Mashing

In brewing and distilling, mashing is the process of combining a mix of ground grains – typically malted barley with supplementary grains such as corn, sorghum, rye, or wheat (known as the "grain bill") with water and then heating the mixture. Mashing allows the enzymes in the malt (primarily, α-amylase and β-amylase) to break down the starch in the grain into sugars, typically maltose to create a malty liquid called wort.^[1]

The two main methods of mashing are infusion mashing, in which the grains are heated in one vessel, and decoction mashing, in which a proportion of the grains are boiled and then returned to the mash, raising the temperature.^[2]

Mashing involves pauses at certain temperatures (notably 45–62–73 °C or 113–144–163 °F) and takes place in a "mash tun" – an insulated brewing vessel with a false bottom.^[3][4][5]