Steeping Grains

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Cero

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Hi All -

Last question for today, promise :huh:.

I've made a few batches where the recipe has called for x grain to be steeped in boiling water for x minutes etc.

I've done this without really questioning what it actually adds??

Can someone explain to me what I am adding when I do this? (some malts etc? maybe?) and how this then affects the final outcome/taste??

Cheers -
 
typically crystal malt is used for body, sweetness,caramal flavour, raisin flavour, maybe even nut flavour, foam stabilty and colour.
they have a more dextrins which the yeast cannot ferment leaving a beer with the body and sweetness and extra flavour.

for pale ales you should really only use the lightest crystal you can get.
belgian beers can use same of the darkest you can get.

porter uses one inbetween the lightest and darkest.
 
Crystal malt, most of the caramalts, chocolate malt, black malt and roast barley have either been "mashed in the grain" or roasted so much no enzyme and hardly any extract (sugars) are left. So you can steep them to extract the sugars and flavors they give.

The darker the grain the less I will want to boil them though. Black grains (black patent, chocolate malt & roast barley) I cold steep overnight rather than add them to the mashtun. The lighter grain (crystal, caraamber etc) only need steep in water at 65C for half an hour, strain the liquid off and add to your boiling wort.

Try not to boil grains




Jovial Monk
 
Is there a definitive list somewhere that says what grains are mashed and what grains are to be steeped?

Or is that too topical to consider?

I've used Crystal Malt in Bavarian Lagers, etc, but I don't want to spend my hard earned money on some other malt and steep what should have been mashed? :blink:

I want to do some mini mashes before I go berserk and buy the big boiler for my AG brewing.

I guess I'll have to keep asking the HBS owner for advice and try all his grains out! :D

Cheers,

TL
 
Hi Guys -

Thanks guys!!

I should clarify I've never boiled the grain - but I have steeped it in boiling water.

Will not in the future ;) - what difference does the temperature have? I would have assumed that the temperature of the water would speed the dissolving of any soluble compounds within the grain itself? :blink:

What will occur if the water used is too hot?

Cheers -
 
Trough Lolly said:
Is there a definitive list somewhere that says what grains are mashed and what grains are to be steeped?

Or is that too topical to consider?

I've used Crystal Malt in Bavarian Lagers, etc, but I don't want to spend my hard earned money on some other malt and steep what should have been mashed? :blink:

I want to do some mini mashes before I go berserk and buy the big boiler for my AG brewing.

I guess I'll have to keep asking the HBS owner for advice and try all his grains out! :D

Cheers,

TL
Is there a definitive list somewhere that says what grains are mashed and what grains are to be steeped?

ive been wondering that myself!!
 
As I said before

crystal, chocolate, black malt, roast barley

pretty much all cara-grains, including carafa malts

can be steeped


dark grains, roasted at a high temp, will give astringency if boiled or steeped to hot. I do not add these to my mash tun, i cold steep them






Jovial Monk
 
i have never had a problem using roasted grains in the mash for full mash beers.
but extracts are a little different.

anyway some books give some bad addvice ie, i have seen books with steeped flaked barley etc.

like the monk said those are the only grains you can steep crystal or roasted.


when it comes to mashing you can mash anything and everything that is starchy including pumkin or plain flour etc and turn it into sugar.


basically if its been kilned while still wet than it can be steeped or if its been bbq'd to within a inch of exitense then you can steep it.


a few examples of unussuall mashings grains you may be unsure on is.
amber malt
munich malt
vienna malt
browm malt, must be mashed with other pale malt at around 1;1
oatmeal
wheat
raw wheat
torrified wheat

off subject i just saw grumpies have crystal rye. hmmmmmmm this stuff taste like it was sent from god.

anyway the reason crystal malt doesn't need mashing is because the kernal is still fully soaked with water when it gets cooked. so basically as the heat in the oven rises the enzymmes start working inside the kernal and convert the starches. basically mashing inside the kernal.

cheer jayse
iam am only the walrus after a few so in the morning i am maybe only the egg man.
kooka choo, kook kook kooka choo.
 
Cero said:
- what difference does the temperature have? I would have assumed that the temperature of the water would speed the dissolving of any soluble compounds within the grain itself? :blink:

What will occur if the water used is too hot?
Cero,

Have a look here for some background on mashing temps...

A reference article on mashing by John Palmer is here.

Cheers,

TL
 
im a bit lost here fellas.
hope to full grain early 04 so when i mash do i only mash my base malt eg jw pale malt and once sparged add to boil pot bring to boil and during the course add stepped
crystal grains or are these all mashed with the pale malt.

the deeper i go the more confused i get

any help appreciated

cheers
big d
 
big d, I chuck the lot in ... all goes through the grain mill and into the tun .... can't say I have noticed anything wrong with the results :blink:. Besides it would be a pain in the ass to be steeping some stuff and mashing others ....
 
thanks jasony
that was what im intending to do well originally anyway then i read different views and it starts the brain ticking and all the questions about right and wrong pop up.
gee its gonna be a fun apprenticeship as an ag brewer. :rolleyes:

cheers
big d
 
you can do it either way.
one thing about using the darker grains in the mash is it helps to bring the PH down in the mash.
this is one reason why some water supplies are better for certain types of beer.
ie in ireland they found years ago that the best beers were made with the dark grains in the mash.
it was not untill more recently they discovered the reason why it works like this is the extra dark grains brought the mash into the correct mash PH for the enyzmmes.

anyway the only way to tell the difference is try it both ways yourself.
you can simply add the steeping grains to the mash at the end during the sparge.
but i would stick to using them in your mash.
the palmer book has great info about matching the colour of your beer to the water supply etc for a beer which will hit the right PH without adjusting the water.

anyway i just chuck them all in and i would addvise to just do the same..
never have i thought that any of my beers could use chucking the other grains to the sparge.
i guess its one of those fine tuning points that will come as you get into full on mashing.

ussually doing this you won't need to addjust the sparge ph either.
but with a 100% pale malt mash you may need to lower the sparge PH to beable to colloect enough wort from the mash before you get above a ph of 6.
 
thanks jayse
or should i call you the walrus :blink:
 
kooka choo kook kooka choo.
i am the eggman.
 
gee jayse you must have had one great time at the grumpys meeting the other night.
eggman???


written with all due respect for the site policeman. :p
 
eggman??
some say i look a little like john lennon.
not really very true.
anyhow a chick came up to me once and actually ask me if my name was john lennon.
instead of playing it cool and scoring a root iam like no i am the walrus i am the eggman.
like in the song iam the walrus by the beatles.


it was a good meeting the other nite the only way dave could get rid of us was lock the doors while we were outside chating.
 
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