Cold Steeping Questions

[tintin]

G'day...
I posted a question about cold steeping on the 'Kit and extract' subforum, but I don't know if it was the right place (no response). Basically, I was wondering about the advantages of cold over warm steeping of grains. A few people have mentioned cold steeping grains overnight. I was going to try this with 50g r/barley, 100g choc, 250g crystal and 300g oats for a stout. Obviously I would then boil the strained liquid with LME and hops etc.
I tend to brew at night, so how long is a decent cold steep as I would do this during the day.
Thanks...

 

[Ross]

G'day...
I posted a question about cold steeping on the 'Kit and extract' subforum, but I don't know if it was the right place (no response). Basically, I was wondering about the advantages of cold over warm steeping of grains. A few people have mentioned cold steeping grains overnight. I was going to try this with 50g r/barley, 100g choc, 250g crystal and 300g oats for a stout. Obviously I would then boil the strained liquid with LME and hops etc.
I tend to brew at night, so how long is a decent cold steep as I would do this during the day.
Thanks...

[post="118347"][/post]​

Tintin,

Cold steeping is purported to give you a smoother tasting beer, which can be quite desirable in dark beers. I cold steep on occaisions & leave for 24hrs in straight cold tapwater.
Oats I believe, need to be mashed - so either omit or mix with water & an equal quantity of pale grain & keep at approx 67c for 60 mins.

cheers Ross...

 

[tintin]

Would I mash the oats, pale ale grain and all the other grains together in a warm steep/mash, or just the oats and pale grain first? I believe the ratio of grain (kg) to water (litres) is about 1 : 2.5. Is this about right (I know it varies) ?
Thanks...

 

[Airgead]

G'day...
I posted a question about cold steeping on the 'Kit and extract' subforum, but I don't know if it was the right place (no response). Basically, I was wondering about the advantages of cold over warm steeping of grains. A few people have mentioned cold steeping grains overnight. I was going to try this with 50g r/barley, 100g choc, 250g crystal and 300g oats for a stout. Obviously I would then boil the strained liquid with LME and hops etc.
I tend to brew at night, so how long is a decent cold steep as I would do this during the day.
Thanks...

[post="118347"][/post]​

Hi Tintin

I used to cold steep a bit before I did the AG thing. In general cold steeping will extract colour and flavour but will not extract fermentable sugar as the enzymes are too cold to work. Ok.. technicaly there is fermentable sugar in crystal that is already present and that will be extracted but you won't get anywhere near the same yield as a mash. The cold steeping (apparently) will not leech out tanins from the dark grains which leads to a smoother brew. To be honest i never found that much diference between that and a short hot steep. it was more of a time thing for me as I could let the grains steep overnight and save some time the next day.

In short, steep the dark and crystal grains for colour and flavour but don't count on it for much (or any) fermantable sugar. There is no point steeping the oats as they need a mash to convert the starch to sugar.

If you throw in some pale malt grains you could do a mini mash but thats a whole other topic.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Ross]

Would I mash the oats, pale ale grain and all the other grains together in a warm steep/mash, or just the oats and pale grain first? I believe the ratio of grain (kg) to water (litres) is about 1 : 2.5. Is this about right (I know it varies) ?
Thanks...

[post="118594"][/post]​

All together will save you on cold steeping - but either way will work fine & your ratios are spot on.
Also, I've never had a problem extracting the sugars by cold steeping. Heating the specality grain just dissolves it a bit better. 24hrs cold steeping works fine.
But as Aigead said, there doesn't seem to be a huge difference in end result - so go which ever way takes your fancy...

cheers Ross