All-Grain (also called FULL MASH process)
This is the same method 95% of the world's professional breweries use. It involves using REAL MALTED BARLEY in the brewing process, and provides brewers with the maximum control over the flavor of their finished beers. The process involves steeping the grain for 1 hour at a temp of 149-158F to convert the starches to fermentable sugars. This is the method the BREWTREE brewing systems employ.
Strike Water Temperature
The temperature of the water in your mashtun directly BEFORE adding the grain and stirring. Generally, water is heated up in the Hot Liquor Tank (liquor=water) and is transferred to the mashtun where grain is added. Brewer's heat the hot liquor to a calculated temperature anticipating a temperature drop from equipment absorbtion and grain absorbtion of heat as the water, grain and equipment come to an equilibrum.
Sparge Water & Sparge Water Temperature / Mashout
Sparge water is the water your Hot Liquor Tank. Sparge water is usually heated to approx 168F. The water is used during the "sparging" process which resembles sprinkling the top of the grain bed at the same rate sweet wort is drained from the bottom of the mash. In this way, the brewer can "float" the grain and rinse all of the sugars from the mash. This is VERY important because keeping the grain afloat yields maximum fermentables and a higher original gravity (measurement of the sugars extracted from the grain). Drawing off water at a faster rate than replenished through the sparging process, will cause compacting of the grain bed which results in channeling, and a diluted wort. Channeling is caused by water flowing around the grain rather than through it. When grain becomes compacted, the water tends to flow the path with the least resistance, which can mean a ruined batch of beer or an inadvertent "small beer" that has a lower original gravity than the brewer intended.
Some people think mashout means the temperature they "raise" the mash to before sparging. That is an olde world definition and not applicable to todays malts. Since today's malts are highly modified, and single infusion (one temp) mash is standard, Mash-out has taken on a new meaning. Mashout is now synonymous with the sparge process. The temperature you sparge with is basically your "mashout temp". It is recommended the sparge water be approx 168F to safely rinse the sugars from the grain, without leaching astringent flavors from the husks (which happens at higher sparge temperatures which are generally not used or recommended by modern brewers)
Floating the mash
During the "sparging" process the brewer sprinkles the top of the grain bed at the same rate sweet wort is drained from the bottom of the mash. In this way, the brewer can "float" the grain and rinse all of the sugars from the mash at a moderate rate. This is VERY important because keeping the grain afloat yields maximum fermentables and a higher original gravity (measurement of the sugars extracted from the grain). Drawing off water at a faster rate than replenished through the sparging process, will cause compacting of the grain bed which results in channeling, and a diluted wort.
Compacting the grain bed / Stuck Mash
If a grain bill has a high % of adjuncts (adjuncts = non barley ingredients), the mash can become dough-like. Barley creates a natural filter bed because it has husks. The husks keep the grain from sticking together. When de-husked barley, wheat (which never has husks), roasted/caramel malts or other ingredients are used (at a rate greater than 10%), the mash does not have enough of the filter bed and begins to stick together like water mixed with flour. That's partially because alot of the ground up components are flour-like. A stuck mash often means a ruined batch of beer, because the sparge process cannot take place as channeling will occur, or the flow of wort out of the mashtun will simply stop. In most cases, brewers have to empty the mashtun completely and try to reset the mash, which often doesn't fix the problem.
There are several ways to completely prevent a stuck mash (see below):
(A)Use Oat or rice hulls in your grain bill if adjuncts > 10%. Oat/rice hulls are completely flavor-less, but will allow you to make 100% wheat beers (note - most commercial wheat beers are actually less than 50% wheat, the remainder is usually barley).
(B)Use a mashtun liner in conjunction with (A). If the mash gets stuck and the sparge process stops, simply lift up on the mashtun liner to reset the mash. This is MUCH EASIER than emptying the mashtun. The liner also filters out the big particles of grain, keeping the drain clear.
(C)Avoid adding pumpkin or other gooey substances to the mash - many things can be added during the boil.
