Everything about Lautering totally explained
Lautering is a process in
brewing beer in which the
mash is separated into the clear liquid
wort and the residual grain. Lautering usually consists of 3 steps: mashout, recirculation, and sparging.
Mashout
Mashout is the term for raising the temperature of the mash to 170°F (77°C). This both stops the
enzymatic conversion of
starches to fermentable
sugars, and makes the mash and wort more fluid. Mashout is considered especially necessary if there's less than 1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain (3 liters of water per kilogram of grain), or if the grain is more than 25%
wheat or
oats. The mashout step can be done by using external heat, or simply by adding hot water.
Recirculation
Recirculation consists of drawing off wort from the bottom of the mash, and adding it to the top. Lauter tubs typically have slotted bottoms to assist in the filtration process. The mash itself functions much as a
sand filter to capture mash debris and proteins. This step is monitored by use of a
turbidimeter to measure solids in the wort liquid by their
opacity.
Sparging
Sparging is trickling water through the grain to extract sugars from the grain. This is a delicate step, as the wrong temperature or
pH will extract
tannins from the
chaff (grain husks) as well, resulting in a bitter brew. Typically, 50% more water is used for sparging than was originally used for mashing. Sparging is typically conducted in a
lauter tun.
English sparging drains the wort completely from the mash, after which more water is added, held for a while at 170°F and then drained again. The second draining can be used in making a lighter-bodied low-alcohol beer known as
Small Beer, or can be added to the first draining. Some homebrewers use English sparging, except that the second batch of water is only held long enough for the grain bed to settle, after which recirculation and draining occurs.
German sparging, which is used by commercial
breweries and many homebrewers, uses continuous process sparging. When the wort reaches a desired level (typically about an inch) above the grainbed, water is added at the same slow rate that wort is being drained. The wort gradually becomes weaker and weaker, and at a certain point, they stop adding water. This results in greater yields.
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