To render the malt grains soluble, they are milled in a machine like a large coffee grinder. What the malt mill produces is known as grist. This grist is mixed with water in a vessel known as a mash-tun. The MASHING is the first of the processes normally to take place in the brewhouse, the heart of the brewery. The mash is warmed up step by step from about 45 degrees F to 165 degrees F, so that the malt's soluble components may be dissolved and the starch converted into the sugar known as maltose. This is a point at which special skill and judgment is used. There are also two distinct methods of mashing.
In the infusion method, the mash is heated to 165° F by the addition of warm water. In the decoction method, a part of the mixture is boiled in a separate vessel and pumped back so that the entire volume reaches the desired temperature. The mash is then filtered in a vessel known as the lauter tun. The resultant liquid extract of malt sugars, known as the WORT, is transferred to the brewkettle. The malt residue is in demand as cattle feed. The boiling in the kettle sterilizes the wort, concentrates it, and destroys unwanted enzymes. This is why beer was recommended over water to drink in earlier times. Water was contaminated. Beer saved lives. You got sick and could die when you drank water. This is still the case in the larger part of the world. Don't drink the local water, when you travel out of the Western world. Drink beer to survive.

During the boiling, the hops are added in the quantities that will impart the desired aroma and bitterness to the beer. In many Belgian Ales, also other spices and herbs are added to influence the aroma and taste of the final product, your beer. Sometimes, these herbs are first cooked in the water separately, after removal of the hard particles of these spices, the water is mixed with the wort. This is the typical infusion method.

After the boiling, the hops flowers are removed. The vessel used for this purpose is known as a hop back. Protein solids deriving from the malt must also be removed. This may be done by settling in a large, open vessel, or by a filter, "whirlpool" or centrifuge. The open vessel may also be used partly to cool the wort toward a fermentation temperature. However, the temperature in an open vessel is not normally allowed to go below 145° F, for fear of bacterial infection. The exception of this rule is the brewing of Lambic, spontaneous fermented beer, which requires inoculation by wild yeasts. The open vessel is the oldest cooling method. Another traditional method is a system of pipes containing cold water. A more modern method is a heat-exchanger, with the flow of beer inside. In the course of this process, the wort is also aereated, so that oxygen may be present in fermentation. The oxygen is necessary for the breeding of the yeast cells. Yeast is a living thing!

Part IV