Wort
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This article is about brewing beer. For other uses, see
Wort (disambiguation).
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wort in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wort /ˈwɜrt/ is the liquid extracted from the
mashing process during the
brewing of
beer or
whisky. Wort contains the
sugars that will be
fermented by the
brewing yeast to produce
alcohol.
Production[
edit]

Draining wort.
The first step in wort production is to make
malt from dried,
sprouted barley. The malt is then run through a roller mill and cracked. This cracked grain is then
mashed, that is, mixed with hot water and
steeped, a slow heating process that enables enzymes to convert the
starch in the malt into sugars. At set intervals, most notably when the mixture has reached temperatures of 45, 62 and 73 °C (113, 144 and 163 °F),
[1] the heating is briefly halted. The temperature of the mixture is usually increased to 78 °C (172 °F) for
mash-out.
Lautering is the next step, which means the sugar-extracted grist or solids remaining in the mash are separated from the liquid wort. In
homebrewing, the malt-making and mashing steps can be skipped by adding malt extract to water.
[2]
The mixture is then boiled to sanitize the wort and, in the case of most beer production, to extract the bittering, flavour and aroma from
hops. In beer making, the wort is known as "sweet wort" until the hops have been added, after which it is called "hopped or bitter wort". The addition of hops is generally done in three parts at set times. The bittering hops, added first, are boiled in the wort for approximately one hour to one and a half hours. This long boil extracts resins, which provides the bittering. Then, the flavouring hops are added, typically 15 minutes from the end of the boil. The finishing hops are added last, toward the end of or
after the boil. This extracts the oils, which provide flavour and aroma but evaporate quickly. In general, hops provide the most flavouring when boiled for approximately 15 minutes, and the most aroma when not boiled at all.
At the end of boiling, the hot wort is quickly cooled (in homebrewing, often using an
immersion chiller) to a temperature favourable to the
yeast. Once sufficiently cooled, the yeast is added, or "pitched", to begin the fermentation process.
The
adjunct grains that can be added to the mash include
wheat,
corn,
rye, and
rice. Adjunct grains may first need
gelatinization and cooling.
[3] They are used to create varietal beers such as
wheat beer and
oatmeal stout, to create
grain whisky, or to lighten the body (and cut costs) as in commercial, mass produced
pale lagers.