The Complete Guide To Whole Grain Brewing

The core concept of whole-grain brewing

Whole-grain brewing is a traditional brewing process that uses crushed malt (rather than malt extract) to convert starch in grains into fermentable sugars through saccharification. Its core advantages are:

• Taste control: The type of malt (such as caramel malt, wheat malt) can be freely adjusted to create a unique taste.

• Process purity: No extracts are added during the entire process, which is in line with the "starting from scratch" concept of craft beer.

Key processes:

• Saccharification: After the malt is crushed, it is mixed with hot water (148-158°F) to activate amylase to break down starch.

• Filtering and washing grains: Separate the wort and wash the grain residue with hot water at 170°F to maximize the extraction of sugars.

• Boiling fermentation: Boil the wort for sterilization, add hops, and put it into yeast fermentation after cooling.

An In-depth Comparison of Whole Grain vs. Extract Brewing

Dimensions	Whole grain brewing ‌ ‌	Extract brewing
Raw material costs	Lower (direct malt purchase)	Higher (dependence on pre-made extracts)
Equipment requirements	Requires professional equipment such as mash tuns and filtration systems	Only basic boiling and fermentation tools are required
Time investment	5-6 hours (including mashing)	2-3 hours (skipping mashing)
‌Flavor potential‌	Precise control of malt flavor profile	Limited by extract recipe

How to Brew All-Wheat Beer

Step 1: Beating Water

Beating water is the water that soaks the grains during the mashing process. You need to "beat" the first batch of water to ensure that the mash is beaten at the right temperature. The water temperature is critical, and the mash temperature should be between 148 and 158 degrees Fahrenheit (about 64 to 75 degrees Celsius). The recommended brewing water temperature is higher, between 158 and 169 degrees Fahrenheit (about 75 to 80 degrees Celsius). The recommended mashing temperature is 152 degrees Fahrenheit (about 73 degrees Celsius), so heat the fermentation water to 163 degrees Fahrenheit (about 74 degrees Celsius).

Step 2: Prepare the Lauter tun

The temperature of the wort or lauter tun should be at an optimal level to ensure that the temperature of the wort does not drop when it is placed in the lauter tun. When preparing the lauter tun, you need to pour the fermentation water into the lauter tun and keep it at this temperature for 5 minutes.

Step 3: Mixing

Mashing is the process of adding ground grains or wheat flour to the mash tun. Stirring is essential to keep the mash temperature even and prevent the grains from clumping.

Step 4: Waiting

Waiting is essential because during this step, the mash converts complex carbohydrates and starches into simple sugars.

Step 5: Filtering and Sparging

Sparging is the process of spraying hot liquid onto the wort to rinse away any residual sugars. You want to rinse away as much sugar from the grain as possible. To start a continuous sparge, open the valve on the wort/lauter trough and allow the wort to begin dripping into the lauter trough. If your lauter trough is not above the lauter trough, you can allow the wort to flow into the lauter trough first before pouring the wort into the lauter trough. Depending on how fast you collect wort, it will take about 60-90 minutes to collect all the wort.

Once you have collected enough wort, stop sparging. Now you can boil the wort the same way you did with the extract. The only difference is that you need to boil all the wort.

Step 6: Continue brewing the rest

After the malting and mashing steps are complete, the brewing process for both whole grain and extract is the same. You will need to boil the wort and ferment it to make beer. To avoid losing sleep on the whole grain experiment, we recommend spending a few extra hours on your brewing beer.

Other Equipment

In addition to the main equipment for home brewing all-grain beer, here are some items that can help you with the brewing process:

• Grain mill for crushing grains

• Water and mash thermometers

• Wort chiller to cool wort to yeast feeding temperature

• Mashing paddle

• Hydrometer for checking gravity

• Pitcher for forward thrust

• Scale for weighing grain and hops

• Pump and hose for value transfer between ships

• Fermentation tank

In conclusion

Home brewing equipment is as varied as home breweries, but these are just the bare minimum requirements for all-grain brewing. If you’re already an experienced brewer, all-grain brewing is another way to flex your creativity and gain more control over the brewing process. I hope you found this guide helpful!