How long do you steep?

[Fudd]

When you steep the crushed grain while making wort they say to take it out before the water boils, at about 180 F I think. Do people normally use a thermometer to check that or do they go buy eye and if so do they mean take it out 1 second or 5 minutes before it boils?

I know what is supposed to happen if you leave it in too long, but what happens when you don't leave it in long enough?

 

[El Pistolero]

Bring your steeping water up to 155F, then dump the grains in and steep them for 30 minutes. Alternatively, many people bring the water to a near boil, then remove from heat and dump in the grains, or just put the grains in the cold water, bring to a near boil, then remove from heat and steep 20 minutes.

If you don't steep long enough, you won't get all the color and flavor out of the grains.

 

[Waldo]

The directions in the kits I've used (Brewers Best and Northern Brewers) are a little week in the description of that part of the brew. The way they read is you put the grain in the cold pot bring the water up to 170 F and pull it out, that's what I did on my first batch. I then I found this place and learned that you are suppose to let the grain steep at 150 F to 160 F for 30 minutes and I now do it that way.

 

[Walker]

either method is fine, really. As long as you get them very warm, but not too hot (not over 180 degrees) you should be fine.

-walker

 

[God Emporer BillyBrew]

The directions in the kits I've used (Brewers Best and Northern Brewers) are a little week in the description of that part of the brew. The way they read is you put the grain in the cold pot bring the water up to 170 F and pull it out, that's what I did on my first batch. I then I found this place and learned that you are suppose to let the grain steep at 150 F to 160 F for 30 minutes and I now do it that way.

If you do that next time, open up your grain bag and smell and look at the grain. There is tons of flavor still in there, that is not in your beer! Like Walker said, either of the two that Pistolero mentioned are good. Also, lot's of people, myself included, will catch the grains in a strainer and pour warm water over them into your fermenter. I think they call that sparging.

 

[Fudd]

So what do you guys use to measure the temperature and where do I get one. I don't have a thermometer that comes even close to that high, so what do I use and where do I get it?

 

[Walker]

I have a thermometer that came with some long-ago purchased beginner's kit. Brewer's Best. That thermometer floats and has a big range on it (I don't recall the exact bounds, but they are way lower than anything I care about and way higher than anything I want.)

You can also get a candy thermometer (used for making hard-tack candy)... that one goes up to about 300 degrees or so, but the low range sucks for checking post-cooled wort temps (the lowest mark is 100 degrees.) The candy thermometer is nice because it clips to the side of the kettle and can be left there while you work.

-walker

 

[SteveM]

It's a pretty forgiving process in any case - I once completely forgot to remove the bag of grains for the whole boil and the beer was fine - no excess bitterness or scorched flavor or anything.

 

[God Emporer BillyBrew]

They also sell those probe thermometer for about $4 in the cooking section of wal mart. they go up to at least 210.

 

[Walker]

It's a pretty forgiving process in any case - I once completely forgot to remove the bag of grains for the whole boil and the beer was fine - no excess bitterness or scorched flavor or anything.

wow... you might have been very lucky there!

or.. were you just using roasted grains (black patent, chocolate, etc)? Those roasted grains usually have had the husks removed from the kernels, and the husks are where the bitter tannins hide, so you probably CAN get those ones as hot as you want with no danger.

-walker

 

[Matt]

I got a good thermometer from my homebrew store for about $15. It goes from about freezing to 220 F. The thing I like most is that unlike a candy thermometer, it is good in the lower temperature ranges. The first time I brewed, I used a candy thermometer that only went as low as 100 F and I think I shocked the yeast as a result. So when I bought this thermometer I made sure it could tell me when the wort was cooled enough.