From Horses to… Homebrewing?

API® products serve a wide range of consumers, and you might be surprised just how wide that breadth can get when you dig into one key product in the catalog: the 742G Bucket Heater. From drywallers to brewers, this product can easily push water past 150 degrees F (toward boiling!) depending on the bucket’s volume and insulation. Because of this power, the 742G Bucket Heater, designed only for use in water, is used by homebrewers across the country.

To understand how the bucket heater is useful in brewing beer, here’s a brief lesson on the art of homebrewing:

Grain  >  Sugar  >  Wort  >  Beer
When brewing, you must convert the starch from the chosen grain (i.e. barley, rye, rice) into sugar. This is done through a process called “mashing.” After this process is complete, the grain, water, and sugar are all hanging out together, so the brewer needs a way to extract the sugar into a new vessel to make “wort” (unfermented beer). This is where the bucket heater comes in!

Mash  >  Sparge  >  Boil
The brewer can use the 742G to heat the sparge water—simply hot water—to use for sugar extraction. Sparging is a process of slowly adding hot water to the top of the grain in the mash tun to wash away the sugars into a new container. This creates the wort which is then boiled, fermented, and drank!

Are you thirsty yet? This is just a little glimpse into how that beer got into your glass with a little help from the API® 742G Bucket Heater! Find out more about what it takes to start your own homebrewing hobby at either of these fellow Minnesota companies: Northern Brewer or Midwest Supplies.