water volume for steeping

For steeping grains, is it ok to use a full 5.25 gallons of water? Or should i stick to a smaller volume, adding the rest for the sparge/ boil. Id heard to steep at around 1.5 gallons.

I do 1.25qt / lb. More water I think makes more fermentables but less body and vice versa. No sparge, where you add all the water up front would result in less efficiency but better flavor. Read that in byo recently.

Edit: assumed all grain

Didnt specify but this is for extract brewing. So wouldnt i be steeping for color and such but not looking for fermentables from the grain?

dpeanut7 said:

Didnt specify but this is for extract brewing. So wouldnt i be steeping for color and such but not looking for fermentables from the grain?

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Just follow the directions. Isn't it around 2 gallons?

I have heard that if you can full boil, steep in full boil volume. That's what I do. I steep in my full boil volume of 5.5 gallons and it turns out fine. So, to each their own I guess.

Brewnoob1 said:

I have heard that if you can full boil, steep in full boil volume. That's what I do. I steep in my full boil volume of 5.5 gallons and it turns out fine. So, to each their own I guess.

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I haven't done extract in awhile but when you use more water, the IBUs will change from the hop additions.

Assuming you're steeping, not mashing, I don't think there's any reason not to use all the water you're going to boil. The reason to limit mash thickness is to avoid diluting the enzymes and starches which would reduce your conversion rate. There's no conversion going on during a non-mash steep, you're just trying to dissolve and extract the already-converted sugars.

So keep it simple.

zeg said:

Assuming you're steeping, not mashing, I don't think there's any reason not to use all the water you're going to boil. The reason to limit mash thickness is to avoid diluting the enzymes and starches which would reduce your conversion rate. There's no conversion going on during a non-mash steep, you're just trying to dissolve and extract the already-converted sugars.

So keep it simple.

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This was my thoughts as well with extract brewing with steeping grains. I was under the assumption grains are adding flavor and color...that's it. So, I always steep in full volume and have had no issues to date.

Hop utilization in full boil is a different story...but we're talking steeping grains in this thread.

The purpose of using steeping grains is colors/flavors/mouthfeel/body/head retention, NOT to be a main sourcee of fermentables.

In general, the advice is to steep small, boil big. I steep in one gallon of water while the rest of the brew water is heating up to boiling.

Reasoning:

If you do not know your PH, and you steep in a large volume of water, you run the POTENTIAL risk of extracting tannins or other undesireables.

I think this risk might be over-rated, but the process I use speeds up my brewday by being able to heat up the rest of my water to boil temps.

Pez.

Pezman1 said:

If you do not know your PH, and you steep in a large volume of water, you run the POTENTIAL risk of extracting tannins or other undesireables.


Pez.

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I this is really off topic, but can anyone address why the volume of water/tannins issue isn't a concern with the BIAB method (ie., mashing with all the water you will use)?

I do the same as Pez, mostly. For example:
1. steep grains in 1.5 gallons of water (GW)
2. bring another gallon of water to 170* F (SW)
3. determine your total boil volume taking into account boil off (FV)
4. determine how much water will be absorbed into the grain (GA)
5. Add FV - GW - SW + GA water to your brew pot and bring to boil
6. once steeping is done, sparge with gallon of 170* F water
8. add grain water + sparge to brew pot
9. boil for X minutes

hopefully you will end up very close to your target volume.

The abbreviations I used above are :
GW = grain water
SW = sparge water
FV = Full Volume
GA = Grain Absorbtion (not sure that's a word!)

wherestheyeast said:

I this is really off topic, but can anyone address why the volume of water/tannins issue isn't a concern with the BIAB method (ie., mashing with all the water you will use)?

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Tannins are a function of temperature, not volume.

Hops are a function of volume and SG of the wort.

wherestheyeast said:

I this is really off topic, but can anyone address why the volume of water/tannins issue isn't a concern with the BIAB method (ie., mashing with all the water you will use)?

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I thought many BIAB people do check the PH or use 5.2? I don't know, never done it.

HibsMax said:

Tannins are a function of temperature, not volume.

Hops are a function of volume and SG of the wort.

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Tannins - Temperature AND PH!

So the risk (if any) is reduced if you use a lower volume of H20 in the setting of unkown PH. But again, I think it is way overblown.

Pezman1 said:

Tannins - Temperature AND PH!
So the risk (if any) is reduced if you use a lower volume of H20 in the setting of unkown PH. But again, I think it is way overblown.

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I sit corrected.

I have never measured the ph of my water since starting to brew. I still have to send my water to the lab for analysis. The way I see it...the water is good enough to drink, it's private well water so has nothing added to it and the last time we had is analysed (few years) ago it was great (just a little hard and high in iron - sometimes).