Steeping Grain question

If a recipe says steep grain at say 168, and then later it says to boil hops in the wort.

How does this make sense? I thought the point of steeping was to get the malt sugar extracted yet not to over heat it at 212 degrees.

But if later you are boiling, then what was the point in steeping at a low temp to begin with?

Thanks.

You steep grains to extract flavor and color from the grains. You mash base and specialty grains to extract the sugars. When the recipe tells u to steep at 168* it's telling u to steep them for around 10-15 min at that temp. Then remove the grains and boil the wort

You are steeping the grains then removing the grain bag before you start the boil.

Think of it as the first half and then the second half of a ball game. After to steep the grains remove them(1st half 168), then second half (220) all you will have it wort, looks like tea and add your hops.

Grains are steeped at 168 so hat sugars are extracted, by not tannins. If you boil he grains, you'll get bitter tannins. Make sure to REMOVE the grains prior to boiling. After they're out, you boil the wort with the hops to extract the buttering and spice from them.

ryno1ryno said:

If a recipe says steep grain at say 168, and then later it says to boil hops in the wort.

How does this make sense? I thought the point of steeping was to get the malt sugar extracted yet not to over heat it at 212 degrees.

But if later you are boiling, then what was the point in steeping at a low temp to begin with?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

Sounds like some bad instructions to me. It should say something like:

Place kettle on stove. Take your cracked flavoring grains (such as crystal, choco- late, roasted barley, black patent malts, etc.) and put them into a large nylon mesh bag. Put the bag into the heating water and remove when the water reaches 170 ̊F, allowing about 30 minutes to do so. If you reach 170 ̊F in less than 30 minutes, turn the heat off and let the grains steep until a total of 30 minutes has passed. Remove grains.

When done steeping, turn up heat to begin getting to a boil. .....

Does that make more sense

The grains you steep have husks on them. Those husks are where tannins that make your beer astringent would come from. You steep the grain, remove it (and the husks), then bring the wort to a boil. Even if you did boil with the grains in the wort you have to also have a pH above 6.0 to extract a significant amount of tannins.

masterfool101 said:

Grains are steeped at 168 so hat sugars are extracted, by not tannins. If you boil he grains, you'll get bitter tannins. Make sure to REMOVE the grains prior to boiling. After they're out, you boil the wort with the hops to extract the buttering and spice from them.

Click to expand...

Thanks. The tannin effect. Okay.

Perhaps this is yet another potential cause of my off tasting beer... I allowed the grains to boil.