What You Need to Know
In brewing and distilling, mashing is the process of combining ground grain – malted barley and sometimes supplementary grains such as corn, sorghum, rye, or wheat – with water and then heating the mixture. Mashing allows the enzymes in the malt to break down the starch in the grain into sugars, typically maltose to create a malty liquid called wort.
Steps
- 1.
Scotch whisky mash (Scotland): Converts barley starches into fermentable sugars for distillation
- 2.
German Reinheitsgebot beer (Germany): Traditional method for creating wort under purity laws
- 3.
Japanese sake moto (Japan): Parallel process where koji converts rice starches