Steeping grain - conversion?

For extract brewing, are you going to get conversion just by steeping grains at 155F x 30 min? For example, if I had 0.5 lbs pale malt and 0.5 lbs special B steeping in 2 gallons in a brewpot, would I convert all the starches to sugar? How much worse is this than doing a true partial mash, the biggest downfall would be lack of a sparge and a thin "mash" I would think? What differences would you see in a final product between steeping and the partial mash? Thoughts?

When I did extracts I would steep for 45 minutes or more. I would then run water over the grains with a ladle. I would get conversion but my efficiency wasn't as high as it could have been with partial mash.

If you are referring to the extract kits in which you will be steeping the 'specialty grains' there will not be much conversion since these grains do not have much diastatic powder (the starch which is converted). This thread has a nice write up about partial mash conversion vs specialty grains https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-partial-mash-brewing-pics-75231/index7.html. Hope this helps!

Yeah, sorry forgot about that part. I usually steeped with a 1/2 lb of 2 row or more.

Mirage said:

If you are referring to the extract kits in which you will be steeping the 'specialty grains' there will not be much conversion since these grains do not have much diastatic powder (the starch which is converted). This thread has a nice write up about partial mash conversion vs specialty grains https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-partial-mash-brewing-pics-75231/index7.html. Hope this helps!

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Agreed, extract kit specialty grains do not contain adequate diastatic power in most cases. But, if you add an equivalent amount of a base malt, it will. Nice thread by the way. Thanks for the answers guys.

Mark

You would need to get the water:grain ratio down to about 1.3 qts/lbs in order to do any kind of conversion. The amount of water normally used for regular steeping is far too much for the enzymes to work.

I was reading in brew your own that you can get conversion with over two qts per lb. Also, If you steeped in a smaller pot mtbaesl you could avoid the whole problem of using too much water.

devaspawn said:

I was reading in brew your own that you can get conversion with over two qts per lb. Also, If you steeped in a smaller pot mtbaesl you could avoid the whole problem of using too much water.

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You can use those larger ratios, but 1.3 is sort of the sweet spot. If conversion is your goal it is best to give the enzymes the best environment to work with.

Oh I agree. I always stick between 1.2 and 1.3 but I just wanted to let him know that yes he would convert with the specialty grains he was using just not as well as he could if he was doing a true partial mash.