Steeping question

Does steeping a grain bag work like a tea bag, as in do I get the water up to 170F and then steep the bag while the water cools, or do I maintain the water temp at 150-170 as best I can on the electric stovetop?

thanks,
Matt

Maintain the temperature the best you can.

I figured as much. Thank you so much for the reply, I'm going ahead and doing my Scotch Ale kit tonight instead of tomorrow, as the wife has plans for the weekend for me now. I've got the water up to over 140, but it's not getting there too quickly.

Thanks again!
Matt

I hope it's not too critical if it goes as high as 175...

175F is ok, but definitely try not to exceed 180F.

What I used to do when steeping was pre-heat my oven to 160F while I was heating the water on the stove top. Then I'd put my steeping grains in and transfer the pot to the oven for the 30-45 minute steeping time.

most recipes I've looked at and what I've been told is to not steep above 160. I steep at 155 and will rinse the grains with a quart or two of water at 165-170. Steeping at or above 170 risks stringent flavors from the tannin in the grain husk.

fretman124 said:

most recipes I've looked at and what I've been told is to not steep above 160. I steep at 155 and will rinse the grains with a quart or two of water at 165-170. Steeping at or above 170 risks stringent flavors from the tannin in the grain husk.

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OK. Well, I might have a little tannin then, as I steeped at an indicated 175. I kept turning the heat lower a little at a time, but when I finally got it down below 170 again I only had about 3 minutes left in the steep.

Don't worry too much about it. Tannin extraction during steeping is very rare (except at extreme temperatures, which you did not reach) as it is more a function of the pH of the water than anything. Your beer will be fine.

The grommet for the airlock is torn.

It seems the airlock will get an OK seal in the hole by itself, can that hold overnight until I can get one at a hardware store or something tomorrow?

Yup that will work no problem.

Alright, the Scotch Ale is in the primary. SG was 1.044, corrected for temp, with a target listed by BB for the kit of 1.045-1.050. No, I didn't calibrate the hydrometer .

The yeast is Nottingham.

This stuff smells great. Even my wife said so, and I think everything went well.

Problems:
1)steeped a little high, around 170-175, but I don't think it's going to be too big a deal.

2)the grommet for the Ale Pail lid to hold the airlock tore while trial fitting it. I need to keep spares around in the future.

3)the pot I cooked in worked fine, but it is a wide one, not a tall one, and it doesn't fit in the sink well. I'll invest in a nice SS one and a propane burner setup in the future, but my electric stovetop actually worked fine.

Thank you all for answering my questions along the way! ,
Matt

Nice work! Let us know how it turns out!

#2 is the reason I actually prefer to use a larger hole and a bung. I had one of those lids with the grommet and it annoyed me.

The first couple are of the steep. Yes, I'm a cheap bastard, I've got a couple expensive kids, and I'm using an enameled canning pot until I find a decent cheap SS one, hopefully used for $5 at a garage sale:


I hope it was OK to improvise and tie a string on the grain bag?



Here's me tossing in 1oz. of Fuggles pellets:



And finally, here's the trub after siphoning off the cooled wort to the primary. My whirlpooling left something to be desired, and I might have been able to get a little more of the wort, and raise the SG just a little more:

SWEET!

It's about 12 hours since pitching and I got airlock activity!

Not a bunch, but it's going. I assume it's only going to get better the rest of the day. I can take a breather now. I need to go pick up a twelver, as this is my first batch and I got nothin' to celebrate with .

There's nothing wrong with using a canning pot, just watch out for chips in the enamel, wort will rust the steel underneath really quickly (and you'll get off flavours).

No worries about the string either, I used nylon brick line (new obviously) when I was steeping.

just a comment on your steep, next time try lowering your heat when you get over 145 and like others have said keep it under 160. just do the best you can. for any new brewer you have to check out www.howtobrew.com.
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welcome to the club

killian said:

just a comment on your steep, next time try lowering your heat when you get over 145 and like others have said keep it under 160. just do the best you can. for any new brewer you have to check out www.howtobrew.com.
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welcome to the club

Click to expand...

I should be able to keep it a little more under control next time, as I've got a better idea of how my equipment works now. I could have just got the temp up to about 165 and turned the stovetop off. I think it would have "coasted" at that temp for a few minutes and started cooling back down slowly for the remaining steep time.

Thanks,
Matt

All that was interesting, but I have a situation/question:

I steep some grains for some of my DME batches. I've read you're not supposed to heat the water past 180F, but I go to 180F.

In yesterday's HW I used 1 gal of water. I heated it up to 180F then I added 2 lbs of crushed grain. As I stirred it in I noticed the thermometer temp dropped to 170F.

I don't try to maintain a 170F temp. I just take it off the heat and stir every 10 mins. After 40 mins the temp drops to 150F.

Anyone see any problems with that scenario? Are my temps too high? Should I stir or not? Any comments? Thanks.

I don't do too many extract batches anymore, but FWIW Bill, you described the exact method I use. I never worry about the heat too much, and if it drops, it can't really hurt anything.

Tannin extraction when steeping is an over-emphasized concern, I think. It probably originates in all grain brewing where temperature of the mash and sparge are critical. However, for steeping, you need both high temps AND high pH to extract tannins, and the high pH part is hard to reach.

In my opinion, what people should be more concerned with is not squeezing/wringing out your grain bag -- that is the most likely way of getting tannins into your brew.

Thanks FlyGuy.

My thoughts exactly, but it never hurts (OK, sometimes it does) to get a second opinion.

I think you may have a point but what would it hurt to keep your steep temp under 160? would that not be beneficial?