Mini Mash . . Sort of

[TheMinionsThree]

Will this work.

I bought the wootstout extract kit from NB and it comes with nearly 3lb of specialty grain for steeping. Supposed to steep for 20 min or until water reaches 170. This seems like an awful waste of some tasty grains.

My thought:
Could I was these same 3lb and do a mini mash BIAB style. Bring water up to a strike temp (maybe 155 as all grain version says Sacch' Rest at 148), turn off burner, dump all grains into BIAB bag and let rest for "x" amount of time. Drain bag and rinse grains with hot water.

I do not know a great deal about AG brewing yet, but think this would allow more starches and sugars to release from the specialty grains to produce more complex flavor.

Also read that over steeping can cause flavor problems.

Will this idea gain me anything?
How long should the rest be?
Am I too green on AG brewing to be asking something like this?

If this is a stupid though please let me know. Please be nice this is only my 6th brew.

Attached are links to both the AG and Extract instructions.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/beerkits/w00tstout.pdf
http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/allgrain/AG-w00tstout.pdf

 

[aidan]

What I think you are asking about is doing a partial mash with the grains verses steeping the grains, right? Well actually mashing is pretty much a steeping process anyway except that the temperature is important. If your 3lb of grain are really speciality grains then you will not actually be mashing because mashing means 'converting' starches of base grains to sugars. Speciality grains are already 'converted' so steeping is all that is required to release the sugars. So if you do it as you say 'BIAB style', it will still just be steeping unless you have some base grains in there. If you are interested in finding out more about the differences between extract with steeped grains vs partial mash vs BIAB all grain brewing I've detailed the processes that I use here:

extract with steeped grains:
http://beerandgarden.com/2011/02/updated-extract-brewing-process/

partial mash:
http://beerandgarden.com/2011/11/my-partial-mash-brewing-process/

BIAB:
http://beerandgarden.com/2014/05/biab-all-grain-brewing-process/

 

[RM-MN]

What I think you are asking about is doing a partial mash with the grains verses steeping the grains, right? Well actually mashing is pretty much a steeping process anyway except that the temperature is important. If your 3lb of grain are really speciality grains then you will not actually be mashing because mashing means 'converting' starches of base grains to sugars. Speciality grains are already 'converted' so steeping is all that is required to release the sugars. So if you do it as you say 'BIAB style', it will still just be steeping unless you have some base grains in there. If you are interested in finding out more about the differences between extract with steeped grains vs partial mash vs BIAB all grain brewing I've detailed the processes that I use here:

extract with steeped grains:
http://beerandgarden.com/2011/02/updated-extract-brewing-process/

partial mash:
http://beerandgarden.com/2011/11/my-partial-mash-brewing-process/

BIAB:
http://beerandgarden.com/2014/05/biab-all-grain-brewing-process/

This part isn't quite true. Some specialty grains have already had the conversion and you can rinse out their sugars but others have simply been kilned at such a high temperature that the enzymes needed for conversion have been destroyed and all you get from them is color and flavor, not sugars. Only base malts can have their starches converted to sugars because the kilning (the drying process after the grains are malted) is kept cool enough to preserve the enzymes. A good source of information is www.howtobrew.com which has the entire first edition available online for free. There have been some changes in the second edition to correct information that has been found to be different than presented but the majority of it is solid.

 

[Calder]

Speciality grains are already 'converted' so steeping is all that is required to release the sugars.

While many specialty grains contain sugars (like crystal, chocolate, and black), they still contain a lot of starches that can be converted to sugars with enzymes.


For the OP. If there are base grains in the mix, you can mash. If not, add a pound of 2-row, or similar.

Mashing requires control of both temperature and water volume. Use about 1.3 quarts of water per lb, so for 3 lbs use 4 quarts, or 1 gallon. Heat water to 160 F, turn off heat and add grains. Temp will drop to about 148/150 F. maintain temp for 20 minutes or longer. Remove grains, drain, then rinse/sparge with 170 F water to extract more sugars.

 

[TheMinionsThree]

Thx everyone for the education. I think I will look more into AG before trying anything. Maybe start with BIAB first.