Channelling
Drawing off water at a faster rate than replenished through the sparging process, will cause compacting of the grain bed which results in channeling, and a diluted wort. Channeling is caused by water flowing around the grain rather than through it. When grain becomes compacted, the water tends to flow the path with the least resistance, which can mean a ruined batch of beer or an inadvertent "small beer" that has a lower original gravity than the brewer intended.
Wort (pronounced "wert")
Wort is the name for the fermentable sugars extracted from the grain during the brewing process (specifically, the mash cycle). Wort can be referred to as "unhopped wort" or "hopped wort", depending on if it has been boiled and hops added for balance.
Most all-grain brewers simply refer to unfermented beer as "wort" the moment it leaves the mashtun on the way to the boil kettle.
What's the difference between the strike temperature and the dough-in temperature?
STRIKE temp is the temp of your hot liquor that you put in the mashtun BEFORE adding the grain. DOUGH IN temperature is the temperature of the mashtun grain/water mixture directly after you have mixed the grain into the strike water.
For example, assume you have a 15 degree F drop expected once you add grain to the mash. Your HLT water temp should be 173F (also called strike water temp). You fill the mashtun with this "STRIKE water" and mix in your grain.
You should then arrive at your target "DOUGH-IN" temp of 158F (note 173F-158F = 15F degree drop).
Just think of it like this...when you strike a match, you hit it against the matchbook. When you strike the water, you send it from the HLT to the mashtun.
When you "DOUGH-IN" - it's similar to adding water to flour...it becomes "dough" only at that point. "DOUGH-IN" in brewing terms is similar, and there is a small % of flour from crushing the grain that goes into the mashtun...so it all makes sense when you look at it that way.
Iodophor
Iodine based sanitizer. Usually requires only a 2 minute contact time with CLEAN equipment, followed by an air-dry to sanitize. The iodine destroys cell walls when it dries, which kills bacteria and sanitizes the equipment effectively.
Caustic Soda
Caustic (also called LYE) is a base and must be handled WITH ALL SAFETY PRECAUTIONS provided by the manufacturer. This generally means a face shield & gloves, as well as respiratory protection. Caustic eats organic material, much like bleach, but quite alot more effectively because it is such a strong base.
It is used in breweries when combined with cheletants and surfactants (other chemicals that aid in dissolving organic material and washing it away) to clean stainless fermentors and kegs, as well as other stainless equipment, using CLEAN IN PLACE technology. It is especially useful cleaning equipment that is not accessible with a sponge. An excellent example is a stainless beer keg. The opening on beer kegs don't facilitate manual cleaning. Keg washers are employed in breweries to clean and sanitize the kegs using caustic, steam, and other solutions.
Caustic is used in a heated liquid form, and must be prepared ONLY ACCORDING TO THE CHEMICAL MANUFACTURER'S DIRECTIONS. When used in a safe manner, Caustic can be a great tool in a brewery.
Citric Acid
Derived from Citrus fruit (oranges is an example), food grade citric acid can be used in fruit beers or soft drinks to add additional fresh fruit taste and zing. Citric acid must also be used in fruit flavored sodas to lower the ph below 4.6 to prevent the growth of botulism spores. It is also acceptable to use in cola type drinks. In non-fruit soft drinks like root beer, other food grade acids like food grade phosphoric may be used according to the chemical manufacturer's instructions and in a safe diluted quanitity to protect the soft drink from botulism spore growth.
Phosphoric acid
Derived from phosphorus. Food grade phosphoric acid is used in soft drinks like root beer, to lower the ph below 4.6, preventing botulism growth and it's related deadly toxin.
Tartaric Acid
Similar to ciric acid but derived from grapes. It has a grape-like flavor which makes it suitable for adjusting ph in wine making, but not in beer or soda making.
Extract (also called malt extract)
Malt extract comes in a powder or syrup. It is processed from malted barley specifically for resale to homebrew shops and homebrewers. The extract company mashes the grain and then concentrate the sugars from the grain. The concentration of sugars generally damages the flavor of the malt.
