steep?

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polston

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... so I'm obviously new here,and asking someone to please define the term steep.
First batch for me, it's a Brewer's Best classic English pale ale extract kit and the instructions say "Place grain filled bag into brewpot water and heat to approximately 160 - 170 and steep 20 minutes."

I'm guessing this means 20 min. from the time the temp reaches 160?


thanks y'all have already helped me more than you'll ever know!
 
steeping is just the act of soaking an item in a liquid in order to gradually remove components from it. In the case of your wort, you are steeping the grains to gradually add fresh malt character that might be missing from the extract. The crushed grains add sugars to the water as they soak.

I think John Palmer in How to Brew equates it to steeping tea bags in water. You want to steep it just long enough to get the right flavor out of the grains...but not too long that it develops a disagreeable flavor.


Just avoid boiling. Play with the burner setting for a little bit until you get the water standing at 150-160*...then add grains
 
My method is similar but slightly different and I've gotten good results. I put my steeping grains in a grain bag and put them into my pot as I am heating up the water. As soon as the water temperature hits 165F, out they come. Simple and easy to monitor.

But the basic theme here is what you need to take away - about 160F or so, no higher.
 
I use the same method as SteveM. Seems to work well, and saves a little time in the brew process.
 

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