Is a grain bag for steeping necessary?

[Viator]

I have a quick newbie question. When steeping grains, in an partial boil extract brew, is there a detrimental effect when you just steep the grains free and then poor them through a strainer into the boiling pot? Everything I read talks about using a grain bag, but my local shop said just strain them.

 

[ajf]

Welcome to the forum.

I don't think I ever used a grain bag for steeping grains, but I did use a strainer. Never had a problem with that procedure.

Good luck.

-a.

 

[mtyquinn]

I used to use a grain bag, but if your using a strainer and boiling- sounds good.

 

[d3track]

It means one less kettle to clean afterwards

 

[CTownBrewer]

The only issue I can think of is that if the grain is resting on the bottom of the kettle as it's heated, I would think you could get some scortching depending on how hot the bottom of the kettle gets/your source of heat.

When I brewed extract, I used a grain bag & kept it so that the bottom didn't come into contact with the kettle.

 

[billf2112]

I used a grain bag and did fet some scorcing. I bought a larger bag and clipped it to both sides of my pot so it hung and no more scorching and way more favor. It led me to doing partial mash brews with a simple 3 gallon drink cooler.

 

[Draken]

The main advantage of a bag is that you can put it in the brew pot as it heats and hold temp there instead of transferring hot liquid around.

 

[zeg]

For my first brew, I did not use a bag. I just poured the grains in and then fished them out with a strainer. No need to transfer liquids or anything, just scoop 'em out and pour them into a bowl or the trash.

On my second brew, another extract+grains, I think I used a muslin bag. I guess it was a bit more convenient, but not a big difference. Still involves dealing with hot, wet grains.

Now I do partial mash BIAB brews, so I guess that's closer to using a bag. For extract, I probably wouldn't bother with a bag if I didn't already have one.