'Steep to Convert' process in more water than directed?

[raider1v1]

Hi Guys,

I have a brewers best Witbier kit for my first brew and was reviewing the directions and think i found a bit of a problem.

It says to steep the grain in 1 gallon of water, but I bought a 16 gallon pot and 1 gallon would only be about an 1-1.5 inches deep.

My question is can i steep in more water than directed since im supposed to add in more water directly in afterwards?

The directions are here in PDF format - http://www.brewersbestkits.com/pdf/steep_to_convert_For Recipe.pdf

Thanks!

 

[twistr25]

What size batch are you trying to do? If you are doing a five gallon batch, add 6.5 to 7 gallons of water, whatever you'll need for pre boil. You'll extract more out of it that way. Either way, with the size pot you have, add as much water as you'll need to get the batch size after boil off. Doing a full boil will help with hop utilization as well.

My guess is it is assuming you don't have the capability to do a full boil.

 

[KepowOb]

Could you not do it in another pot?

I steep my grains on my stovetop in a 3 or 5gal pot (depends on which one is clean, hah), I'm while I start heating my water outside to bring it to a boil. By the time I'm done steeping, my water is boiling and I save myself a lot of time in the process.

 

[raider1v1]

Could you not do it in another pot?

I steep my grains on my stovetop in a 3 or 5gal pot (depends on which one is clean, hah), I'm while I start heating my water outside to bring it to a boil. By the time I'm done steeping, my water is boiling and I save myself a lot of time in the process.

yah i think ill have to do this.

I just got a response back from brewers friend but i just dont get why the volume of water matters. i wasnt planning on doing more than 4 gallons.

Thank you for choosing Brewer’s Best® line of home craft beer making products. When steeping you grains you will need to use the recommended amount of water. These are set like this for conversion reasons. If you have too much water you won't properly convert the starches or long chain sugars into short chain fermentable sugars. Over all this could affect the final gravity by not dropping into the specified range on the directions. Example: if you mash 1lb of grain in 1.5 quarts of water you should have an approximate efficiency of 70% to 78%. If you use the same one pound of grain and 2 quarts of water this can drop your efficiency range down to under 70%. Less efficient equals less fermentable product. What I would recommend is to get a smaller pot out of your kitchen and do your steep on your stove top, then once your steep is complete add that to your brew kettle with your additional water and proceed to boil from there. Hopefully this helps, however if you have any other questions or concerns please contact me back. Thanks again for choosing Brewer’s Best® and hoppy home brewing!

 

[unionrdr]

Sounds to me like they're confusing steeping with mashing. They ARE NOT the same. If there are any base grains in the kit,then they'll have to be mashed. Steeping grains like crystal/caramel grains,& some specialty/color grains are already converted & can just be steeped. Steeping water amounts don't matter much. but mashing water amounts are critical. 1.25-1.5 quarts per pound of grain is standard for mashing water to grist ratios. Mashing temps are a bit more critical than steeping temps too. Does the kit have a list of the grains they gave you?

 

[raider1v1]

Sounds to me like they're confusing steeping with mashing. They ARE NOT the same. If there are any base grains in the kit,then they'll have to be mashed. Steeping grains like crystal/caramel grains,& some specialty/color grains are already converted & can just be steeped. Steepinf watwer amounts don't matter much. but mashing water amounts are critical. 1.25-1.5 quarts per pound of grain is standard for mashing water to grist ratios. Mashing temps are a bit more critical than steeping temps too. Does the kit have a list of the grains they gave you?

Yes i do

1lb Pale Malt
.5lb wheat
.5lb oats

 

[Yooper]

Yes i do

1lb Pale Malt
.5lb wheat
.5lb oats

"Steep to convert" is a weird way to put it, but they are tell you to do a mash.

With mashing, a prescribed amount of water at a prescribed temperature is held for a prescribed amount of time.

Generally, you will use 1.25- 2 quarts of water per pound of grain, hold it at 150-155 (using water that is 11-12 degrees warm to mix with the grain initially) for 45 to 60 minutes. Then, you can rinse the grains with up to 2 quarts of water per pound (a 'sparge') by pouring hot water over it.

