Steeping

Hi all.
I'll be making my first partial extract this weekend using special grains. I've been reading up on the best way to steep my grains but come across something.
Do I add my grains and then bring the water to 150*f to 170*f then let them steep for 30 mins, or get the water to temp and then add my grains?
Also I'm doing a relatively dark ale so do I need to use whirlfloc or Irish moss still? If so what the best time to add them?

Thanks

When I steeped specialty grains, I always brought my water up to ~155 to emulate mashing temperatures, although it isn't necessary since you aren't really "mashing" them. You could probably do either as long as you didn't go over mid 160's where you could potentially extract tannins.

Irish moss is a personal preference, really. If you like your beers clear(er), throw it in. Even if your darker beers. I've visited breweries where all they use is finings and their beers can reach exceptional clarity. Cold crashing is another good idea if you are worried about clearing up your beer.

Cheers. I'm the only 1 who will be drinking these beers give or take a couple, so having a clear beer is not that important. Thanks for ur input

I toss in a whirfloc tablet with 15 minutes boil remaining (I've only done 1 hour total boils so far).
And I heat my specialty grain steeping water to ~170*F (NO HIGHER THAN THAT) because the temp drops pretty much immediately when you add your bag of grains. Then I steep between 145*-155*F for ~30 minutes.
And I use ~ a quart of water per ~1/2 pound of grains for steeping.
Good luck!

Is it a must that you use a quart for every .5lbs? I got 2lbs all together in special grains and was going to steep them in about 2.5 gallons of water, would this be too much?

The water ratio is for mashing and doesn't matter much for steeping.

bill, so if I were going to do a partial boil of ~3 gallons for a ~5 gallon batch, and was going to steep ~pound of specialty grains, could I steep directly in the 3 gallons pre-boil for ~30 minutes at appropriate steeping temps then proceed with the boil? Thanks.

You can pretty much steep however you want. The sugar is already converted. All you are doing is washing it off of the grains with some warm water. The only thing you want to avoid is using water that is too hot (170+). Depending on your water chemistry, that has the outside chance of causing some harsh flavors.

Damn I think I screwed up my first batch, the temperature read almost 180 when I did my steeping for this dark ale. Didn't realize it was so important.... Uggg

Excellent thanks bill. Yeah I know the sugar's already converted, and to keep it below 170*F but didn't know I could steep the specialty grains in the partial pre-boil water (any amount). Any thing that stream lines my process is good, lol. Thanks again.

I'm thinking though, seems it would be easier to control the steeping temp range in a separate smaller pot which I'm guessing is the most important part of the specialty grain steeping process.

edit: double post

Justintoxicated said:

Damn I think I screwed up my first batch, the temperature read almost 180 when I did my steeping for this dark ale. Didn't realize it was so important.... Uggg

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I accidentally liked this post, sorry, lol.
I hope your brew turns out ok.

hepcat said:

Yeah I know the sugar's already converted, and to keep it below 170*F but didn't know I could steep the specialty grains in the partial...

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Are you combining steeping grains with mashing grains for a partial mash brew?

I was recently reading Brewing: Science and Practice, which is an insanely expensive and extensive encyclopedia of advanced brewing techniques and experiments. In it, they mentioned that mashing converted grains with uncoverted grains causes decreases in efficiency. They showed a bunch of experiments which support their figures, but didn't go into much detail as to "why" this was the case. I always believed it did not matter in the past. But I will be separating my mashing grains and steeping grains in the future.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0849325471/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

"Damn I think I screwed up my first batch, the temperature read almost 180 when I did my steeping for this dark ale. Didn't realize it was so important.... Uggg"

Don't worry. To leach tannins etc, you have to have high ph and high temps. The darker grains are very low ph. Unless you have water that is naturally full of chalk, you won't have any issue. If you do have any issue, it will be a mild astringency

I have found it pretty effective, granted I am doing 5G batches, to let the water warm up to around 140F, add in the steeping grains and let it continue to heat up to 165 or so. In my pot it takes about 30 minutes or so to raise those 25 degrees, perfect for steeping! Remember not to squeeze out the grain bag like you would a normal tea bag, you can get tannins that way as well.

"Are you combining steeping grains with mashing grains for a partial mash brew?" bobbrews

No sir, just extract with specialty grain and partial boil.

twistr25 said:

I have found it pretty effective, granted I am doing 5G batches, to let the water warm up to around 140F, add in the steeping grains and let it continue to heat up to 165 or so. In my pot it takes about 30 minutes or so to raise those 25 degrees, perfect for steeping! Remember not to squeeze out the grain bag like you would a normal tea bag, you can get tannins that way as well.

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Do you do full boil? So steep your specialty grains in 5 gallons?

hepcat said:

Do you do full boil? So steep your specialty grains in 5 gallons?

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Yep, I think like the hops, you get a little better pull from them since there is more water to steep into. Doesn't become saturated, if you will, like it may in smaller batches. (Not entirely sure if that's true, but makes sense in my head)