Cold steep dark grains and then boil and use in another beer?

[KlausUndFriends]

I have two 6 gal carboys staring at me every time I walk into my closet, so I'm thinking about cold steeping the dark grains for this recipe -

7.5 lbs Maris Otter LME (not steeped)

1.0 lbs Brown malt
0.5 lbs Victory Malt
0.5 lbs dark crystal malt
0.3 lbs Kiln Coffee malt
0.25 lbs Black Malt

American Ale yeast

To avoid harsh tannins. Then I was going to 60 or 90 minute steep the same grains in 150 water as usual to make another beer and add

4.5lbs MO LME
3lbs Wheat LME

Either American Ale or maybe a hef style yeast.

(+ hops for both obviously!)

Has anyone ever tried this? Feel free to let me know what you think too! The second beer I was going to age to smooth out the harshness I was avoiding in the first beer.

Danke!

 

[Double_D]

I've tasted my dark malts after mashing, they are pretty bland. I know that's not specifically what you're asking but I have also used coffee grounds after they came out of the filter. Either way, my point is that they are pretty mild. I can't imagine the second use dark grains making much flavor contribution.

It's always good to experiment. Try it and let us know!

 

[KlausUndFriends]

I'm definitely doing it, and will report back! I hate it when people don't! "But... but... what happened?!" - me

I assume they'll still provide some color at the very least... I think I'm going to change the LME ratios. Use more Wheat than MO to make it more heff-ie. Any thoughts on my amounts of LME for each? Thinking about it, the color from the second dark malts might make it more of a dunkel...

 

[RM-MN]

Want an easier experiment so you don't end up with a bland beer from your experiment? Steep a tea bag in cold water for half an hour, then use the same tea bag to make a cup of tea with hot water and see how it comes out. I think you will have extracted so much of the flavor from the grains that you won't get much in the second beer.

 

[KlausUndFriends]

Experiment has been started! Cold steeping a tea bag for a few hours, and am then going to make a regular cup with the used bag. I'll report back later.

I think I'm going to make a German Hef with the spent grains - using Wheat LME and a little MO to push the % of Barley up in the Wheat:Barley ratio (LME is 65:35) and a low Alpha bittering hop at 60 mins. Simple. I'll see what the spent cold steeped grains do when I hot steep them - see if the tea takes on any color or taste. I might not even add them if its not going to contribute much!

 

[IslandLizard]

Not sure how to read your recipe in the OP. What does "(not steeped)" signify? DME is never steeped, it is dissolved.

Just in case, both the Brown and Victory malts need to be mashed, not steeped. They're not self converting, so you also need to add at least a pound of a diastatic malt to that recipe, like 2-row, MO, etc. and mash those together.

Now the darker malts in that recipe can be steeped anyway you like. If there are larger amounts of them, I usually steep them outside of the boil and add the dark potion after flameout, at around 180F to pasteurize it.

 

[KlausUndFriends]

IslandLizard, thanks for saving me! I'll do this recipe regular this time (no cold steep) since all my grains are in the same bag from the LHBS. Next time I'll ask for the dark malts to be separate so I can cold steep them. Thanks!!!