Lesson 6 - Milling Technology
This lesson deals with the principles of design and operation of the various mill types. It also explains the criteria used for their selection.
Wet Milling
The first mills used in brewing were dry mills. Wet mills were developed from dry mills to maximise the pliability of the husk and in turn provide trouble-free wort separation in lauter tuns. They also enable better control of grist oxidation.
The naming conventions for wet mills can be confusing, especially as the terms used for each technology differ depending on the mill supplier − or the textbook you might be reading!
We class the mill where the malt is steeped in water in the hopper (before the mill) as a full steep wet mill. The mill where the malt is conditioned between the hopper and the mill rollers is classed as a steep conditioned mill. We will start with the full steep wet mill.