Stove Top Vs Esky Steeping

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RobboMC

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I made the Coopers Old Brown Dog recipe pack at the weekend. I had the run of the kitchen so I used the gas cooktop to steep the crystal grain.
This means of course I could add heat along the way and get the temperature right up to exactly where I wanted it.

In the last few years I have been leaning towards an Esky for steeping or partial mashing and for this I have a 9 litre Esky drink bottle with a built in tap.
But I usually end up with the action being a bit on the cool side, and when adding boiling water to heat things up I end up with a really thin mix.

So today I am asking the question: what is preferred for steeping and partial mashing, stove top or cooler bottle.

For me, both have their pros and cons.

Cooktop - allows extra heating without diluting mix
15 litre boil pot
no tap
difficult to rinse/sparge grains

Cooler bottle - only 9 litres
adding heat dilutes the mix
tap for draining makes rinsing and sparging easier


I guess I need to lash out and buy a boil pot with a tap!!!
 
Have you thought about a Brew in a bag Bag, and steep your grains in that, on the stovetop and then lift the bag, separating the grains from the liquid left over?
 
Smaller pot and a piece of brewing cloth.
Steeping doesn't really require tight temperature windows. Drop it in at 70C and even if you drop 10C over the time period it will still steep fine. You can steep in cold water if you want- just need to do it over 8 hours or so.
If you are concerned with heat loss then get a smaller pot (less head space) say 6-8L, heat to temp, turn off the burner and throw the grains in a bag/cloth. Put the lid on, wrap a blanket around it and you will probably only loose a degree or 2. Well it does in my set up anyway.
I use a pasta cooker which has a strainer. So once done, I put the grain bag/cloth into that over the pot and sparge with hot water. Then just tip into the fermenter once you have done your boil etc. Easy as.
The cooler set up sounds like hard work to me.
 
Excellent idea Droopy - same as what I used when I first stated BIAB and I wanted to sparge - a colander or a pasta pot insert and pasta pot were excellent for sparging grains.
 

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