when does the steeping start?

Brewing my first batch (Brewers Best kit) and not sure when steeping starts for the 20 min. Is it when the water gets to temp or when the bag floats? Temp is at 176*F for 20 min and I think I'll move to the next step.

When I steep grains I place them at the start of heating the water. Before the temp reaches 170 degrees I turn of the heat. At that point I keep the steeping going for an additional 15 min. Do not allow the temp to go over 170 deg so as to avoid tastes introduced into your brew that you really dont want.

Thanks for the help. I am making notes for reference later. Your methods/ideas are very good. Boy do I have lots to learn.

And one important point is: There are many good ways to do just about anything associated with brewing.

just what I was going to say David. I boil first then steep. But then again my next beer recipe calls for the steeping to begin at the begining of the boil.

Have fun and experiment!

newguy said:

just what I was going to say David. I boil first then steep. But then again my next beer recipe calls for the steeping to begin at the begining of the boil.

Have fun and experiment!

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I would caution against boiling your water and then steeping the grains. The water will be too hot and tannins will be extracted from the grains and that causes an astringent character reminiscent of sucking on grape skins. You should never let the water go over 170.

I've made quite a few Brewer's Best kits and there are many ways to it that are not incorrect. I generally threw the grains in at the very beginning and slowly heated the water and removed when the temp hit around 160. A thousand ways to skin a cat.

The only thing I dislike about the "Add grain to cold water, heat water to 160, remove grain" approach is that there will be less consistency across brewers. How long does it take to go from "cold" to 160? How cold is the starting water?

The simpler approach, more consistent across setups, is to say - bring the water to 160, add grain, hold at 160 for thirty minutes. You might also consider it "practice" for mini-mashing.

Does it really matter in the end? I doubt it.

I didn't learn that my thermometer read 12 degrees "too cold" until I brought the water up to a boil and it read a steady 200F. As a result, what I thought was 170 was probably more like 180.

In other words, unless you have an expensive high-grade thermometer, when starting out, I wouldn't steep over 150 or 160- just to give you a little leeway.

Hey Toot
You got me courious and so I checked the thermometer that came in my kit. Seems that when the water was boiling the temp showed 200-205. To late to change things now for this batch but your words of wisdom helped for the next batch.
Thanks for the info

Billings is at a high elevation, isn't it? What's the real boiling temperature there?

We are at 3407 by my Garmin GPS

The boiling point estimate is 205.9, so your thermometer doesn't seem to be off by TOO much.

http://www.biggreenegg.com/boilingPoint.htm

Thanks for the link
Things should be ok with the temp that close
guess I worry to much, since this is my first time brewing
can't wait to try this first beer!!