Are "steeping grains" necessary?

[Knutz38]

Hi:

I'm new to this and have a question regarding "steeping grains".

I've gotten a couple of kits and they both have the grains which are to be put in a a bag and steeped for 15 - 30 minutes.

They say this is supposed to impart flavor and color. I can see that this gives some color to the wort but don't see where it imparts any flavor, other than a very mild wheat taste, which it seems to me is going to be blown away during the boil.
I can't see any reason for these "steeping grains" - unless you're going to add, say, 3 lbs or so. Am I wrong?

 

[TheZymurgist]

Hi:

I'm new to this and have a question regarding "steeping grains".

I've gotten a couple of kits and they both have the grains which are to be put in a a bag and steeped for 15 - 30 minutes.

They say this is supposed to impart flavor and color. I can see that this gives some color to the wort but don't see where it imparts any flavor, other than a very mild wheat taste, which it seems to me is going to be blown away during the boil.
I can't see any reason for these "steeping grains" - unless you're going to add, say, 3 lbs or so. Am I wrong?

It all depends on the style. You can make a really good pale ale, or a wheat without using any specialty grains, but for something like a stout, a Scotch ale, or anything with more complexity, they are absolutely necessary.

 

[peterj]

Steeping grains can be any number of different types of grains that can drastically change the color, flavor, and style of beer. For example, adding 0.5 lb of black patent to a recipe will give a very noticeable roast flavor and dark color. Also, you shouldn't be steeping wheat malt or flaked wheat, that would need to be mashed. If you haven't read "How to Brew" by John Palmer I would recommend it. Here's a link to the steeping specialty grains section: http://www.howtobrew.com/section2/chapter13.html. I would just read the whole thing though. This is the 1st edition though, so some things are a little outdated (like using a secondary, etc.).

 

[NTexBrewer]

For an All Grain recipe the amount of specialty grains are very small compared to the base grains. Also some specialty grains do not add any fermentable sugars to the beer. Their sole job is for color, flavor and aroma. Or in the case of wheat and oats to give body, mouthful, or turbidity to match a style.

Compare these two recipes from BYO magazine for a Porter.

All Grain
6.5 lbs 2-row pale malt
1.5 lbs mild malt
1 lb flaked maize
12 oz Crystal Malt (50L)
12 Weyermann Carafa Special II

Extract with Grains
3.3 lbs Light Liquid Malt Extract
1.4 lbs light Dried Malt Extract
1 lb corn sugar
12 oz Crystal Malt (50L)
12 oz weyermann carafa special II

As you can see the extract with grains recipes uses corn sugar to replace the flaked maize but the Crystal Malt and Carafa Special II are the exact same for both recipes.

 

[skuhn2004]

I have only been doing this for a few months, but I have learned that shortcuts do not pay. That goes for everything. Every single time I have taken a few extra minutes on any step I have gotten a noticeable difference in my beer in return.

My gotcha story about steeping the grains is I let it get too hot and had a slight bitterness that wasn't hops. It was the tannins that get released if it gets that hot. Another issue I ran into was not using enough water. This caused the temperature inside the muslin bag to be very low and made it difficult to maintain a steady temperature not matter how much I bobbed the bag up and down. Once I increased the amount of steeping water it seemed like a whole lot more of those specialty grains were imparted to the water. The beer sure tasted better.

I'm sure there will come a day where I modify my process to save time or make my life easier. I am an engineer. We are lazy by nature and will build things so we can be lazier. So I am sure it's going to happen. But right now I am all about spending the extra few minutes on one piece of my process on every batch.

Spend the extra few minutes. Your beer will pay you back.

 

[wilconrad]

I can't see any reason for these "steeping grains" - unless you're going to add, say, 3 lbs or so. Am I wrong?

Short answer: yes, you're wrong.

As others have laid out above, as little as 1/4lb can make a difference in the flavor, head retention, color, etc of your beer. Don't skip the steeping grains, they're there for a reason.

 

[unionrdr]

I've found that when steeping or mashing (including partial mash),water & grain volume vs head space also makes a difference. Too much head space in your BK/MT will make it harder to maintain temperature. so i tailor kettle size to mash/steep volume. I wrap it up in my quilted winter hunting coat to maintain temp for the time I'm steeping or mashing. Works better this way.

 

[Knutz38]

Thanks for all the replies. I guess I was wrong. <LOL>