Mash mixer

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A mash mixer is used in the beer brewing process for the enzymatic digestion of starch to fermentable sugars. It is a large insulated vessel which can be heated and held at temperatures which optimize enzymatic activity.

In the brewing process, malted barley is milled to separate the starch from the husk, but the sugars in the malt are tied up in starch, and cannot be digested by yeast at this point. The grain's own enzymes are turned upon it. It is mixed with hot liquor (brewer's word for water) and fed into a mash mixer or mash tun. Some brewers will add specific enzymes at this point if thought to be beneficial.

A mash mixer requires usage of a lauter tun, in order to separate the sweet wort from the spent grains. It does not have a false bottom, which differs it from a mash tun, in which both enzymatic degradation and wort separation take place.