Using Only Steeping Grains

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TheMan

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I've seen a few questions about steeping and it made me wonder. Does anyone know what would happen if you brewed a batch with ONLY steeping grains? No DME or LME. Say you put in about 10 pounds of crystal malt, this would theoretically add enough fermentables I believe.

Anyone done this? I don't see it as a common thing, but I'm half tempted just to try and see what happens haha. Unless someone can tell me for sure it's not worth my time to experiment with it.
 
TheMan... what you are talking about is "all-grain" brewing. Except you would normally use mostly base malt because it contains more fermentable sugars than crystal malt. So, yes... it is possible.
 
If you use only crystal grains, you won't have many fermentable sugars. Crystal grains give some color and flavor, but not much in the way of fermentables. So, if you steeped crystal, you'd have brown flavored water.
 
Nealf, I am not referring to AG. I am not talking about mashing, sparging, and all that. When brewing extract batches, typically there is about a pound or two of say, crystal malt. You only steep this for about 20-30 minutes and then remove the grain bag, add DME or LME, then bring to boil and you're on your way.

I'm talking about just steeping a mass quantity of that crystal malt for 20-30 minutes, removing, bringing to a boil and then adding hops for the 60 minute boil.

The steeping malts will raise gravity about .004 per pound, assuming you used about 12 pounds of it you would have a .048 OG.

So my question is, what would this turn out like? Anyone done it?
 
I think just using crystal malt in a grainbill would make for some funky sweet beer. There are some sugars extracted from it during steeping/mashing (AG)....but most of those sugars are unfermentable and add sweetness to your final beer.

There must be a reason we use pale malt as our base, then add other specialty malts to tailor a particular style: it's all about balance :mug:
 
Like Yoop said, you'll end up with brown, sweet, grain tea. Like I said, the sugars in crystal malt, and other steeped grains, are not fermentable.
 
Haha, that's what I thought Davesrose, there must be some reason people don't do this. If it was just really sweet, I'm sure you could add enough hops to even it out...
 
Well then it would be even worst if you just added hops to this concoction :p The main thing is that it wouldn't have much alcohol in there....as most your gravity would be coming from unfermentable sugars. But if you're desperate to try this experiment....proceed. Let us know how unbeerlike it turns out :D
 
I'm honestly not trying to be an ass lol. But from the John Palmer site...

These pre-converted malts (called caramel or crystal malts) are available in different roasts or colors (denoted by the color unit Lovibond), each having a different degree of fermentability and characteristic sweetness (e.g. Crystal 40, Crystal 60).

They do have some fermentability, however small that amount is. Assuming I add enough it would be fermentable enough. I'll do a small batch just because i'm curious. Worst case, I lose a few bucks. Don't worry, I will be sure to let you know how big a failure this was...I'm known for bad ideas, but this will put my mind at rest.

It can't taste worse than a light beer can it? haha
 
Yes....the higher the lovibond rating, the more amount of roasting/kilning has taken place.....so the less residuals to make fermentable sugars. Heck, 10/20L Crystal starts getting to be more like pale malt.....but I think the main reason people aren't running out to buy buckets of 10L Crystal is that it's more expensive. Why get that, when you can get a cheaper base malt that gives you more fermentables?
 
I'm honestly not trying to be an ass lol. But from the John Palmer site...



They do have some fermentability, however small that amount is. Assuming I add enough it would be fermentable enough. I'll do a small batch just because i'm curious. Worst case, I lose a few bucks. Don't worry, I will be sure to let you know how big a failure this was...I'm known for bad ideas, but this will put my mind at rest.

It can't taste worse than a light beer can it? haha

Apparently, our many years of experience and knowledge won't dissuade you. Go ahead and do it.

I did some quick math. Without using any basemalt (which has the diastatic power to convert the crystal), you'll get an OG of 1.010 with 10 pounds of crystal. So, you'll need about 30 pounds of crystal for an OG of 1.030 or so. That doesn't mean it'll be fermentable, of course, since those sugars tend to not be very fermentable.
 
I've never tried this so I don't know what will happen. I'm guessing you'll have a beer that is very rich and malty tasting maybe sweet. I don't know how much of the sugars are fermentable and how much are unfermentable.

If you decide to proceed against all advice, let us know how it turns out. I'd be interested in learning the results. I've got a couple of guesses:

1) it will produce a beer that tastes sweet.

2) It will produce a very malty tasting beer, like a high gravity Belgium, but without the high alcohol.
 
Your gravity contribution per pound in a steep without any enzymatic action is going to be less than .004. closer to .002 in my experience.
 
If your going to try this, why not just make a one gallon batch. You wont have to steep as many grains and if it's undrinkable you wont be out as much money.
 
I'm known for bad ideas

Really?

It can't taste worse than a light beer can it?

Oh, it can. One of the reasons infections don't happen more often in beer is the alcohol the yeast produces makes the environment inhospitable for other microorganisms. Without fermentable sugars the yeast can't thrive and other organisms will move in.
 
I'll give a gallon batch a try. I'm sure you all have valid points, but I'm a fan of trying new things, which is kind of what this hobby is about. Based on all your thoughts it looks like I'll be adding this to my list of bad ideas (thanks for repeating that quote beerkrump :D). I'll report back in a few weeks on the finished product. Until then, :mug:
 
Really?Why?You asked a question.Everyone told you WHY it won't work.And your still gonna make a $25 gallon of grain tea?To each his own I guess.
 
I had the same thought and did this awhile back. It still turned out better than a macrobrew light.

I made a five gallon batch and used 25 pounds of crystal malt. Everyone who says there is no fermentables in crystal malt is crazy. My O.G. was about 1.053. I lost a lot of water when I took out the crystal malt. I had a very active fermentation for about a day with my batch and then it eased up. I didn't get any blow off and not a huge head though.

Just use enough hops to overpower the sweetness added by the crystal malt.

It turned out alright .... I refer to it as my "all crystal brew" It turned out nothing like sweet brown tea.
 
I had the same thought and did this awhile back. It still turned out better than a macrobrew light.

I made a five gallon batch and used 25 pounds of crystal malt. Everyone who says there is no fermentables in crystal malt is crazy. My O.G. was about 1.053. I lost a lot of water when I took out the crystal malt. I had a very active fermentation for about a day with my batch and then it eased up. I didn't get any blow off and not a huge head though.

Just use enough hops to overpower the sweetness added by the crystal malt.

It turned out alright .... I refer to it as my "all crystal brew" It turned out nothing like sweet brown tea.

What was your FG after fermentation? I think that would show exactly how fermentable the sugars are.
 
you would get a very low %alcohal ... if anything. specialtiy grains add no nutreants that the yeast need to grow an mulitply and grow. most likely they would just go dormant and you would end up with grain tea. allthough that might be tasty and could be the new hip craze .. try it and see what happens. if it tastes good bottle it and sell it at health food places. lol.
 
LOL. Some people just have to bang their head against the wall before they will believe that it hurts. ;) Did you ever go through with your mad scientist plan? I'd be interested to know if you took gravity readings if you did.
 
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