Wurt/Mash Options

[GrillKing]

What's the difference between wurt & mash?

Also, what are the keys to a good wurt? From my understanding it is:

1) Acidity Levels
2) Sugar Levels
3) Temprature
4) Obviously high quality, fresh ingredients

[Marvin]

This is a great book that will explain alot of the details you are looking for
http://www.howtobrew.com/

To put it quickly - the sweet wort is what you get from the mash. Starches in the grain get converted into sugar in the mash and which becomes wort as its drained off into the boil kettle.

[stangbat]

Marvin is right, How to Brew will explain everything.

In short, the mash is the mixture of grain and water. The wort (not wurt) is the liquid drained from the mash.

[Joab]

The wort (not wurt) is the liquid drained from the mash.

But is still pronounced as "wurt", in case you were wondering about that Grillking.

[Rog]

What's the difference between wurt & mash?

Also, what are the keys to a good wurt? From my understanding it is:

1) Acidity Levels
2) Sugar Levels
3) Temprature
4) Obviously high quality, fresh ingredients

The wort is the sweet sugary nectar that is collected from the grains that have been converted by mashing (sitting in 152F water for an hour depending on your beer)! Having said that I agree with the other posts! I started out doing extract due to not wanting to spend the extra cash in case I was not up to the challenge however that changed very quickly and I jumped into AG! So I would start with small batches to make sure your getting the result you want but purchase the equipment for large batches. I would say 10 to 12gal batches would be sufficient.

Next question on good wort buy books to read there has a lot to do with beer style, type and location! Each style has a different chemistry make up due to different minerals in the water in different areas. Now you don't need to make it that complected unless you like to.

That's my $0.02!

This post has been edited by Rog: Nov 6 2009, 07:36 PM

[Joab]

Sort of off topic but when you take your original gravity sample you are doing so with wort. The final gravity sample is taken with beer. It seems that most home brewers drink both samples (you can't dump it back in unless the sample tube was sanitized) but I only drink the FG sample. I don't have much of a sweet tooth and wort is just too sweet for my liking. I liken it to a very sweet tea, only made with barley instead of tea leaves. The final sample is beer; it's flat and room temperature, but it's beer.

I will at least taste the OG sample though, to make sure it doesn't taste bad.

[slothrob]

I take my "OG" reading of the wort at the start of the boil, along with a volume measurement. I pour the sample back into the boil then get a final volume reading at the end of the boil to calculate my actual OG. I taste a couple drops of the wort, but I don't drink the hydrometer sample. I think it's a good idea to taste throughout the process, but I have trouble learning anything from the unfermented wort other than that it's sweet.