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===Single Infusion Mash===
The Single Infusion Mash, also called the ''British Infusion Mash'' is the simplest mashing method for homebrewers to use. In an infusion mash, room temperature crushed grains are combined with a premeasured amount of hot water at a fixed temperature. By accurately calculating the volume and temperature of the water, one can reach a target temperature for the combined mash in the 148 to 158 F range. Infusion is typically done at a water to grain ratio of around 1.25 quarts per pound of grain. The easiest way to calculate the proper infusion volume and temperature is with an infusion calculator or brewing software such as [http://www.beersmith.com BeerSmith]. The mash is then held at that temperature usually by keeping the mash in an insulated cooler for 45-90 minutes. At this temperature, the mash will readily convert starches into sugars. You can test for conversion of sugars using an ''iodine test''. Simply draw a small quantity of mashed grains out, add a few drops of iodine to it. If the iodine does not turn blue, then the conversion is complete.
===Temperature Mash===
===Multiple Step Mashes===
Though a single infusion mash is suitable in 95%+ of cases where modern well modified malts are used, some precooked adjuncts and undermodified malts require protein rests at lower temperature before the main ''saccrification'' (sugar conversion) step in the mash profile. These protein rests help to break down complex starches in preparation for saccrification. Infusion, temperature and decoction steps may be combined to achieve multiple step mashes. For example a complex three step decoction mash might start with an initial infusion step to an acid rest at 105 F, followed by a protein rest at 122 F, and a saccrification step at 155 F. In many mash profiles, a ''mash out'' step is used to raise the temperature of the entire grain bed in preparation for sparging. The mash out step helps to halt saccirifcation, and also helps ensure an efficient sparge by extracting sugars at a higher temperature.
===Sparging===
After the mash process is complete, the grains, water and sugar are still in suspension in the mash container, called the ''[[Mash Tun|mash tun]]''. The sugars are separated from the grains in a process called ''sparging''. The mash tun typically has a false bottom or screen at the bottom with a spigot that allows the brewer to draw run-off from the bottom of the grain bed. Hot water at approximately 178 F is slowly added to the top of the grain bed, run through the bed, and drawn off the bottom through the false bottom and out the spigot to the boiling vessel. This extracts sugars from the grains and produces sweet liquid wort for boiling. The initial runnings (first few quarts) drawn during the sparge process are recirculated back through the grain bed, as the early runnings often contain grain husks, crushed material and other undesirable elements. After the initial runnings, the grain bed will act as a filter and reduce the cloudiness of the runnings. Sparging is best done slowly so that a maximum amount of sugar can be extracted from the spent grains. The sparged wort is transferred to a boiler where hops is added and the mixture boiled before cooling for fermentation.
==See Also==