Beginner homebrewers often get introduced to brewing using the Extract method, which only involves the final stages of the brewing process - THE BOIL, where hops are added to impart bitterness. Light extracts can produce OK light beers, but not recommended for darker beers. Generally extracts are considered inferior by most professional brewers because the method used to concentrate the sugars damages the malt flavor and the brewer ultimately loses control over how the final beer will taste. Although you can make good beers using malt extract, it is nearly impossible to duplicate the flavors of beer made directly from the grain. Simply put, the best beers in the world can only be made directly from the grain itself
Straight sided sankeys
Most kegs are straight sided...meaning you could put a ruler up to the side of the keg and it would almost sit flush. Most of the newer kegs made since the 1980's would fit in this category. See pictures below:
 
Straight Sided Sankeys
Coors uses kegs shaped like a barrell - the side is widest in the center of the keg, making them impossible to mount to a stand via bolts.
In the 1970's, a company named HOFF STEVENS made kegs that are shaped like a barrell, but don't have handles.
All of the kegs we use and that can be seen on our website are straight sided sankeys. If yours look similar, they are also straight sided sankeys.
Hot Liquor Tank
Hot Liquor is an olde world terminology that simply means "hot water". The Hot Liquor Tank is usually a stainless brewing kettle that has it's own heat source for heating the water, or is an insulated container and considered a "holding tank". The Hot Liquor Tank provides water during 2 steps of the brewing process. The initial "Dough-In" (mixing of grain with hot water) and subsequent "sparge" (rinsing of sugars from) the grains. In both steps, water is transferred from the Hot Liquor Tank to the Mashtun. In the BREWTREE systems, the Hot Liquor Tank is the highest kettle on the stand, and the Mashtun is the next lower kettle.
Mashtun
The mashtun is an insulated tank that receives the crushed malted barley (grain) and hot water. Both grain and hot water are mixed in the mashtun, and let sit for 1 hour to undergo a natural starch conversion. The starches in the grain are naturally converted to fermentable sugars when the enzymes in the grain become active at a temperature of 149F-158F (the starch conversion range).
Hot liquor (hot water) is first poured into the mashtun, then grain is mixed and the "mash" is allowed to sit for the 1 hour starch conversion process. At the end of the conversion, hot water is sprinkled on the grain/mash bed in the mashtun, while the same amount of sweet wort is drawn off the bottom of the mashtun and transferred to the boil kettle. In this process, Sweet Wort (fermentable malt sugars) are washed/extracted from the grain and get boiled with hops in the boil kettle.
Boil Kettle
The lowermost kettle on the Brewtree. This is where the sweet wort (fermentable malted barley sugars) is boiled and hops are added for flavoring, preservative qualities, and to add a balance of bitterness to the final taste of the beer. The sweet wort is also sterilized during the boil and then sent through the wort chillers (a heat exchanger) to cool the wort to 70F so that yeast may be added to the resulting wort and fermented.
Bulkhead Fitting
    Pictures from left to right (1/2" Bulkhead fitting, Bulkhead fitting with valve, bulkhead Dial thermometer, Bulkhead & Dip Tube) A fitting that passes through the wall of a stock pot, keg, or other kettle. Installation only requires a hole be made in the kettle for which the fitting can screw into. A Bulkhead fitting is used in place of a welded on fitting because it is easier to install and repair. Bulkheads have sealing gaskets that get tightened against the kettle wall, providing a leak free seal. Fittings are commonly used to install a valve to a kettle, to facilitate the transfer of liquid in the brewing process (see pictures). Other common uses of bulkheads are to install Dial Thermometers, Sight Glasses, or temperature sensors that must be immersed in the liquid. For more info, see Bulkhead fitting instructions.
