Know Grain, No Pain: Understanding Milling and Mashing

A successful brew day starts with ensuring your milling and mashing routines are designed to achieve the finished beer you want. In this seminar, Rachael Hudson and Jen Blair discuss best practices for milling and how it affects the brewing process and the final product. They also cover what’s happening during the mash and how to adjust mash parameters.

Learning Objectives

• Understand why milling is a critical step in the brewing process and how it impacts the finished beer
• Discuss what steps to take to ensure a proper crush
• Learn what processes are taking place during the mash
• Explore how to adjust mash parameters depending on grains used and desired final flavor profile, such as altering mash temperature, adding rice hulls, different mash regimens, such as step mashing and infusion mashing

About the Speakers

Jen Blair is an Atlanta-based Advanced Cicerone and a National judge in the Beer Judge Certification Program. She co-hosts a brewing podcast called False Bottomed Girls. Jen is currently serving her second elected term on the American Homebrewers Association Governing Committee, where she serves as the Industry Subcommittee chair. Jen was selected as a mentor for the Brewers Association Mentoring Program and also serves as a mentor for the Road to 100 Cicerone program.

Rachael Hudson is the co-owner and head brewer of Pilot Brewing in Charlotte, N.C. She has been in the beer industry for over a dozen years, six of which were spent as a professional brewer at award-winning breweries such as Hardywood Park, Left Hand, and NoDa Brewing Company. Rachael has achieved the title of Advanced Cicerone and is working her way towards Master Cicerone.