# Steeping Crystal Malt?



## sid (15/12/07)

I was wondering if anyone could tell me if I steep 250-300gm of crystal malt and add this to a 1.7kg kit beer, then throw in 500gm of light hopped spraymalt will I need a bit of dextrose thrown in to bring the % of alchohol up to 4.5-5%?


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## Noxious (15/12/07)

sid said:


> I was wondering if anyone could tell me if I steep 250-300gm of crystal malt and add this to a 1.7kg kit beer, then throw in 500gm of light hopped spraymalt will I need a bit of dextrose thrown in to bring the % of alchohol up to 4.5-5%?




Hey Sid,
Try this calculator someone on here found...
[post="0"]Brewcraft Calc.[/post]


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## NRB (15/12/07)

It depends on batch size sid. Don't forget to boil the steeping liquid either! Looking at your fermentables and using a typical batch size of 23L, I'd say add more DME/dextrose. 250-300g Crystal will not add the equivalent gravity points of 250-300g extract/dextrose.


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## sid (15/12/07)

Noxious said:


> Hey Sid,
> Try this calculator someone on here found...
> [post="0"]Brewcraft Calc.[/post]
> 
> It depends on batch size sid. Don't forget to boil the steeping liquid either! Looking at your fermentables and using a typical batch size of 23L, I'd say add more DME/dextrose. 250-300g Crystal will not add the equivalent gravity points of 250-300g extract/dextrose.



thanks guy's, hey, the calc is a good little tool, that'll come in handy.

Yeh the batch is a 23L, just playing around with the calculator and it looks as though I'll definately need to add some dextrose to boost it up a bit. Yep, will boil as well.

Does cyrstal malt go with a wheat beer or will it over power the wheat flavour of the kit beer?


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## wimbymoonshine (18/12/07)

sid said:


> thanks guy's, hey, the calc is a good little tool, that'll come in handy.
> 
> Yeh the batch is a 23L, just playing around with the calculator and it looks as though I'll definately need to add some dextrose to boost it up a bit. Yep, will boil as well.
> 
> Does cyrstal malt go with a wheat beer or will it over power the wheat flavour of the kit beer?



Hey mate,

I would put in about 750g of DME in preference to the dextrose to increase the flavour characteristics and body. The dextrose will provide alcohol only.
Also, i wouldnt steep crystal for a wheat beer. Crystal is better in ales, ie amber ale, IPA etc.
Make sure you keep the temp about 60deg C while steeping, excess temps while steeping can cause astringency. And as said above, boil afterward.

Good luck!
:beer:


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## sid (18/12/07)

wimbymoonshine said:


> Hey mate,
> 
> I would put in about 750g of DME in preference to the dextrose to increase the flavour characteristics and body. The dextrose will provide alcohol only.
> Also, i wouldnt steep crystal for a wheat beer. Crystal is better in ales, ie amber ale, IPA etc.
> ...



thanks for the info, I'll leave the crystal malt out then, got a 1/2kg of DME lying round, So will throw that in and make up with dextrose.
My first go at steeping grains will have to be the next beer, a realale, looking forward to tasting it.


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## 270win (18/12/07)

Hi Brewers,

Can someone clarify the use of Crystal malt, I have seen lots of recipes that call for steeping / mashing when crystal malt is used. The following is taken from homebrewand beer.com

Crystal malt, or caramel malt, gives a nutty flavour to copper-coloured ales, in which it is used widely. A high proportion of unfermentable sugars means it adds body to the finished beer. It is malted in its husk during production and thus will add sugars to the wort without having to be mashed.

So according to that there is no need to be steeping Crystal grain and may as well just boil it with your other malts and sugars, I do realise that excessive boiling of any grain in its husk will release undesirable flavours that may affect the beer but boiled for a shorter time will release the sugars and flavours with much less effort.

So what is the best procedure for the brewer who is not doing all grains or partials?


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## Fatgodzilla (18/12/07)

270win said:


> So according to that there is no need to be steeping Crystal grain and may as well just boil it with your other malts and sugars, I do realise that excessive boiling of any grain in its husk will release undesirable flavours that may affect the beer but boiled for a shorter time will release the sugars and flavours with much less effort.
> 
> So what is the best procedure for the brewer who is not doing all grains or partials?



