Should I squeeze my sack?

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Joey Ramone

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In the Brewer's Best recipe it states that one should not squeeze the steeping bag. When i was at the local do it yourself brewery, they told me to squeeze the heck out of the steeping bag. What gives?
 
You can extract tannins from the grain if you squeeze it, I believe. Besides that, it's a good way to hurt yourself.
 
I did this on my second brew and I can tell you from first hand experience that you can easily extract some heavy tannins out of the grains if you do it. My Winter Ale that I'm currently drinking isn't "bad", but it does have a noticable astringent taste. I blame squeezing every last ounce of liquid from the sack. :(
 
It depends on the size of the sack and what the sack is made of. You don't want to squeeze huge sacks that are full, as without proper loving, they can burst and make a mess all over the place. Many inexperienced brewers use sacks made of cheese cloth rather than a sturdy long lasting reusable sack, those inexperience brewers are are more likely to have their flimsy sacks bust open when squeezing.
 
I do have one question regarding this though. Would some grains have a higher chance of lending tannins due to "squeezing" over others? The Winter Ale that I have the issue with has some heavily roasted grains (roasted barley, chocolate, etc.). Could a heavier roast create more tannins?

Just a shot in the dark here. :eek:
 
When I used to do extract, I would just let my sack hang....kinda air/drip dry. That way you didn't have to worry about squeezing the contents of your sack too hard releasing things you didn't want to come out.
 
elkdog said:
You can extract trannies from the grain if you squeeze it, I believe. Besides that, it's a good way to hurt yourself.
Click to expand...

Most trannies like a little pain..not sure about their sacks though.

/you may not squeeze mine.
 
iamjonsharp said:
Stick your sack in a colander and rinse your it with some 160ish degree water, about 2 quarts.
Click to expand...

You may scald your bag doing that
 
ohiobrewtus said:
I only recommend doing this if you are 100% sure that no one is watching.
Click to expand...

you can also do it under your desk at work...assuming no one is around...:mug:
 
I like having a string tied around my sack, like a teabag, and dunking it well in the hot wort, but I don't really care to squeeze my sack.
 
I am equally going to stay away from the innuendo (heh heh, he said in you end o)
I do believe that some grains will be more prone to leach tannins. That is based on the comments of a craft brewer who uses a lot of decoctions when he was asked about tannins and that process.
Regardless, I don't think that compressing grains will leach tannins.
If you look at industrial scale mash filters (click the process animation on this page) you see that the grains get compacted into massive cakes. Since these are primarily used in BMC type breweries, you can be sure there is no risk of tannins getting leached into those delicate (weak) flavor profiles.
I asked the brew wizard about this and didn't hear back (although I didn't get the Dec. issue, a separate thread on that if BYO customer service doesn't fix that for me). Then I had the chance to talk to Charlie Papazian and asked him about it. We both agreed it must be a myth and got back to drinking beer.
If I had to guess, I would say that the risk would come from over sparging if you were to squeeze most of the liquid out, then add a lot of of sparge water and squeeze it again.
 
Germey said:
I am equally going to stay away from the innuendo (heh heh, he said in you end o)
I do believe that some grains will be more prone to leach tannins. That is based on the comments of a craft brewer who uses a lot of decoctions when he was asked about tannins and that process.
Regardless, I don't think that compressing grains will leach tannins.
If you look at industrial scale mash filters (click the process animation on this page) you see that the grains get compacted into massive cakes. Since these are primarily used in BMC type breweries, you can be sure there is no risk of tannins getting leached into those delicate (weak) flavor profiles.
I asked the brew wizard about this and didn't hear back (although I didn't get the Dec. issue, a separate thread on that if BYO customer service doesn't fix that for me). Then I had the chance to talk to Charlie Papazian and asked him about it. We both agreed it must be a myth and got back to drinking beer.
If I had to guess, I would say that the risk would come from over sparging if you were to squeeze most of the liquid out, then add a lot of of sparge water and squeeze it again.
Click to expand...

Thanks for stepping outside the peanut gallery to give a real answer. :D If Charlie says myth, I think I have to side with his opinion.
 
I believe that tannin extraction is more a function of the water being too hot; I don't think squeezing has much to do with it. Keep the grains under 170 degrees and you're fine.
 

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