Steeping grains: Is it possible to overdo the quantity?

I actually have several questions about my brew #3, starting with this:

Is it possible to use too much grain for steeping in an extract recipe?

I'm going to make an extract clone of Brooklyn Brewery's Sorachi Ace, but was thinking of mixing up the steeping grain bill a bit after looking around on the forums. The original recipe simply calls for 2# of German Pilsner malt for the steeping grains. I am thinking of adding .25 # Vienna, .25# of wheat malt, and .25# Crystal 20L. (I admit I'm having trouble retracing my steps to figure out why I thought this blend might be an improvement on the original recipe; I could easily be talked out of it, or more decidedly into it.)

Your advice, please? Should I stick to the original 2#, or add the other grains and have about 2.75# of steeping grains?

I got the original recipe from BYO magazine, Dec. 2011. Here it is:

2 # Pilsner malt
2# Pilsner DME
4# Pilsner LME ***corrected amount (was erroneously 2# LME)****
1.0 corn sugar
.5 oz 12% Sorachi Ace hops at 60 min
.5 oz 12% Sorachi Ace hops at 30 min
5 oz 12% Sorachi Ace hops at 0 min
2.0 oz 12% Sorachi Ace hops, dry hop
Wyeast 1214 or White Labs WLP500

Steep grains at 148 F for 60 min. Boil for 60 min, adding hops at times indicated. Add LME and sugar late in boil (presumably also DME).

That would be fine to do, the amounts are pretty small so probably will be a pretty subtle difference. Just FYI since you have base grains and are steeping at 148 for 60 min that's a partial mash. How much water are you using? Probably want to do between 3.5 and 5.5 qts.

Thanks! My brew pot holds about 4 gals, maybe 4.5 to the very top. I usually work with about 2.5 gals. "Usually" meaning the two brews I've made.

You might want to stick with 2 gals max for your mash, I know the BIAB'ers mash thin but I think it may be around 3 qts per lb max. Maybe one of them can chime in. Or you could mash a little thicker like in a gallon then sparge with another gallon. Make sure the bag is big enough so the grains are really loose and in contact with the water. Are you wrapping the pot up or something to hold the temp?

Mashing is generally done with 1-1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain,not gallons as with steeping. Mashing uses a lot less water than steeping,& temps are more critical. So for 2lbs,that's be 3quarts max. Although a gallon wouldn't be bad for biab.

Yeah, I do around 2 - 2.5 qts/lb for my BIAB mashes, so 1 gallon would be about right.

Twice I did 2 gal. of water. Or about 2 gal. for my AG brews. Both times I came out with a gallon of wort. Perfect. Or am I needing to start a new thread?

Using mashable grains / base malts I don't think you can go too afar, but with traditional "steeping grains" you can certainly have a negative effect on the balance of the beer.

I did the partial mash last night and loved the process--another part of brewing to enjoy! I hope the blend of grains will work for this brew. I think Brooklyn was going for a clean, simple taste to emphasize the hops, so I may have muddied the waters, but I hope in a good way. The taste seemed good and complex, if also sweet right now. OG=1.062

One thing: I used a smaller, 6 quart pot for the mash, and am not sure if I should have used my 4 gallon pot instead. The smaller pot was narrower. I had the grains in two muslin bags and they seemed a bit crowded. Any tips on that?

I also posted in another thread that, after all of that, I didn't pop the nutrient pack in my Wyeast smack pack, although the pack inflated. I hope it works anyway. Advice welcome!

Thanks so much for your help! I never would have realized I needed to do a partial mash if you hadn't shared your experience, and I doubt I'll be going back to basic extract brewing. I also think I see a yeast starter in my future.

Use a nylon paint strainer bag to fit the kettle you're mashing in. I use a 5 gallon bag in my 5 gallon (20qt) SS kettle,since I mash 4-6 pounds of grains.
But it should free the grains up a bit to better mix with the mash water.

brewpood said:

One thing: I used a smaller, 6 quart pot for the mash, and am not sure if I should have used my 4 gallon pot instead. The smaller pot was narrower. I had the grains in two muslin bags and they seemed a bit crowded. Any tips on that?

I also posted in another thread that, after all of that, I didn't pop the nutrient pack in my Wyeast smack pack, although the pack inflated. I hope it works anyway. Advice welcome!

Click to expand...

The smaller pot was probably better for holding temp with the small amount of grain you had. As union said the paint strainer bags are the way to go, I use them to line a drink cooler for my 3 gallon all grain batches.

Popping the nutrient pack isn't mandatory, but what was your batch size? I think you likely underpitched, which is fine it will still ferment. You may want to look into yeast starters and pitching rates going forward.

I was playing around with your numbers and recipe trying to guess your batch size and something wasn't making sense. I looked up that BYO article and I see it calls for 2 lb of DME but 4 lb of the LME. Did you only use the 2 lb as listed in your post? Did you measure the gravity or are you just using the 1.062 listed in the recipe?

Oops! I did add the 4# LME, yes, and am sorry to have left it out in my recipe above. Thanks for the catch. I will edit that post when I'm on a regular computer. (On my phone now.)

I measured the OG, although it was a little hard to read my hydrometer through the foam. It was either 1.060 or 1.062.

If that means I underpitched, should I add more now, or add more later, or just allow more time?

Thanks!

Give it more time at this point.

Good news! It started bubbling away this a.m. That's about 32 hours after pitching, so I think we are off to the races.

If a certain recipe calls for 1lb of grain to steep, and you use 2 lbs instead, what is the net effect?

Depends on the grains used. You could get more color,more flavor,more body...