Is it bad to move the grain bag around while steeping?

Hey everyone I am quite new when it comes to homebrewing and such but I have been trying to absorb all the info I can on here and I had a real basic question. When you are steeping the grain bag is it bad to kind of move it around a little bit almost like a big tea bag or is it best to just let it sit and steep? I know squeezing the bag while it drains releases tanins into the wort. Just asking since my fist batch of amber ale seems very dark for an amber ale, but it smells absolutely amazing so I am pretty sure it should turn out great. It will be ready to be bottled on Wed night so then comes the agonizing wait for it to be ready to drink.

"Teabagging it" is a great thing to do- and use a spoon occasionally to stir up the grains to make sure they are loose in there and get thoroughly wetted. Stirring/agitating is a good thing to make sure the grains are giving up all they have.

I have noticed no difference between the 2 methods. I believe squeezing is fine too. The only time I had noticeable tannin was when I steeped too hot. Your beer will look quite a bit darker in the bucket/carboy than it will in the glass. My first IPA looked way too dark but in the glass it was a nice coppery color.

Dunk it all you want, you can even give it a light squeeze at the end to get out the rest of the goodness.

It's no fun if you just let it sit. Get in there and move it around so you have something to do.

Fondle your sack all you want we wont tell!

I prefer to squeeze mine when I am done.

New to the forum as well, but I had a similar secondary question. I used some roasted barley for steeping... trying to go for a reddish color, but it looks like a dark brown in the fermenter. I'm interested to see the finished product though. Maybe it will look lighter in a pint glass than it does in the 5 gal version.

thanks for the quick responses everyone it was much appreciated and I will from now on play with my sack worry free :cross:

Best. Thread. Ever.

drlars said:

New to the forum as well, but I had a similar secondary question. I used some roasted barley for steeping... trying to go for a reddish color, but it looks like a dark brown in the fermenter. I'm interested to see the finished product though. Maybe it will look lighter in a pint glass than it does in the 5 gal version.

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It will look a lot lighter in your glass. Difference in volumes. More light can pass through the smaller volume than the larger. My Irish Red looked like coffee in the fermenter and like an Irish red in the glass. You'll be just fine.

It has all been answered already. But my $.02:

Dunk swirl stir squeeze all you want. You really want to get all the goodness that you can. The majority of your recipe comes from the extract anyway.

Releasing tannins by squeezing is a myth. You need high heat and a certain PH to release the tannins.

You will see that in the fermenter all your beers will look darker than they will in your glass.

have a ball squeezing your sack. (brewing) Please fondle your other sack in private.