How Can You Tell whether Steeping or Partial Mash is Required?

[ThereThere]

I've been wondering about this and couldn't quite find an answer. How does one know whether or not grains require a partial mash or not when looking at them at homebrew stores? Browsing Midwest Supplies website is what caused me to wonder this.

 

[Andy_LV]

if you get grains, they require mashing. steeping them is still a mashing, tho on a smaller scale.

if you see "extract" recipe - one that goes with adding dry/liquid malt extracts and just a bits of grain - you steep.

if you see recipe with 8-1x pounds of grain - they must be milled and mashed.

hope it helps.

 

[DubBrew]

My understanding is that all grains can be mashed but not all can be steeped. Base malts must be mashed and speacialty grains can be steeped or mashed.

 

[Yooper]

Grains with the words "cara" or "crystal" in them can be steeped, as can many other grains like chocolate malt, and roasted malts, etc.

Grains that must be mashed are "base malt" grains or adjuncts. Munich, two-row, maris otter, etc. Adjuncts include rice and oats.

Sometimes you see a steeping recipe that asks for victory malt, which should be mashed. It's not a problem to steep it, though!

Generally many malts can be steeped with good results. It's probably easier to learn the ones that can't!

 

[ArcaneXor]

You can steep caramel and roasted malts. Base and kilned character malts need to be mashed.

 

[damij]

In my experience, most grains that have been cracked *can* be steeped at 150 for 30 min with fairly good results, however, most will yield much better results with a stepped mash / sparge at proper temps. If you are doing a partial grain recipe using extracts; steeping will be fine for 95% of the grains you will probably be using in that scenario.

 

[Sacreddog717]

This should help

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Malts_Chart

 

[ThereThere]

This should help

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Malts_Chart

Why is honey malt have the "mash required" box checked? Isn't it a specialty grain. I've seen it in kits before and its under the specialty grain category at Midwest Supplies.

 

[dcp27]

Why is honey malt have the "mash required" box checked? Isn't it a specialty grain. I've seen it in kits before and its under the specialty grain category at Midwest Supplies.

cuz you'll still get the flavor from steeping, you just wont get the sugar. its a different process than other crystals

 

[FerroPlasm]

Don't mean to hijack, but I think this could be good info for any beginners reading this thread, myself included. Can someone speak to the method of preparation for specialty grains? I understand that they're used to add color, body, aroma, etc, but are fermentable sugars added during steeping as well? Have the starches been converted to sugars? Please forgive my ignorance.

 

[Yooper]

Don't mean to hijack, but I think this could be good info for any beginners reading this thread, myself included. Can someone speak to the method of preparation for specialty grains? I understand that they're used to add color, body, aroma, etc, but are fermentable sugars added during steeping as well? Have the starches been converted to sugars? Please forgive my ignorance.

This is from our wiki (and a better explanation than I could ever give!):

Stewing (Crystallization)
Crystal malt, also known as caramel malt or by a number of other trade names, is not kilned; instead, the green malt is heated in a high-moisture environment until the enzymes present in the green malt convert the grain's starch to sugar. This process is sometimes called stewing, and the chemical conversion is fundamentally the same as what happens in the mash. Each grain of a stewed malt has basically been mashed inside its hull. The malt is then cured to render it shelf stable, at which time the interior of the grain hardens into a crystalline substance composed mostly of sugar.

Because it has already been converted in the equivalent of a mash, most crystal malt, except for the very lightest, least stewed versions, can be used in extract brewing without having to be mashed by the homebrewer.


So what it's saying, crystal/caramel/cara- malts are preconverted, and thus can be used with or without a mash.