Steeping Temp Too High?

I was brewing my SNPA clone tonight and while I was steeping the crystal I made a dumb mistake and forgot to turn the burner off once I reached 170 deg. The temp topped out at 180. The grain was only in water above 170 for maybe 7 to 9 minutes max. What can happen because of this stupid mistake?

You really don't even want to take the water up to 170˚F when steeping. 170˚F or above and you risk extracting tannins from the grain husks. This could leak to an astringent, mouth puckering flavor. Have you ever had tea where the tea bag was left steeping too long? It's similar to that.

I don't think that you had the grain in the red zone long enough to really cause any noticeable astringency. And we are only talking about a small amount of crystal, right? I think you'll be fine.

Keep in mind, you only need to steep in water between 140˚-165˚F to accomplish what is intended from steeping specialty grains, and that is, to extract the colors and flavors from the grains.

The steeping temperature is not as important as it is with mashing because there is no enzymatic conversion of the starches into fermentable sugars occurring.

John

Well it was 1lb of 60L crystal in 2 gallons of water for 30 minutes. I usually bring the temp up to 170 then take the pot off the burner. However for whatever reason I spaced out until I realized the temp was a bit on the high side. Hopefully I didnt extract any tannins. From now on the burner goes off at 160.

Well, it was only for 9 minutes and it wasn't like you boiled the grains. You should be fine. I can sympathize with you on being distracted sometimes. I have two toddlers under foot most of the time. They just love to help dad.

John

Thanks John,
Well funny you should say that, my 15 month old son was in his high chair eating and I was trying to tend to him and brew at the same time. It only takes a second to turn your back and you have a boil over or an overtemp or something else go wrong!

I thought there might be a child involved. That's about the only thing that can take a man away from his brewing.

Hmm... baby walking out the front door or foamy sticky wort boil over on my wifes' stove? I'll have to think about that one! Just kidding!

John