Steeping Specialty grains

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Meatball358

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Doin my first brew today. Every set of instructions ive come across online say to boil the water at 150-155 degrees F and steep the specialty grains for 30 minutes... however the instructions that came with the kit say to place the grains in cool water, turn on the heat, and remove them right as the water begins to boil. Im inclined to steep them for 30 minutes because thats what you guys say to do here, but i dont want to mess anything up


Advice?

Thanks:mug:
 
Don't bring to a boil nessesarily....put the grains in your steeping bag, get water to about 155 F and lower the heat just to keep it at that temp, put in your grain bag, swirl it a bit to make sure they're all soaked and wait 30 mins, and remove them!
 
+1 heat the water first, then add the grains
if you heat the water to 160 it will loose about 5 deg when you add in the grain
 
Every set of instructions ive come across online say to boil the water at 150-155 degrees F and steep the specialty grains for 30 minutes...

Not trying to split hairs here, but you can't really boil water at 155. I agree that you should heat the water to about 160, then steep for 30 minutes, holding the temp around 155. Temp control isn't crucial when steeping, just don't boil the grains.
 
Not trying to split hairs here, but you can't really boil water at 155. I agree that you should heat the water to about 160, then steep for 30 minutes, holding the temp around 155. Temp control isn't crucial when steeping, just don't boil the grains.

Right, Ive never actually see the word "boil" on the instructions, just keep the temp around 155. Poor choice of words on my part...Thanks for all the pointers guys
 
Listen to us and not some horrible directions!

remember - the key to brewing is knowing the "WHY" you are doing something - the HOW can be up to you as there is no RIGHT way - just a lot of wrong ways.
 
Steeping grains for flavor and color - you can start cold, but stop at 150-ish.
Partial Mash - hit your temps, mash your grains, ...




see? - we all do it in different ways -
 
remember - the key to brewing is knowing the "WHY" you are doing something - the HOW can be up to you as there is no RIGHT way - just a lot of wrong ways.

as a teacher i applaud this statement...can you come speak to my classes? no one believes me when I say why is more important than how usually..

/resume normal posting - sorry for the off topic
C
 
as a teacher i applaud this statement...can you come speak to my classes? no one believes me when I say why is more important than how usually..

/resume normal posting - sorry for the off topic
C

This the way I think also. People get frustrated at me for teaching why things are done and not just giving them instructions to put in their rote memory bank. If you know the why of something you can figure out the how on your own or make someone else's "how" even better. Nobody wants to think for themselve any more.
 
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