steep to convert

I am going to brew a witbier kit from brewer's best and I thought I would be steeping the grains, but the kit has these instructions in an insert ...

1. Determine water volume
For every 2 lbs. of grain included in this recipe pour 1 gallon
of water into the brew pot (e.g. if 1.5 lb. of grain are
included, begin with 3/4 gallons of water).
2. Steep-To-Convert
Pour the crushed grains into the grain bag and tie a loose
knot at the top of the bag. Raise the temperature of the
water to 155ºF. Place the grain bag into the brew pot. As
the grains begin to soak, the water temperature will drop.
Carefully monitor the temperature and when it drops below
150ºF add just enough heat to bring the steep water
to a range between 148ºF - 152ºF, do not exceed 155ºF.
Steep the grains for 45 minutes. Remove the grain bag
and without squeezing, allow the liquid to drain back into
brew pot.
3. Rinse (optional)
Pour approximately 150ºF clean water over the bag allowing
the grains to be rinsed back into the liquid wort.
4. Add water
Add enough warm water to your wort to bring the volume
to 2.5 gallons.

is this actually a mini mash ???
should I do the *optional* rinse ???
can I only use one gallon of water for the two pounds of grain included in the kit? ... because if I can only use one gallon of water, I'm going to have to get a different pot to steep/mash in ... I really don't thing one gallon will get the grain totally submerged ... thoughts

Sounds like brew in a bag with a sparge rinse! If you are to add malt extract as well, it would be a partial mash.

For mashing, Palmer recommends somewhere between 1-2 quarts per pound of grain, for 4 pounds this is 1-2 gallons. Since the sparge is typically more than the mash volume, they are doing a thick mash (1 gallon) and sparging with 1.5 gallons to get your 2.5 total. Some water will be lost to the grain, so you could use some more water in the mash or the sparge.

Those instructions are specific enough for a mini-mash, however, whether this is a mash or a steep would be determined by the specific types of grain in the recipe. Mashing requires enzyme-containing grains (AKA base malts) that initiate the process of converting starches into sugars. Steeping is just soaking specialty grains (usually crystal and dark roasted malts) to release colors, flavors and sugars that have been already converted. One gallon of water for two pounds of grain is plenty of water. The optional rinse (AKA a sparge if mashing) lets you wash out a little more goodness out of the grains. It's not a big deal if you skip it for this brewing technique.

Brewing has its own set of words that have a specific meaning to a brewer but may mean something else to "normal" people. Your kit really is a partial mash but if Brewers Best told you to mash the grain in a gallon of water, would you know that meant keeping the temperature constant at a specific temperature while the enzymes in the base malt converted the starches to sugar? Or would you think you needed to take a large hammer to "mash them up"? By using the term, "steep to convert", Brewers Best is telling you to mash the grain in words a "normal" person would understand. It's a small difference but if it works, why not use those words.

RM-MN said:

Brewing has its own set of words that have a specific meaning to a brewer but may mean something else to "normal" people. Your kit really is a partial mash but if Brewers Best told you to mash the grain in a gallon of water, would you know that meant keeping the temperature constant at a specific temperature while the enzymes in the base malt converted the starches to sugar? Or would you think you needed to take a large hammer to "mash them up"? By using the term, "steep to convert", Brewers Best is telling you to mash the grain in words a "normal" person would understand. It's a small difference but if it works, why not use those words.

Click to expand...

good point !! ... I guess if I were writing the instrustions I would probably want to use terms that newbies were sure to understand ... my main thing is I have a 24 qt. pot that has a huge diameter (fits over two burners) .. so I think I'm gonna hit a friend up for something smaller so that the one gallon of water will be sure to get the grain bag submerged ... thanks for all the info all !!