol in the beer. After all, malt already has some fermentable sugars before mashing. Plus, at a pause of 72 degrees, the enzyme that converts starch into dextrins (alpha-amylase) also produces a small amount of fermentable sugars. And the enzyme, which should work at 62 degrees (beta-amylase) in the event of a single pause of 72 degrees, is not destroyed instantly, but manages to work for some time, producing fermentable sugars.
Thus, if we need a thick beer, we skip the 62C pause and keep it for an hour and a half at 72C. And if drunk, then we emphasize the pause 62C. There are recipes in which it is proposed to pause 67C. This is where all the enzymes work.
Let's continue, however. After a pause of 62C for 45 minutes, turn on the steam generator again, and constantly stirring the mash, raise its temperature to 72C.
20 minutes on pause 72C and you can do an iodine test. We take a little wort and place it on a clean porcelain plate. We add a drop of iodine to the wort. If the color has not changed, then everything is OK. The starch has been destroyed. If the sample turns blue, we have a problem. The pause should be extended.
In our case, everything is zero. The color does not change, you can continue. We raise the temperature of the mash to 78-80 degrees, thereby turning off the activity of enzymes. 10-15 minutes pause is enough.
