Extract Grain Steeping

[user 78027]

Just bottled my first batch. I had a taste, tastes like it should, except a little weak in flavor. It was an extract brew and I suspect that I didn't get all of the flavor from the grains and wanted to know what is good practice. I tried to squeeze out the juice but what I did was insufficient.

I thought next time I would hold off on a gallon of water, heat it to the steeping temp and pour it over the grain bag to get more of the flavor. I make 2 1/2 gallon batches and loose a gallon to evaporation. So, I would start with the 2 1/2 gallons and use the other gallon to rinse the grains, any suggestion would be appreciated.

 

[JPR]

I think if you let the bottled beer sit for a bit, you will find it much better. I would like to know how to turn the aging off. lol

I did an American Amber Ale that was perfect tasting at "w/e" week. But a couple of weeks later when I had one, it was too hoppy. If I could have stopped it back when it was super good, I would have. My friends said to let them just drink it all, earlier. lol

So, I guess my advice is to let it sit longer than you would normally think is necessary.

 

[fatnoah]

You shouldn't have to go to all that trouble for specialty grains. My guess is that you just need more specialty grains, you need to steep them longer, or you are just drinking "green" beer and a little bottle conditioning will help bring out the flavor you want.

 

[DSorenson]

how much specialty grain did you use?

 

[user 78027]

I followed a recipe that people have been using for a long time and.vetting good results. The difference is I am doing 2.5 gallon batches and its not much water in the bottom of my pot. I squeezed the water out of the grains as best as I could but there was still lots of color/ flavor that I could have used.

 

[fatnoah]

The amount of water doesn't matter. When I do my 2.5 gal batches of steeping + extract I steep in 1gal of water while I'm heating up the other 2.25 in another pot. Then I add the water from the steeping pot to the main BK.

 

[unionrdr]

I'm into PM now,but when I steep,I still like to sparge to get more goodies out of the grain. Just taylor the sparge to get your boil volume.