Partial mash brew

I was wondering what the everyone thought about the process for partial mash brew.

I have heard two camps of people one says, that you should get the grain portion of your recipe in the cold water, and let it in there till it comes to a boil than remove.
The other group says that you don't put the grains in till it boils, than steep for the 1/2 hour or so in boiling water - than add the extract.

Any words of advice. Good or bad one way or the other?

What you are talking about is steeping, not PM and both of the scenarios you mention are incorrect.

Never boil grains or let the water get above 170° (hold about 155°) and it doesn't really matter if you put the grains in cold water and bring to temp or bring water to temp and put your grain in.

JDengler said:

I was wondering what the everyone thought about the process for partial mash brew.

I have heard two camps of people one says, that you should get the grain portion of your recipe in the cold water, and let it in there till it comes to a boil than remove.
The other group says that you don't put the grains in till it boils, than steep for the 1/2 hour or so in boiling water - than add the extract.

Any words of advice. Good or bad one way or the other?

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I believe in "neither". Neither one of those is mashing- converting starches into fermentable sugars. Cold water isn't going to do it, and boiling water won't do it.

If you're using steeping grains, it really doesn't matter, though. I'd keep boiling water away from my grains, but anything under 170 degrees or so won't hurt it.

If you're planning on mashing, the ideal temperature range would be 150-154 degrees. Definitely not in cold water, and definitely not in boiling water. You want to be very careful, and maintain that temperature all through the mash. If it goes too high, you'll denature the enzymes, and stop the conversion. If it goes too low, you'll have a very thin very fermentable wort. Temperature control is crucial for mashing.

YUP - both are incorrect - listen to Yoop

Just so I get my terms right...

My recipe has 6 lbs of extract and some grains. Would this be considered partial mash? or extract?

And is steeping the grains different from a full mash only in that you don't use the wort solely derived from the grains but rather use it as a "tea bag" at 150-160 deg or so before the extract is added.

Or should I say what is the difference between a mash and steeping?

The difference between a mash (partial or full) and a steep is that the mash includes base grains with enzymes that convert starch to sugar if given the proper time and temperature. These sugars become part of the fermentable part of your wort (along with any extract used), as well as the color and flavors from the different grains involved. Usually 3 lbs or more of grain total.

Steeping includes only the specialty grains (like crystal malts) to add some flavor and color to the wort and a small amount of sugars, but pretty much all of the fermentable sugars are provided by the extract. Temperature control is not as important because the starch to sugar conversion is not happening.

Both methods use extract, but with the partial mash you can use less extract proportionally to how much grain you're mashing.

Without knowing what grains are included and in what quantities, it's hard to know for sure whether your recipe is a PM or steep, but it sounds like a steeping recipe. Do you have instructions for how to deal with the grains?

Thats considered extract. A PM would be much more grain and much less extract. I just did a PM hefe that had about 4 lbs of extract and (forget exact amount) a bunch of grain.

The grain bill is 1.25 lb crystal10, .5 Crystal 80, .2lb roasted barley. And 6.5 lb of ME. Recipe says steep grains for 1/2 hour.

Yep, that is an extract brew. Extract plus steeping grains. None of the grains that you listed need to be mashed.