h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Only one problem with the guide to beer making above, and that's the temperature of the mash. The author above has specified 55 to 60 degrees C as the optimal mash temperature, but this would make an overly-flat dry beer, and fail to extract an efficient amount of sugar from the barley. Ideally the temperature should be maintained to within 4 degrees of 66 Celcius, which will produce a much more well-rounded beer. Otherwise, the guide is cool!

actually, mashing temperatures varies a lot between beers... I mostly use a temperature between 65-67 degrees Celcius, but lagers and pilsner type beers often mash at a temperature lots lower... 65-67 is very good for ales, while lower temperatures might work better for beers made with bottom-fermentating yeast, and not top-fermenting...