Manifold/Valve Manifold
    From Left to right (Hot Liquor Tank Manifold, Mashtun Manifold, Boil Kettle Manifold, Filter Manifold)In brewing terms, it relates to valves that drive the brewing process. A valve-manifold takes one connection to your kettle, and expands it into several outlet points/valves. Think about how your arm and hand look, and compare it to a car exhaust manifold. There are many similarities. A 4 cylinder car must route exhaust from 4 cylinders into 1 exhaust pipe. The car exhaust manifold will actually have 4 "fingers" - one going to each cylinder. These smaller fingers connect to a main exhaust pipe (or if you are looking at your hand, then the exhaust pipe would be your arm). In brewing, the valve manifolds facilitate easy transfer of liquids during the brewing process by simply opening and closing valves to send the liquid to various parts of the system. This greatly simplifies the actual brewing process and mirrors the same method used by most professional breweries because it saves time and eases the process.
Chime/Skirt (Beer Keg)
   From left to right (Standard Sankey Keg With Upper & Lower CHIMES, Used Poly Keg with upper plastic chime and missing lower chime, Used Poly Keg Mounted to BREWTREE stand - no chimes)Kegs have a lower support that they sit on. It is simply a ring of stainless steel that is welded to the keg when it is manufactured. There are generally 2 rings on the keg - a bottom "chime" to support the keg in the vertical position, and an upper "chime" that has handles for you to lift the keg. Some kegs have plastic "chimes" and those are generally called POLY kegs. A POLY keg must have those plastic chimes removed if it is going to be used as a heated kettle, otherwise the plastic would burn. Some used kegs sold on this site are used POLY kegs and must be bolted to a stand for support.
False Bottom/Hopback
A screen that holds the grain above the drain in your mashtun. It allows the liquid to flow out the drain and prevents the drain from getting clogged. A false bottom can be made of any food grade material.
A false bottom can also be used to keep hops from clogging the drain in the boil kettle, which also has the benefit of providing easy removal of spent hops at the end of the brew day.
Wort Chiller (counterflow/immersion)
A heat exchanger device for cooling boiling wort (unfermented beer) to room temperature. This is necessary to pitch the yeast so fermentation can begin.
Immersion chillers - A coil of copper tube connected to your garden hose. The coil physically sits in your boil kettle, and running cold water through the coil extracts heat from the boiling wort, thus cooling it. The chiller gets boiled in the wort to sanitize. Immersion chillers generally take a longer time to cool wort than counterflow chillers
Counterflow Chiller - Consists of a coil of copper tube inside a cooling jacket, usually garden hose. Water in the cooling jacket flows in the opposite direction as the boiling wort flowing in the inner copper tube. Counterflow chillers cool wort from boiling to room temperature in one pass. They can be connected to most boil kettle outflow valves (or bulkhead valves) via a piece of hose or copper tube. You simply open the boil kettle valve and turn the cooling water on, and the wort goes through the chiller and directly into your fermentor. Sanitization usually requires running boiling hot water through the chiller, followed by iodophor solution.
Jet Burner
A burner with a single orifice, and usually a main pipe where the flame comes out. Jet burners generally have high output, and are not easily put out by boil overs do to their design. They are simple and effective.
Consumables
Anything consumed in the manufacturing process. Examples include drill bits, grinding wheels, saw blades, sandpaper, flux for soldering, gas for welding, welding contact tips, wire brushes for cleaning welds, electropolishing fluid, etc. The manufacturing of equipment simply cannot occur without consuming some supplies in the production process - these small tools and helpful supplies simply don't carry an unlimited lifespan and must be replaced regularly during the manufacturing process.
credit
Credit is provided on upgrading one piece of equipment to another, whenver specified on the website for the amount stated. For example, if you purchase a stand-alone boil kettle, and then upgrade to a BREWTREE system at a later date, then you may qualify for a credit if it is stated on the page where your kettle is located. The credit is possible because you will be subsituting your existing equipment for matching components on the BREWTREE system. For example, if you purchased a boil kettle, then we would provide information on how that can be integrated into your NEW BREWTREE system and we would omit sending the kettle in lieu of your Upgrade discount. In this way, you do not have to buy the same components twice, but can EASILY integrate your existing components purchased on the brewtree website, and save yourself alot of money.
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