| The Double Luck Brewing Process: |
| Milling |
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Milling |
The purpose of the milling process is to lightly crush the grains. We want merely to crack the grain husk so that the brewing water can enter easily and saturate the endosperm. The proper crush is very important to step 3, Mashing and step 4, Sparging, the next two steps in the brewing process. The majority of the grains and husks need to remain relatively intact. Insufficient milling will mean that a large quantity of grain will not be saturated with water, and will thus be wasted. On the other hand, we definitely do not want to grind the malt into flour!
During sparging, the intact grain husks will form a filter bed, so that clear liquid can be drawn from the mixture of grains and water. Improperly milled grain is a leading cause of the frustrating condition known as a stuck mash in which it becomes difficult (or impossible) to separate the liquid from the spent grains. If the husks are broken too much, they will not form a proper filter bed. If the malt is ground into flour, adding water will turn it into a thick mass with the consistency of wallpaper paste.
The process is simply to weigh the grains needed, and run the mixture through the mill. There are, however, several implications to this simple sounding statement:
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For many homebrewers, these implications are simply too much trouble. Fortunately, most homebrew shops are equipped to mill grain on request (perhaps with a nominal charge) when it is purchased. Once again, whether or not to mill your own grain is simply a question of how much direct control you want to have over the beer.
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