# Using Crystal Malt



## mark68 (26/3/06)

After reading an article about malt and its chemistry,i found out something that made me wonder what the correct method of using this stuff is.Most people only steep crystal malt at around 70 degrees for 30 mins. or so,then discard the grain.Problem is ,this stuff has a lot of bacterial microbes in its husk which need to be killed,so to my untrained mind,you would need to boil the crystal to sterilise it.But ,what about astringency,i guess that would be a problem with boiling it.So,is it safe to only heat it to 70 degrees?? <_<


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## timmy (26/3/06)

boil it after you removed the grains.


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## Jye (26/3/06)

Hey Mark, by the sounds of it you are using extract and the boil when you are adding you hops will kill the bacteria. If you are not doing hop additions then you will still need to boil for 15mins to kill the bacteria.

Jye :beer:


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## Dunkel_Boy (26/3/06)

It's easier (especially if you're only chucking 250g or so of crystal in) to use a (boiled) stocking... so get a helper, then strain into the boil, pour some cold water over the top, don't squeeze the bag, and you're done. I used to keep about 68-70C temps with just grain and water in a saucepan, then strain it out. Unfortunately, if even a tiny piece of grain gets in your boil, you'll have astringency problems. The stocking eliminates that.

Back to all-grain next batch!


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## sah (26/3/06)

I've read methods for steeping crystal malt that suggest using about 2L of water at the desired temperature.

I've always used much more water than this, usually about 10-12L. After finishing the steeping I pull the grain bag out and put the pot back on the heat to bring to the boil. At this time I had malt extract, bring back to the boil and continue usually for 60 minutes with hop additions at various times.

Is there any reason why usng 2L versus a larger volume would affect the results?

I've always assumed that steeping is about is dissolving and washing out the sugars that are already present in the well modified malt. Am I on the money here?

Scott


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## pint of lager (27/3/06)

Steeping is used for grains such as crystal, chocolate, patent, black, roast and cara styles. The temperature is not critical, 30-70 degres is fine, don't go any higher. You are correct, these grains do not need mashing. Mashing is where enzymes convert long chain flours or starches into shorter chaint sachaarides or malt sugars. The temperature of mashing is critical.

Conversion is a term that is used to describe malted grain and how well it is malted. Under converted grain means that during malting, it has not sprouted enough, and there are not enough enzymes to mash with. Over converted is where the grain has sprouted too much, and the starchy component has changed into sprouts, and therefore no longer available to be mashed.

Usually, when steeping grain, if you use too much water, you run the risk of extracting tannins as well as the wanted sugars. Best to use a ratio around 1 litre per 250gms, rinse with the same amount and boil the resulting solution. If you want to boil more water, add it after you have steeped the grain.


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## sah (27/3/06)

pint of lager said:


> Usually, when steeping grain, if you use too much water, you run the risk of extracting tannins as well as the wanted sugars.
> [post="116589"][/post]​



How would this happen? We are steeping not sparging. I can understand that a long steep might risk exceesive tannin extraction. Are you suggesting that low sugar concentration in the liquor (gravity) is a mechanism in extracting tannins?

I haven't noticed any astringency with what I've been doing. I'm interested to hear other experiences?

Cheers
Scott


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## pint of lager (27/3/06)

Sparging is rinsing. I suspect that low concentrations is one reason for extraction of tannins. That is why when sparging, brewers avoid oversparging or over rinsing, because you risk extracting tannins.


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## mark68 (27/3/06)

The reason i left the grain in with the sugar is that i couldn't seperate them, even with a fine steel sieve.So i boiled the mix for 1 minute then cooled in the laundry tub,hoping this might avoid extracting too many tannins!!!!! :chug:


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## Jazzafish (27/3/06)

I'm a bit late but this link will help your next batch
http://www.howtobrew.com/section2/chapter13.html


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