Have I been doing this wrong the WHOLE time?

[NYShooterGuy]

Brewed my 4th beer tonight, and after looking at a catalogue from more beer! I noticed that I may have been brewing my beers incorrectly. from being introduced to home brewing from a co-worker and friend, I was taught to achieve the steeping temperature and then add the specialty grains for the recommended time.

now I see that the instructions are to ad the steeping grains and HTEN achieve the desired temperature add remove the steeping grains. was there an error in what I previously had done, or would letting the specialty grain steep at the desired temperature be more beneficial to extract the sugars from the grains then slowly steep until the desired temperature?

Also, I "squeeze the bag" at the end of the steeping to get the most out of the grains. I've read mix comments about squeezing the bag, but I do this with tea and haven't experienced any off flavors from that. I don't know how it translates to beer however.

Thanks for the input, and cheers!

 

[k1ngl1ves]

You can heat the water to temp (around 170°), then kill the flame and toss the specialty grains in to sit for a while...

Or you can save time by tossing the bag in while heating the water to temp. Just pull it by 170°. Or not. Up to you. Your beer.


Squeeze or don't squeeze... again it's up to you. Doesn't really matter. I'd just sparge a little water over it and toss it. It's specialty grains after all.

 

[Cyclman]

+1, there is no wrong on steeping at temp vs. steeping up to temp, or even steeping at mash temps (150 ish).

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Only thing you want to be sure of is that the bottom of the bag isn't sitting on the bottom of your pot while the flame is on. You can end up scorching the grain.