Conversion requires a pH in a certain area, so that's why you use a prescribed volume of water. You can do it in a different pot, a pan in the oven, a bucket, etc, but many of us use coolers since they hold heat so well. You can use whatever vessel you need, to ensure thorough mixing of the grains and water so that all of the grain is wetted by the water and submerged.

 

[raider1v1]

"Steep to convert" is a weird way to put it, but they are tell you to do a mash.

With mashing, a prescribed amount of water at a prescribed temperature is held for a prescribed amount of time.

Generally, you will use 1.25- 2 quarts of water per pound of grain, hold it at 150-155 (using water that is 11-12 degrees warm to mix with the grain initially) for 45 to 60 minutes. Then, you can rinse the grains with up to 2 quarts of water per pound (a 'sparge') by pouring hot water over it.

Conversion requires a pH in a certain area, so that's why you use a prescribed volume of water. You can do it in a different pot, a pan in the oven, a bucket, etc, but many of us use coolers since they hold heat so well. You can use whatever vessel you need, to ensure thorough mixing of the grains and water so that all of the grain is wetted by the water and submerged.

ah ok. so bottom line is follow the directions. i didnt think about the oven though, i think mine goes that low and thats a great idea for keeping it stable

 

[unionrdr]

The Pale Malt is the kicker. That's English 2-row base malt. Yooper's right,mash'em. 152-156F is my typical range. I do most @ 152-153F. More malt flavor uses a56F to me. More mash temp equals more long chain sugars for flavor & color basically.
I stir my grains in till evenly wetted & no dough balls remain. Cover then wrap up in my winter hunting coat for the 1 hour mash. Most of time,it gains 1 degree over the 1 hour mash. Once it went down 3 degrees. yesterday a flub of 148F went up to 156F over the hour mash. Same coat,same proceedure. Generally,it works very well. So a quilted,Thinsulate lined coat works well without overheating the mash water to compensate for thermal loss in a cold mash tun. I do partial boil,partial mash biab,so this is how I do it.

 

[raider1v1]

heres Shawn's response about 'the why'

Your retailer probably said that you would be ok because they didn’t realize that you have a steep-to-convert kit. The difference of steep-to-convert vs. a regular steep is that when you just doing a regular steep those grains are not contributing any fermentable sugars they are only providing a bit of color and flavor so it doesn’t matter what water volume you use cause you’re not needing any conversion to take place. Whereas when you’re doing a steep-to-convert not only are these grains adding color and flavor they are also providing fermentable sugars that affect gravity. So if you steep in a larger water volume then suggested you will not be able to convert those starches to fermentable sugars thus not hitting any of your gravities and also causing your beer to become a lot sweeter than it should be due to the un-fermentable sugars that are left over from lack on conversion. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

 

[unionrdr]

I think THEY need to learn the lingo better. It's "mashing" not "steep to convert". That's more confusing to a noob that reads forums with proper terminology,then these less than accurate instructions with incorrect grammatical usage.

 

[raider1v1]

I think THEY need to learn the lingo better. It's "mashing" not "steep to convert". That's more confusing to a noob that reads forums with proper terminology,then these less than accurate instructions with incorrect grammatical usage.

yup

Thanks Shawn,

From your description it sounds like I am mashing? Or is that something completely different?

Yes,


You are exactly right! Just on a very small scale.


Cheers!

 

[KepowOb]

I think THEY need to learn the lingo better. It's "mashing" not "steep to convert". That's more confusing to a noob that reads forums with proper terminology,then these less than accurate instructions with incorrect grammatical usage.

My guess is they are trying not to overwhelm people. They might have steeped before, but mashing, that's what all-grain brewers do!!!! But yes, I think you're right, they should be using the right terminology anyway because it just causes all sorts of problems.

 

[raider1v1]

My guess is they are trying not to overwhelm people. They might have steeped before, but mashing, that's what all-grain brewers do!!!! But yes, I think you're right, they should be using the right terminology anyway because it just causes all sorts of problems.

yah like this one! its my first damn batch.

 

[unionrdr]

well,if it wasn't confusing to you after reading up on here,you wouldn't be on here asking questions. hence my answer. I was an English major all through school & college. but they right books & what not. some of them got mad when I had to correct their usage...let alone proper use of terminology. Gotta go with the flow on that.