i think i am confusing partial mash vs. steeping grains

i have never done an all extract kit. all my first kits included specialty grains for steeping. somewhere along the way i confused steeping grains with doing a partial mash. the last beer i brewed was a recipe thrown together with what i had and what the lhbs store recommended. i told him i was doing a partial mash......i brewed it like i usually do simply steeping the grains for a while. i guess i will have a low alcohol brew ? i have palmers book and have not read the AG section yet. i guess i was supposed to run the hot wort over the grains ?

Steeping grains are whole grains that soak in water to draw out color and flavor only. Water temp not THAT important.

In a partial mash you are gathering some of your sugars from Extract and some of your sugars from an actual Mash.
To Mash your grains they must be crushed and soaked. Temperature will greatly influence the outcome noticeably between say 150-155. (A mash can be done anywhere between say 144 - 158 depending on desired outcome) You are actually converting the starches in the grains to sugars and then rinsing those into your brew pot. The sugars are what get's consumed by the yeast to give you alcohol.
If your grains weren't crushed and you did a partial mash, you have a low alcohol beer, but this would have been detected with a low Original Gravity Reading using your Hydrometer.

partial mashes are where you get the a significant amount of fermentables from mashing (converting the starch into sugar) of grains, and then adding some extract to hit your target gravity...

Steeping is just that, getting flavors from the soaking of grains....but most of the steeping grains do not have diastatic power, i.e they don't convert, at least not without a base malt to aid conversion..

Think of it like squeezing an orange to get juice, and peeling an orange and dropping the peels in boiling water and letting it cool.....

The "peel tea" will smell, and maybe taste like orange flavored water....but it wont taste like a glass of juice, or have the body that a glass of juice has.

ok well the grains were crushed at the store and i "steeped" them at about 150 for 60 min. so all i missed out on was the rinse step for the second runnings ? my OG was a little on the low side.

There's a little more to it than just rinsing the grains....the water/grain ratio for your mash is important as well. I use 1.3 quarts per pound of grain, and at least that much (usually a bit more) for the sparge, up to my maximum boil capacity. You also need to have some base grain in order for it to be a partail mash, steeping recipes use only specialty grains. Doing a partial mash also allows you to use some adjuncts like flaked grains that can't be simply steeped.

IrregularPulse said:

Steeping grains are whole grains that soak in water to draw out color and flavor only. Water temp not THAT important..

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You're not supposed to crush steeping grains?

Well, I always thought you would crush steeping grains just like you would for a partial mash, but I didn't question it because I've never steeped. Went straight to PM brewing.

Boondoggie said:

You're not supposed to crush steeping grains?

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I crush my steeping grains.

Munsoned said:

I crush my steeping grains.

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As do I!

the partial mash kits from AHS walk you through a mini sparge with the grains they send....i like that !

I have never heard of NOT crushing steeping grains....All the extract with grains recipes I filled at my lhbs, they ran my steeping grains through the mill....

Do you have the recipe? If the LHBS thought you were doing a PM then they might have shorted you some extract and replaced it with base malt, which would account for the low OG. The other thing that could have happened is that you added too much top off water and diluted your OG a bit.

According to Palmer's HTB, page 134:

...there are two kinds of malt...those that need to be mashed and those that don't...

...caramel and roasted specialty malts need to be crushed...the more finely the crush the more completely you can extract the sugars...

Steeping specialty grain is like making tea...crushed grain in 150F water for 30 mins...to get as much of the available sugar dissolved in to a wort...to be used with extract in the boil...

Page 136:

For best flavor results the ratio of steeping water to grain should be less than 1 gallon per pound.

(NOTE: I think I remember reading that if you make the steep thin (more water) then you get more fermentables, if it's thick, like an oatmeal, you can make a maltier brew)...

Page 141:

Mashing is steeping that hydrates the malt, gelatinizes its starches, releases its natural emzynes, and converts the starches to fermentable sugars...

...water ratio 2 quarts per lb of grain at 150-155F for 60 mins...drain wort from grains and use an equal amount of sparge water (as used in the steep)...stir in the grains ans allow to settle and drain again...DONE!!

Page 142:

Warmer temps will produce a more dextrinous wort, lower temps will make a more fermentable wort...

Page 123-126 explains which grains need to be what...

Anyone else want to try?