Un-educated Q On Mashing V's Steeping

[Hashie]

I've tried many searches and been to many different sites and yet I still can't tell the difference between mashing grains and steeping grains.

Maybe I've completely mis-read or overlooked the information available, but here is what I understand them to be.

Steeping grains;
grains are steepd in hot (70 deg.) water for 20-30 minutes, then sparged with hot water. The resulting liquid (wort) is then boiled for sanitation and for hopping etc etc.

Mashing grains;
Grains are mashed in hot (70 deg.) water for 20-30 minutes, then sparged with hot water. The resulting liquid (wort) is then boiled for sanitation and for hopping etc etc.

Please pardon my ignorance, I have tried very hard to get an understanding of AG brewing, so as to one day move away from K&K with steeped grains. But other than using more grain so as to make your entire wort yourself (without needing LME) I really can't see the difference between steeping and mashing other than quantaties.

Feel free to slap me about the head if this is just a ridiculous post.

 

[razz]

G'day Hashie, you need to read up/search on different types of grains to understand what you are asking. In short some specialty malts have been kilned at temps that have already denatured the critical enzymes, these malts are for colour etc. The grains that require mashing for partials and AG still have these enzymes and they are therefore mashed.

 

[Ross]

Hashie,

You mash grains to convert the grain starches into sugars - This process is very temperature reliant, with the general temp range being between 63c & 68c.

Steeping is used on specialty grains like Crystal & chocolate, in these grains the starches have already been converted to sugars in the malting process & you are simply washing them out of the grains. For steeping the water can be any temperature. But hot water helps the sugars run freely & is often done at the same temp as mashing.

Read the online brewing bible howtobrew - everything is explained extremely well. Anything you don't understand, feel free to ask

Cheers Ross

 

[Steve Lacey]

Hmmm...this seems to call for an exercise in concise completeness...let me take a shot...

Mashing is for malt, steeping is for specialty grains.

Malt is grains that have been germinated for several days, then dried, then kilned -- this process is called malting. The germination process activates enzymes in the grain that converts starch, which the young growing plant, and our good friend yeast, cannot digest, to sugars that the plant, and our yeast, can digest. A large proportion of the sugars is the sugar maltose, hence the name. Some of the starch is converted to sugars during the malting process, but the malt also still contains a lot of starch and a lot of enzymes (which are inactive when the malt is dry). Mashing in water at between 63 degrees and 70 degrees makes the enzymes very active and complete the job of converting starch to sugars. The time for mashing is more like 60 to 90 minutes, not 30.

Specialty grains are usually made of malt, and usually by kilning them to a much higher temperature than normal. There are no fermentable sugars to be obtained, only colours and flavours that are extracted by steeping the grains in water of almost any temperature. For example, the specialty grain crystal is made by taking wet malt and holding it at 70 degrees long enough for the enzymes to convert all the starch to sugar, then heating it up until the sugars boil and caramelize inside the grain, like toffee. To use them, all you want to do is dissolve those tasty crystallized sugars out.

Summary
Mashing = enzymes & conversion of starch to sugar. Temp = 62-70 degrees, time = 0-90 min.
Steeping = dissolving flavours and colours. Temp = cold (for 24 hours) to near boiling (for 5 or 10 minutes)
:beer:

 

[Ross]

Hmmm...this seems to call for an exercise in concise completeness...let me take a shot...

Mashing is for malt, steeping is for specialty grains.

Malt is grains that have been germinated for several days, then dried, then kilned -- this process is called malting. The germination process activates enzymes in the grain that converts starch, which the young growing plant, and our good friend yeast, cannot digest, to sugars that the plant, and our yeast, can digest. A large proportion of the sugars is the sugar maltose, hence the name. Some of the starch is converted to sugars during the malting process, but the malt also still contains a lot of starch and a lot of enzymes (which are inactive when the malt is dry). Mashing in water at between 63 degrees and 70 degrees makes the enzymes very active and complete the job of converting starch to sugars. The time for mashing is more like 60 to 90 minutes, not 30.

Specialty grains are usually made of malt, and usually by kilning them to a much higher temperature than normal. There are no fermentable sugars to be obtained, only colours and flavours that are extracted by steeping the grains in water of almost any temperature. For example, the specialty grain crystal is made by taking wet malt and holding it at 70 degrees long enough for the enzymes to convert all the starch to sugar, then heating it up until the sugars boil and caramelize inside the grain, like toffee. To use them, all you want to do is dissolve those tasty crystallized sugars out.

Summary
Mashing = enzymes & conversion of starch to sugar. Temp = 62-70 degrees, time = 0-90 min.
Steeping = dissolving flavours and colours. Temp = cold (for 24 hours) to near boiling (for 5 or 10 minutes)
:beer:

Nicely put ...

 

[Phrak]

Yeah, VERY nicely put. Nice one Steve.:beer:
Tim.

 

[Hashie]

Thanks for the replies.

I know I over simplified the "methods" in my original post, sorry.

Looks like more reading and googling for me.

 

[Hubby]

In your travels Hashie, you might find this useful: Mashing or Steeping as well as all the other info available on the Brew Your Own Magazine webite

 

[Hashie]

Thanks Hubby, that's what I was looking for.

 

[dairymaid]

Thanks Hubby, that's what I was looking for.

Good question Hashie! You are not the only one wondering what to do with these bags of grain that we buy and hide in the cupboard, thinking one day I will make these into beer. For that reason I am still making kit beers and enjoying them all

Cheers/Beers Dairymaid