Steeping Grain

[Pennywise]

All this information is great.. I am just getting back into brewing again and I wondered why my atempts at steeping produced poor results several years ago. It must have been because of bad advise from my local HBS ??? Here is what is on the label of a 150g grains packet from local HBS (can you guess who it is ?) - "Empty desired amount into a heat proof vessel of at least 1ltr capacity. Fill with boiling water and stand for 10 - 20 mins. Strain then rinse water directly into fermenter, leaving the grain behind".

It's not as bad as the advice i was given when I started usuing grain, I was told to boil it for 20 mins

 

[Beer&Kebab]

It's not as bad as the advice i was given when I started usuing grain, I was told to boil it for 20 mins

Indeed.. Though, the advise on this packet is current.. I purchased it yesterday :angry:

 

[sponge]

Need to remember, not boiling water

Inbetween 60-70 is alright for steeping grains

But if you dont have a thermometer, you can do what i used to, and that is 2 parts boiling to one part cool tap water. that should give you a pretty close temp.

Another way is, my hot tap water is pretty much 67'C, which is about right for that. So you could always just use all hot tap water, let them sit for 30min or so and then you should be set

Remember not to leave any grains behind, and also to boil the resulting liquid (but NOT the grains!!)


Sponge

 

[staggalee]

All this information is great.. I am just getting back into brewing again and I wondered why my atempts at steeping produced poor results several years ago. It must have been because of bad advise from my local HBS ??? Here is what is on the label of a 150g grains packet from local HBS (can you guess who it is ?) - "Empty desired amount into a heat proof vessel of at least 1ltr capacity. Fill with boiling water and stand for 10 - 20 mins. Strain then rinse water directly into fermenter, leaving the grain behind".

So?
Apart from a slight diff. in the water temp, that`s virtually the procedure anyway :huh:

stagga.
{I just cold steep the night before, saves a lot of ginning around on brew morning}

 

[Beer&Kebab]

So?
Apart from a slight diff. in the water temp, that`s virtually the procedure anyway :huh:

stagga.
{I just cold steep the night before, saves a lot of ginning around on brew morning}

I thought it was wrong on 2 counts:

1) Boiling water produces tannins etc.. Not good.
2) It doen't mention boiling the resulting liquid. Possible bugs in brew.

I thought these were important points..

 

[staggalee]

I thought it was wrong on 2 counts:

1) Boiling water produces tannins etc.. Not good.
2) It doen't mention boiling the resulting liquid. Possible bugs in brew.

I thought these were important points..

They are.
It`s also important to read posts thoroughly before replying.
I must remember that.
Carry on. :lol:

stagga.

 

[sponge]

Haha, yea, not boiling the liquid can be a liiiittle too crazy loco for a brew not to become infected.

Try and boil it for about 10min to be safe

 

[staggalee]

Haha, yea, not boiling the liquid can be a liiiittle too crazy loco for a brew not to become infected.

Try and boil it for about 10min to be safe

As a side note to that, I didn`t boil the steep liquid once, and while it escaped infection, it had a distinct "earthy" flavour to it.

stagga.

 

[Jamz]

I haven't played around with steeping grains yet, but its something I'd like to try sometime. I'd be quite interested to hear if anyones ever done a side-by-side comparison between hot a cold steeping. And do you need to add more water in a cold steep to compensate for the fact that a cooler solvent will have a lower solute capacity?

Hot steeping sounds easy enough with the 2 parts boiling to 1 part cold water, but how do you maintain that temperature? If you don't keep heating it, the temp is obviously gonna drop a bit over half an hour. Do you have to play around trying to keep it at the right temperature on the stove? Or insulate it somehow?

 

[Pennywise]

Hot steeping sounds easy enough with the 2 parts boiling to 1 part cold water, but how do you maintain that temperature? If you don't keep heating it, the temp is obviously gonna drop a bit over half an hour. Do you have to play around trying to keep it at the right temperature on the stove? Or insulate it somehow?

I just put the lid on the pot and leave it, the drop in temp isn't really a problem.

 

[0M39A]

cant believe the instructions you got with your grain. thats just shocking for a homebrew store to give advice like that. I'd be going in there and giving them a piece of my mind. grain is notorious for harboring lactobacillus infections.

 

[sponge]

Yea, with steeping its not a big problem about the temp dropping, as hber79 said, just leave the lid on and itll be right, or if you really want, you can wrap a towel around it


Sponge

 

[Beer&Kebab]

I have a 1.5 ltr coffee plunger.. Should that be OK to do a small steep ? I have heard of them being used before, but since then I have read that you should not be too heavy handed with sparging which I guess a coffee plunger would be ? Any opinions ?

 

[Slartibartfast]

I've read in some places that with cold steeping you need to use more grain? Has anyone else found this to be the case?

 

[staggalee]

No.

stagga.

 

[Slartibartfast]

No.

stagga.

Excellent, turns out I don't need to buy a thermometer this weekend then.

 

[staggalee]

Excellent, turns out I don't need to buy a thermometer this weekend then.

Get one next w/end then.
You`ll need it sooner than later.

stagga.

 

[Slartibartfast]

Get one next w/end then.
You`ll need it sooner than later.

stagga.

That was the plan - this weekend's spending was going to be big enough already.

 

[Beer&Kebab]

How much grain is too much ? I see on the Craftbrewer website different percentages for different grains.. What do these mean ?

 

[boingk]

Can't comment on the percentages, although if they are in a recipe then its the percentage of the total ingredient list. eg 4kg pils malt and 1kg Vienna Malt will come out as 80% Pils Malt, 20% Vienna.

Adding grain to brews is common and can be taken to any level, form a mere 200g addition to enhance a kit & kilo style brew, a half-kilo or more to really step things up, or go the whole hog and convert to all-grain. I use around 150g in pretty much all my kit & kilo brews now because its easy and cheap and turns out well. Other brews will cop as much as a kilo or more, and this is reffered to as 'Partial-Mash Brewing' because you make up a considerable percentage of the ingredients with grain instead of extract.

For example of that last point, I made a simple stout the other day using a Coopers Real Ale kit [good base malts and appropriate bitterness], 1kg dark dry malt, 500g light dry malt, 500g Crystal grain, 300g Choc grain & 100g Black Patent grain. The grains were mashed and strained, then the resulting liquor boiled and added to the fermenter along with the rest of the ingredients.

Hope this helps - boingk

EDIT: Hopping for the stout was 20g Goldings boiled for 20min in the primary, and 20g dry in secondary. Brew tasted great after fermentation...can't wait til its aged.