"Warm" vs "cold" steeping spec grains

[Suicid]

Hi folks!

As far as I know, the sort of "warm" steeping is quite a common process for extract brewers.
But during last year I more and more often stumbled across recipes which calls fo sort of "cold" steeping - crushed grains steeped into cold water (2-3 liters) for about 24h in fridge.

I think I know what is going on with the special grains while "normal" (lets call it "warm"?) steeping.

Can you please explain me the purpose of "cold" steep and main difference between those two (by result)?



Thanks!

 

[microbusbrewery]

I've heard of doing it but my understanding is it was targeted more towards darker grains. The idea is the cooler temps extract color as well as the more desirable flavor and aroma compounds while leaving the harsher flavors behind.

 

[daksin]

The goal would be to avoid extracting tannin or astringency from the grain, however I have done room temp steeps and very hot steeps and would challenge anybody to tell the difference in a blind triangle test. I just don't think it matters. My preference is to put the grains into the water cold and start heating up to steeping temp. Then I pull them when it gets up to 165-170F. It's always worked great for me- never any astringency or tannin I didn't want in there. The thing is, the stuff we're trying to extract by steeping is CRAZY soluble in water, so the temperature isn't going to have that big of an effect- probably just speed up the extraction is all.