After drawing our water from the abandoned spring water factory, it was time to start the brewing process. Since we would be making our Imperial IPA from 17.77 pounds of all grain malt, the first step of the process was mashing. Mashing is the process of converting malted barley into a sugary tea. In fact, the English often times still call tea making mashing. Based on our recipe, we needed to steep our grains at 168 degrees Fahrenheit for 90 minutes. It is best if the temperature is held as consistently as possible during the mashing process, the vessel used to do this is called a mashing tun. We made our mashing tun out of a 10 gallon water cooler. Inside the mashing tun is a colander with its handle cut off, the colander acts as a filter for the grain husks. We also installed a valve to allow us to easily drain the mashing tun. The process is simple, heat a pot of water to 168 degrees Fahrenheit, dump it in the mashing tun, pour in the grain and screw on the lid, crack open a home brew, and wait for the 90 minute mashing process to complete. Next month, I will discuss sparging and small beers.