Beer: Grist

The first step in making beer is crushing barley that has reached germination and dried (malted) into grist by rolling it between metal rollers set so that the grain is not ground into flour. This is a process that allows grain to germinate until its protein is converted to a starch that natural enzymes found in the grain can in turn convert to sugar during the mash process. The coarse grind of the grist allows for optimum extraction of the fermentable sugars when hot water (called liquor) is added to the grist in the mash tun to create the mash. The crushing of the grist also leaves the husk of the grain intact, which forms a bed at the bottom of the mash tun that aids in filtration. When as much of the starch has been converted to sugars and fermentable substances as desired, the liquid in the mash tun is drained through the bed of husks and spent grain in the bottom of the mash tun and transferred to the copper. This sweet liquid is now called wort.