First partial mash question

[KG-Brew]

Ok, I'm making a Christmas ale with the following:


INGREDIENTS:
8 lbs. light malt extract
1 lb. Belgian Cara-Munich malt
1 1/2 lb. Munich malt
1/2 lb. Belgian Special B malt
2 oz. chocolate malt
1 oz. U.S. Perle hops (bittering)
1 oz. Liberty or Mt. Hood hops (flavoring)
1 oz. Liberty or Mt. Hood hops (finishing)
1/2 tsp. calcium chloride water salts
Yeast: Dried - 1 pkg. Safale S-04 Yeast



The local hb store recommends the following:
1. In a small saucepan, bring a gallon of water to 160º - 170º and turn off the heat. Add the bag of grains and water salts (if used) and steep
30 minutes. Now, gently sparge (rinse) the grains with hot tap water (ideal temperature 168º) and bring the total volume up to two or more gallons in a stainless steel or enameled kettle (avoid aluminum). As a rule, boiling as much of the full five gallons as possible is best. Bring to boil and resume step #2.

2. Turn off heat and add malt extract. Return to boil, taking care not to allow wort to overflow onto your stovetop. Start timing now, continuing the boil for 5 minutes. Add the bittering hops (1 oz. Perle) and boil 45 minutes. Now add the flavoring hops (1 oz. Liberty or Mt. Hood) and boil 10 minutes. Now immediately turn off heat and add the finishing hops (1 oz. Liberty or Mt. Hood hops).


The issue I have is reading John Palmers how to brew (extract with specialty grains) he recommends bringing 3 gals of water to boil and add the big of grains. He doesn't mention just doing 1 gal then sparing to get back up to 2-3gallons like the hb store recommends. I'm inclined to follow palmers recommendations, but just looking for some guidance.

Here is palmers recommendations:
The procedure is identical to that for extract brewing. However, the specialty grains will be steeped in the pot before the extract is added. The 3 gallons of water in the boiling pot is heated until it reaches 160°F +/- 10°. Then the grain bag is immersed in the pot for 30 minutes. The grain bag may be dunked and swirled like a tea bag during this time to make sure that all of the grain is wetted. Agitation will help to improve the yield. Remove the grain bag from the pot, giving it a squeeze to drain the excess wort and avoid dripping on the stove.
Now the brewer has a preliminary wort to which the extract is added. The wort is brought to a boil and the brewing proceeds exactly as for extract brewing described in the previous chapters.




Thanks for the help.

 

[kh54s10]

I use the directions from my Northern Brewer kits.

- Collect and heat 2.5 gallons of water.
- Pour crushed grain into supplied mesh bag and tie the open end in a knot. Steep for 20 minutes or until water reaches 170°F. Remove bag and discard. Just let it drain. No need to sparge it and some say to avoid squeezing it - Tannins?
- Remove the kettle from the burner and stir in the malt extract.
- Return wort to boil. The mixture is now called “wort”, the brewer’s term for unfermented beer.
- Add hops per schedule.
- After boil cool to the lower end of your yeast's optimum temperature range.
- top off to 5 gallons and aerate the wort. You can shake the fermenter, splashing the wort for 5 or so minutes.
- pitch the yeast. A starter is recommended when using liquid yeast. Dry yeast should be re-hydrated per the yeast manufacturers instructions.
- keep the temperature of the wort in the low to mid sixties for 2 weeks. Leave the beer in the primary fermenter for 3-4 weeks then take gravity readings over 3 days, if the numbers don't change then you can bottle.

As for the pot; Stainless steel is the most popular. Aluminum is fine. Boil water in it for about an hour to build an oxidation layer. Avoid an enameled pot if there are any chips in the surface at all.

 

[ChrisJPassarelli]

That sounds basically fine. Just two notes, though:
First, the way I read Palmer's recommendations is that you add the grain bag in the pot that will eventually become your brew kettle ("boiling pot"), rather than a pot of already-boiling water. The grains might make the temp drop 12-15 degrees, but throwing it into boiling water will nuke the enzymes, as I understand it. Start cold, and heat up to 170.

If you do that, it addresses my second point: hot tap water, having sat in your water heater, can give off metallic flavors. If you can heat cold water separately and pour it over that would be better. ...or just do what Palmer says and teabag away.

Best wishes!

 

[Calder]

To mash, you want somewhere between 1 and 1.5 quarts per lb of grain. You have 3 lbs, which is about 1 gallon.

Heat to low 160s. I usually go to 160, and like to mash around 150 F (the grains will drop the temperature about 10 degrees).

Stir the grains when you add them. I also stir several times during the mash to make sure the enzymes get to all the starches. I get 80%+ efficiency.

After 30 minutes (to an hour, or longer) pull the bag out and let drain. You could place it in a collander over a bowl.

Have a separate pan with about a gallon of water heating. When at 170 F, add the bag to that one and steep/stir for about 10 minutes. Then remove the bag and drain. You can repeat this step if you want to get more sugars, but you need to have the volume in your pot to boil all the water you are using.

Pour all the wort into the same pot, bring to boil and follow directions.

 

[Calder]

I use the directions from my Northern Brewer kits.

- Collect and heat 2.5 gallons of water.
- Pour crushed grain into supplied mesh bag and tie the open end in a knot. Steep for 20 minutes or until water reaches 170°F. Remove bag and discard. Just let it drain. No need to sparge it and some say to avoid squeezing it - Tannins?
[/I]

He wants to mash the grain to convert sugars, not just steep specialty grains.

 

[zacster]

I just follow the recipe provided. As long as you keep your grains at 150-156 or so for the allotted time you'll be OK. Keep in mind that this is an added infusion for taste and color, not the primary source of the fermentables, which is the LME.

When you do all-grain, these things become more important as you need to get as much of the sugars out as possible and the temperature controls the process.