The Malt

While the water was being heated to 168 oF, Ed crushed the grain using this malt mill. Instead of turning the crank by hand, he hooked up a drill. Once the water reaches the correct temperature, the grain will be added to the water for about 60 to 90 minutes, while starches are converted to sugars.

The kettle below the MASH is the SPARGE kettle, which we also heated to 168 oF. The SPARGE water is kept at the correct temperature and pumped into the MASH, and the hot water is sprinked over the grains. There is a pump to circulate the water from the sparge kettle into the mash, but also the heat of the sparge kettle will rise to the mash kettle, thus helping keep the mash warm.