The steeping is easy - call it a "soaking" if its easier to visualise. I've been steeping crystals to add to kits and extract recipes by placing in a dutch oven with hot water from a kettle and either wrapping that in a beachtowel and sometimes in a luke warm oven. The idea is the constant temperature for half an hour. Strain with a colander into my mash pot (at this stage a standard 8 litre pot), rinse twice (keeping all this steeped and rinsing water, then this becomes the basis of my mini mash. Add malt extract and hops.

Boiling the grain is said to release unwanted tannins also contained in the grain. Never felt the need to boil the crtystal to find out. The results have been pretty good with nice extra flavours added.

Get a decent water thermometer to measure the temperature and everything else you need will be in your kitchen.


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## bconnery (18/12/07)

Fatgodzilla said:


> The steeping is easy - call it a "soaking" if its easier to visualise. I've been steeping crystals to add to kits and extract recipes by placing in a dutch oven with hot water from a kettle and either wrapping that in a beachtowel and sometimes in a luke warm oven. The idea is the constant temperature for half an hour. Strain with a colander into my mash pot (at this stage a standard 8 litre pot), rinse twice (keeping all this steeped and rinsing water, then this becomes the basis of my mini mash. Add malt extract and hops.
> 
> Boiling the grain is said to release unwanted tannins also contained in the grain. Never felt the need to boil the crtystal to find out. The results have been pretty good with nice extra flavours added.
> 
> Get a decent water thermometer to measure the temperature and everything else you need will be in your kitchen.


FG,
While your procedure there is very good, and will work, especially if you wanted to start adding grains that do require a mash, it is actually overkill for grains that only require steeping. 
Essentially what you have there is a very good mini-mash, as opposed to a steep. 
Steeping grains don't require a constant temperature per se, just that they don't get too hot. 
You can actually cold steep if you do it for long enough. 

What I always did was do pretty much as you have outlined for my mini-mash beers, ones with a base grain of some sort, but for steeping I just started them cold, very slowly raised the temp to about 70C, left it sit for a little longer off the heat, then strained the resulting liquid, rinsed the grains, and boiled the liquid. 

So, you don't need to change anything, but if you wanted to, for just steeping, you could get away with a little less effort. I personally found doing it good training for the eventual move to AG, but again, only when I was adding grains that required a mash. 

And you are right, you absolutely don't want to boil any grain at all, just the liquid that comes from the steeping.


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## Fatgodzilla (18/12/07)

bconnery said:


> While your procedure there is very good, and will work, especially if you wanted to start adding grains that do require a mash, it is actually overkill for grains that only require steeping.




Overkill .. now you tell me. 

Re reading the original thread makes me wonder if he was thinking also of BIAB - I haven't really read much about BIAB (just so much written, where do you start) but from the little I've read, isn't the basis a boil (?) of all grains in the bag ? Therefore crystal malts with main malts ? Or have I read that wrong ? if this is so, why no tannin problems with BIAB ?

(P.S. Fire suit now on to avoid heat from rampaging BIABers)


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## bconnery (18/12/07)

FG,
The bag works to help remove the grains from the liquid. 
Essentially you stick all the grains in a bag, mash them, which is a temperature controlled steep really, and then remove the grains from the liquid and boil the liquid. 
The main difference between that and the other main AG way is that you remove the liquid from the grains, rather than the grains from the liquid. 

In both cases, no actually grain in the boil.
Edit.
You can put your steeping grains, like crystal, in with base malts. You can mash a specialty, or steeping, grain, you just don't need to.


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## RobboMC (18/12/07)

sid said:


> I was wondering if anyone could tell me if I steep 250-300gm of crystal malt and add this to a 1.7kg kit beer, then throw in 500gm of light hopped spraymalt will I need a bit of dextrose thrown in to bring the % of alchohol up to 4.5-5%?




This thread seems to have gone off at a tangent on HOW to steep, not a crticism, just an observation.

Getting back to the original question: I would add the normal K&K stuff that you would to your kit,
and then add the liquid from your steeping as an extra. 250gm of grain, steeped, will only add a small
amount of alcohol, but a significant amount to the flavour and body.


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