Extract with specialty grains question

[dribble4all]

I'm getting prepped for my first extract w/ specialty grain beer, the Brewer's Best Imperial Nut Brown ale. After reading through the forums and talking to both my homebrewing co-worker and the propiator of my LBHS, I decided to go with a full boil instead of the partial the kit recommends. My question is about the volume of water I should use for steeping. The kit instructions have me steeping my grains in 2.5 gallons of water at 170 degrees F. I would then add my extracts and do my 1 hour boil from there. Since I want to boil at the full 5 gallons, should I steep in 5 gallons or add water to top off before I add my extract? I realize that boiling at 5 gallons will change my hop utilization, and have adjusted the amount of hops accordingly.

Besides being fanatical about sanitation and taking copious notes, are there any other suggestions?

 

[acuenca]

I steep in the full 5... I don't know if it makes a difference except in terms of speed because this way I've already heated the volume that I'm going to use for the boil closer to 212...

 

[paulster2626]

I find the volume they suggest isn't enough to cover my grains. I used to just put in whatever volume would cover the grain bag. I like to have extra that I'll need to add after for rinsing. It helps a lot to microwave the water before you add it as well if you're doing this on your stove. You can really cut down on water heating time this way.

Since then I've built a mash tun out of my coleman xtreme cooler though, so no more messing around with the stove for me!

 

[RandomBeerGuy]

From what I understand when I did partial mashes. Steep the grain at 156 degress for 60 mins so that the grains convert the sugars. You can use your full boil volume if you want. Once your timer is done, Heat your water to 170 and pull the grains out, add extract ect... Make sure you keep you lid on during the steep to help hold in the heat. Hope that was able to help you.

 

[cincybrewer]

I find the volume they suggest isn't enough to cover my grains. I used to just put in whatever volume would cover the grain bag. I like to have extra that I'll need to add after for rinsing. It helps a lot to microwave the water before you add it as well if you're doing this on your stove. You can really cut down on water heating time this way.

Since then I've built a mash tun out of my coleman xtreme cooler though, so no more messing around with the stove for me!

Never thought about microwaving the water....very interesting.

 

[BeerChef17]

Steep in the full 5 gal but I would stay between 155 and 165 max. Make sure you figure out how much hops to use as the utilization will be different in a full boil

 

[Elweydoloco]

Alright guys so here's the thing with Specialty grain mini mashes.

Specialty grains are there for flavor and not really for anything else. In other words you're not wanting to get more fermentables out of them. Remember higher temperature more mouth feel more body for your beer. So this being mini mash, it's calling for the steeping temp of 170 because the grains are solely for the purpose of imparting the specialty grain colors and flavors.

This is for a specialty grain mini-mash only. If you're doing a mini mash that has you mashing 2 row, 6 row, or any of your base grains, then yes mash in at 155 on average of course varying for different beers.

However judging from what the OP stated, he's using a mini mash with specialty grains for a more robust better mouth feel better bodied beer than an all extract.

In other words the extract is giving him the fermentables for the alcohol content. The specialty grains are giving the mouth feel and body.

 

[rycov]

with specialty grains you're steeping, not mashing. (not a huge difference). the thing i always hear about using the full five gallons is that you could extract tannins (because the ph will be off). but all the times i steeped grains i just used the whole five gallons and didn't get any tannins. YMMV

 

[Yooper]

As was mentioned, steeping grains in the full volume is probably just fine.

However, some grains are actually "mashing grains" and not just steeped, although they can convert themselves. Munich malt, for example.

It's sometimes hard to know as a new brewer which grains are grains that can be steeped and which must be mashed- so I always treated them the same way and recommend others do the same.

What I mean is this- if you use 1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain and heat the water to 160 and add the grain, then steep (mash) at 150-155 for 45 minutes, that's a mash. You can do ANY grain that way- Munich malt, oats, two-row, caraMunich, crystal malt, etc. You are totally safe to do that, no matter WHAT combination of grains you have. You won't have to determine if you should steep, mash, use more water, use less, etc. Just always use the same procedure- 1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain and keep at 150-155 for 45 minutes or longer.

You can then sparge if you want, by pouring 170 degree water over those grains either by lifting up the grain bag(s) and putting them in a colander while pouring the water over to "rinse" the grains, or by dunking them in a separate pot of 170 degree water. You can use up to 1/2 gallon of water per pound of grain, so it's common to sparge up to your boil volume if you have more than a couple of pounds of grains.

 

[acuenca]

Yeah.. I stay below 170 but above 155 (155-165) in 5 gal and no tannins. I also squeeze the hell out of the bag despite what the instruction say and I haven't had any bitterness (per the myth dispelling knowledge I learned up on HBT)

 

[rycov]

i squeeze my bag too. no tannins

 

[dribble4all]

Ok, so in this case, I have 1 lb of specialty malts (8oz Victory, 4oz Crystal 80, 4oz Chocolate). I would mash that in 1.5 qts of water for 45 minutes at 155 - 160 degrees, sparge with .5 gallons of 170 degree water. That puts me at just under a gallon total. Would I then fill to 5 gallons to boil my extracts? I don't know yet how much boil-off I'm going to have, so I figure I'll top off to 5 gallons in the primary before I pitch.

 

[acuenca]

I wouldn't do that.... I would steep in 3.5 gallons (more water means more solublized goodness can get into the wort) at 155-160, sparge with 1.5 @ 170, squeeze the bag, and then boil. At least that's what I do and I have fine results... but I'm sure other more experienced brewers have alternative methods... this one works for me with extract and specialty grains. This'll get you close to 4-4.5 gallons for the boil maybe more...

Also, when you get done with the boil, you can top off to 5 gallons...

Hope this helps.