A grist hydrator, typically an accessory for brew kettle/mash tuns, sits atop the tank and is used to rapidly hydrate the milled malt and adjuncts, as they are fed into the tun and mixed with hot, or sometimes cold, water. Grist hydrators are used to minimize doughballs in your mash tun.  This is important because doughballs keep the hot liquor from mingling with a portion of your crushed grain.  If the liquor is not able to access all of the grain, it will not be able to effectively activate your enzymes for conversion. A conical hopper can be attached to the top of the hydrator to help the feeding process.

Specific has three main varieties of grist hydrator:

For smaller systems, the 4” standard grist hydrator is perfect – simple and affordable.

For medium to larger systems, the Bell Housing Hydrator offers superior throughput and better grain wetting/hydration.

For larger systems, the Steels Masher is the Cadillac of hydrators, offering the best in hydration and optimized temperature control during mash-ins.