Grains question

[skyzo]

Hey, so Im going to be brewing my 5th ever batch of beer tommorow, and I picked up all the ingredients today for a chocolate porter, which will hopefully be ready to drink by Christmas time. I have never used specialty grains though before, and I have a question about them. Is there anything I have to do to them before I steep them? I bought 1lb Crystal 80L, 1lb Chocolate, and 1lb Munich malts, and I dont know if theres anything I have to do before I steep them. Thanks

 

[nolabelbrewing]

You are essentially making beer tea. You can do a few things.

Crush your grains. Put them in a bag and use a rolling pin assuming you didn't crush them at the store.

You can do a simple steep, stick the grains in, bring the pot to a boil, pull em out, add the maltose, move on.

You can do a mini mash. Stick the grains in, bring the pot to 155 degrees. Hold it for 30 minutes to an hour, bring it up to a boil.. continue.


The Crystal 80, and the Chocolate are not going to leave any fermentable sugars in the pot, so a simple steep for color and flavor would probably be perfect for those two grains. The Munich has the potential to add some fermentable sugar to the pot. I would still hold at the high end of the temp range 155 or so instead of at the low range since your sugar is going to come from extract, and you are really looking for flavor from your specialty grains.

Good Luck

~J~

 

[BarleyWater]

Nothing special you have to do to them first, but Munich isn't a specialty grain, it's a base grain. No worries, just means you need to be a little more careful about the temp, make sure it stays relatively constant in the low to mid 150s and you'll be fine.

I would heat about a gallon of water to 170ish (it will drop when you add the grain), add the grains, wait an hour occasionally stirring or somehow moving it around (like "teabaging" the grain bag) making sure it stays in the 150s, remove grain by either straining or removing grain bag, use more hot water to rinse the grains off bringing boil pot up to volume, bring to boil and away you go like a regular extract batch.

 

[BarleyWater]

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Crush your grains. Since you aren't mashing, use a coffee grinder. Just break em up for a second, and then pour out, and do it again.

Definitely don't do this. If it's not already crushed from the homebrew store, put it in a bag and use a rolling pin. If you grind up the husk, which a coffee grinder would most certainly do, you can get an overwhelming puckering/astringent and grainy flavor in the beer that is not pleasant at all.

 

[Pschof]

You can do a simple steep, stick the grains in, bring the pot to a boil, pull em out, add the maltose, move on.

I don't know that you want to boil the water with the grains you are steeping. I would bring the water up to 180 or so, steep for 20 min, remove the grains, and then proceed.