Getting the most it of steeping grains

I know most kits say to steep your specialty grains at 155° for 30. Should you then "mash out" with 10 minutes at 170°?

And I have been bringing my water to 160 or so then adding the grains which drops it to 155°. Is this correct or should I put the grains in and then heat the water and time the 30 minutes once the watt reaches 155°?

I have brewed 2 kits so far and neither has had much body and has been fizzy with little head. I think I am following property sanitation.

No, you don't need to do a mash out when steeping grains. I would heat the water up like you are doing, then steeping for however long the recipe calls for.

While there is no mash going on with steeping grains, I do like to get the most out of them by doing a sort of mini mash sparge with 170 degree water over a colander. I put the muslin grain bag in the colander and pour ever so slightly and slowly a few quarts of the water to rinse the grains.

A mash-out is used to stop enzyme activity in mashes to fix the fermentability of your wort. Since steeping grains don't have any enzymes, it doesn't really accomplish anything in your case. Some people like to "sparge" their steeping grains, but the difference is quite minimal. Most extract recipes overuse steeping grains anyway.

avidhomebrewer said:

No, you don't need to do a mash out when steeping grains. I would heat the water up like you are doing, then steeping for however long the recipe calls for.

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I agree with avidhomebrewer. I steep for 30 min at 155 degrees, then swirl the grain bag around at the end and remove. I don't bother sparging because I think it'll make little to no difference because these are specialty grains.

duckmanco said:

While there is no mash going on with steeping grains, I do like to get the most out of them by doing a sort of mini mash sparge with 170 degree water over a colander. I put the muslin grain bag in the colander and pour ever so slightly and slowly a few quarts of the water to rinse the grains.

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Yep. You rinse alot of good stuff out of the grains doing this. I do it every time.

I sparge the steeped grains, too. I see that there is precious flavour and body in it by the amount of colour in it!

B

I sparge my steeping grains as well but I do it in the same temperature water. You're really only rinsing the grains, nothing more.

Since the grains are steeped @ approx. 155 for 30-45 min in a 2 gallon pot while the 10g pot's 5.5g of water are heating, I just make sure the 5.5g hits about 170 at the same time the steep is done and just swirl the whole grain bag around in the 5.5g for about a minute.