Various types of continuous cooker are available. A commonly used process involves forming a starch/water slurry at ca. 50 C. The slurry is pumped through stainless steel tubes, where it is heated by direct steam injection to ca. 150 C, at a pressure of 4.5 x 10' Pa for 10 min. The slurry is then vacuum cooled. Efficient cooling is essential for both batch and continuous cooking to prevent the mash solidifying. It is also necessary to minimize the time at ca. temperature 82 C, at which lipid-carbohydrate complexes are formed. These complexes are not available for fermentation and formation leads to a loss of up to 2% in spirit yield.