do steeping grains add sugar or just flavor?

[GeneDaniels1963]

The name of the thread says it all. I just went way over my target SG, 1.100 instead of 1.080. Using DME and ponicillo is pretty easy to calculate target SG. I could see being a little off, maybe even 10 grav points. But 30 points??? The only flaw would be if steeping 8oz of crystal 60L added the sugars?

 

[davidabcd]

That wouldn't do much at all. Maybe you could check your water volume or that it matches your calculation?

 

[balrog]

Steeping grains will add both sugar and flavor, yes. Different crystal/roasted grains, different amounts. 8oz not so much.

More likely you had stratification of sugar in solution.

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

Steeping grains will add both sugar and flavor, yes. Different crystal/roasted grains, different amounts. 8oz not so much.

More likely you had stratification of sugar in solution.

That makes sense. It was hard to imagine how I could have been 30 points high.

Also, I was about a cup low on each gal because I wanted to allow for any krausen. Taken all together that would easily account for it.

 

[bucketnative]

Well, first you're only 20 points high, according to your post.

I'll assume you have a one gallon batch, here. According to beersmith, Crystal 60 has a 1.034 potential SG. So, 8 oz in less than a full gallon could yield 0.018 SG to your batch. There you are.

 

[balrog]

With most of sugar coming from extract, the basic thing is this: if you have the right measurement of extract weight and the right measurement of water used, you will have the predicted gravity.

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

Well, first you're only 20 points high, according to your post.

I'll assume you have a one gallon batch, here. According to beersmith, Crystal 60 has a 1.034 potential SG. So, 8 oz in less than a full gallon could yield 0.018 SG to your batch. There you are.

Yes, you are correct, 20 points high. So yes, your calculation from beersmith would explain it. I had no idea that steeping could add that much sugar. I often steep crystal 60, so this is very helpful info. Thanks!

 

[frankvw]

Interesting - I'm looking into that myself right now. I started with Palmer's extraction efficiency table, but that one is based on steeping 120 gr. of crushed specialty grains in 1 liter of water, which is a higher water-to-grist ratio than I'm comfortable with, having had bad experiences with tannin extraction. I'm now looking into steeping grains in wort but my extraction efficiency is now much lower than Palmer's predictions. Going to do a few more test batches this afternoon with different grains to see how water to grist ratios and steeping wort gravity affect OG.