Beer Forum

One thing that I missed during the first two brews was that the specialty grains should be steeped in a smaller volume of water than the full boil volume to keep the PH in line and reduce the amount of tannins that are extracted. I stumbled across this in the back of BCS a few weeks ago.

For the next brew I'm going to warm these up in a smaller pot on the side and then move it over to the main boil kettle that will also be around the same temp of 160F.

Do I need to be concerned about hot side aeration during this liquid transfer pre-boil? OK just to pour the 150-160F liquid into the kettle, or better to transfer via tubing to eliminate splashing?

Also saw today in a BYO back issue (May/June 2005) that you can place the grain bag in the colander and pour a small amount of water warm water over it to extract a little goodness that is left. Anyone try this?

Once the grain is pulled out there should not be a tannin extraction problem and I can transfer to the larger liquid and add extract in after, or should the extract already be in the boil kettle before the steeping grain solution is added, or does it not really matter?

I have seen it suggested that you use 1 to 1 1/2 quarts of water per pound of grains in the steeping pot - is this what you do? Do you adjust for lighter/darker steeping grains, or use the same ratio no matter what?

RDWHAHB

The small amount of steeping water won't damage the beer.

Definitely steep the grains in a smaller amount of liquid on the side. I normally use more like 2 Qt water / lb of grains to keep things on the thin side. You want to make sure that you've got plenty of water in there to dissolve up the sugars that you're getting out.

I never bothered to rinse the grains afterwards. I would just pull the bag out of the steep water and let it drain completely (not pressing it or anything), then poured the liquid into the main pot.

If you aren't doing a full wort boil I would strongly recommend adding just a small portion of your extract (~20%) to the boil at the beginning and then adding the bulk of it with 15 minutes to go. But the temperature of the main boil isn't critical when you pour in the liquid from your steep.

I would tend to agree with Bogey. Steep in a separate pot with 2-2.5 qt/lb (regardless of grain color) then gently add to your main boil. I would experiment with "sparging" your steeping grains. I guess if you are willing to heat another pot with some 165-170F water for sparging, you may extract a little more goodness from the grains. As far as HSA I wouldn't sweat it much, just add back with a little finesse. I would also agree with the idea of adding your extract late in the boil. I had the best luck with that method when I was brewing with extract.

Oh, I forgot to mention....

Never, ever, squeeze the sac!

That is really interesting! I have always steeped my grains in the 3 gallons of water that I am going to boil. Will there be a noticeable difference in using this method?

There are several things that contribute to how noticeable the negative impacts may be. First off it will depend on the amount of grain you are steeping in your 3 gallons of water. Second is the temperature that you remove the grains. The higher the temp, the more tannin extraction potential.

Because if you are steeping 4.5lbs (in 3 gal) and you are pulling it out at 165F, you are not going to have any problems at all. But if you have 2lbs and you forget to pull it out until you are close to a boil then you will definatly taste it.

I have always started to warm the water up and add the grains and let the water get up to 160 and hold at 160. Is that ok or would you recommend getting the water to 160 and adding the grains and holding the 160 for 30minutes?