Concise partial-mash guide?

Hey everyone, I'm considering trying out a very small micro-mash for my next brew, like a pound each of 2-row and munich, with a tiny bit of two specialty grains. I think I'm going to go back to my very first recipe, a mild ale, since it was such a small beer.

I can't find a straightforward guide to mini-mashes. I have a basic idea of the concept, but I'm just curious how much it really differs from steeping grains. I mean, could you conceivably just steep the grains for a longer time and get decent results if you "rinsed" your steeping bag, or is there something else I'm missing? Thanks.

This is simple.

http://www.18000feet.com/minimash/page1.htm


The main difference between steeping and mashing is that with steeping you are extracting existing sugars, flavour and colours.
With mini mash you need to convert the starch in the grain to sugars for extraction.
Some speciality grains are already mashed just leaving you to extract(steep) it.

Thanks! Yes, I've come to realize over the past month or two that some of the grains I've been using in my steeping aren't really doing me any good in terms of giving me fermentables, and are probably only giving small amounts of flavor and color.

Torchiest said:

Thanks! Yes, I've come to realize over the past month or two that some of the grains I've been using in my steeping aren't really doing me any good in terms of giving me fermentables, and are probably only giving small amounts of flavor and color.

Click to expand...

Base malts are not really suitable for steeping.

There's some really good stuff on this post, also this BYO article using an unmodified 2gl cooler.

A-HEM.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=8805

Lots of reading in here, but GREAT info.

Thank you both very much! I'm still a bit intimidated by the process at this point, but gotta start somewhere.

It wont bite. The worst thing you can do is think about it too much, you'll never start if you do. It's virtually impossible to get it completely wrong.

I was going to do a partial mash when I decided to go all the way and just do it.
Have all your ducks lined up and if you have to, write a checklist to steps with the times included for your rests etc and follow this loosely. There isn't much to the process except keeping your mash at temperture or as close to it as you can.
Take your time doing it and have fun. It's not a speed contest. you will make beer, and the more you do it the more comfortable you'll get doing it. Then you can expand if you want to into water profiling etc.