Is steeping grains same as partial mash?

[BansheeRider]

I'm a little confused because my LHBS recommended that I put my grains in a seperate sauce pan, heat to 170, and sparge for 30 min stirring ocaasionally (grains are not in a muslin sack). Then they said to heat a seperate pot of water to rinse the grain over the brew kettle.

I asked them about steeping and they basically said steeping sucks and I should use their method. Does anybody have any insight on this? Isn't my LHBS preferred method called a partial mash? I have no clue on how to do this or why it's the preferred method.

BTW this is recipe includes LME.

 

[michael_mus]

I'm a little confused because my LHBS recommended that I put my grains in a seperate sauce pan, heat to 170, and sparge for 30 min stirring ocaasionally (grains are not in a muslin sack). Then they said to heat a seperate pot of water to rinse the grain over the brew kettle.

I asked them about steeping and they basically said steeping sucks and I should use their method. Does anybody have any insight on this? Isn't my LHBS preferred method called a partial mash? I have no clue on how to do this or why it's the preferred method.

A brew made with extract plus specialty grains that were steeped in a pot is extract + specialty grain brewing.

 

[amandabab]

their method is pointless and time consuming.

170 is high steeping and will denature any enzymes so its not mashing.
sparging steeps grains for 1/2 hour is nuts.

"steeping sucks" is odd because what they are saying to do isn't mashing its steeping AND wasting your time.

 

[BansheeRider]

A brew made with extract plus specialty grains that were steeped in a pot is extract + specialty grain brewing.

I understand but why use a seperate pot for the grains and then rinse after 30 min? Why not just steep in the kettle like the recipe says to do?

 

[BansheeRider]

their method is pointless and time consuming.

170 is high steeping and will denature any enzymes so its not mashing.
sparging steeps grains for 1/2 hour is nuts.

"steeping sucks" is odd because what they are saying to do isn't mashing its steeping AND wasting your time.

My thoughts exactly! They said steeping in a bag isn't as effective.

 

[AMonkey]

An extract brew with specialty grains would use roughly 6 pounds of extract and just a pound or two of grain and not include any fermentable grain. A partial mash gets some fermentables from grain like 2-row and the rest from extract, roughly 3 pounds of extract.

 

[unionrdr]

I'm a little confused because my LHBS recommended that I put my grains in a seperate sauce pan, heat to 170, and sparge for 30 min stirring ocaasionally (grains are not in a muslin sack). Then they said to heat a seperate pot of water to rinse the grain over the brew kettle.

I asked them about steeping and they basically said steeping sucks and I should use their method. Does anybody have any insight on this? Isn't my LHBS preferred method called a partial mash? I have no clue on how to do this or why it's the preferred method.

BTW this is recipe includes LME.

Sparging is the act of "rinsing" the steeped or mashed grains. More typical of mashing. Steeping in water of 150-165F is better done for 30 minutes. The amount of water for steeping isn't critical like when mashing.
Sparge water is heated in a seperate kettle to 165-168F to rinse the grains in a collander (if in a bag),or a fine mesh strainer (if loose). This way,you get more out of the grains for the boil instead of just adding plain water.
As an example,I mash 5lbs of grains in 2 gallons of water for 1 hour at about 152F. Sparge with 1.5 gallons of 165-168F water for a total boil volume of 3.5 gallons.

 

[amandabab]

I understand but why use a seperate pot for the grains and then rinse after 30 min? Why not just steep in the kettle like the recipe says to do?

for an extract/steeping grain, no reason not too. If you want to get a little extra out of the small grain bag
drain for a few minutes or pour some rinse water over it, then get down to brewing.

just in case they did set you up with a partial mash recipe and are explaining the process badly, whats the recipe?

 

[unionrdr]

Recipe & ingredients please...

 

[billl]

From a human size scale, mashing and steeping look exactly the same. Add hot water to grains and let sit. Rinse them with some more water to get all the goodness out.

From a microscopic level, they are pretty different. In steeping, the hot water just dissolves the sugar already there. In a mash, enzymes react with starches in the grain and break them down into simple sugars. Those enzymes only act in a narrow temperature range. Grains that already have been roasted to convert their sugars can just be steeped. Grains that still have mostly starches need to be mashed.

Neither version really knows what kind of pot you are using, so use whatever is easiest for you. Any old pot will work for steeping. For mashing, you'll need to be able to maintain the proper temperatures. That means either having a way to add heat as it cools off OR insulating it somehow to keep the heat in.

 

[weirdboy]

The people at your LHBS are confused.

 

[unionrdr]

...or not very knowledgable as to the reasons things are done the way they are.

 

[LoloMT7]

Here is a great biab write up with pictures post (It is not a partial mash with extract but it would be the same process for your grains on mashing and sparging them) Then just add your extract and brew as you normally would. Good luck.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-stovetop-all-grain-brewing-pics-90132/

 

[BansheeRider]

for an extract/steeping grain, no reason not too. If you want to get a little extra out of the small grain bag
drain for a few minutes or pour some rinse water over it, then get down to brewing.

just in case they did set you up with a partial mash recipe and are explaining the process badly, whats the recipe?

Recipe & ingredients please...

It's the White House porter recipe. It includes just over 2lbs of grain and 6.5 lbs of Gold LME.

 

[unionrdr]

I looked it up on midwest,& no ingredients are given. Looking at the PDF,they're def steeping grains. So the recommended temp of 155F for 30 minutes in 1.5-2 gallons of water would be fine.

 

[BansheeRider]

I looked it up on midwest,& no ingredients are given. Looking at the PDF,they're def steeping grains. So the recommended temp of 155F for 30 minutes in 1.5-2 gallons of water would be fine.

The ingredients are on the picture of the box. 6.5 lbs LME, 1lb of caramel 20 malt, 12 oz of Munich, 6oz of black patent, 3oz of chocolate malt, 1.5 lbs of honey. Maybe my LHBS was talking about steeping the grains in a seperate pot without the grain bag to get more flavor. Then strain the grains with hot water over the brew kettle. Would this be a better method than steeping in the kettle with a muslin bag?

 

[unionrdr]

It would allow for stirring the grains to get higher efficiency. Or just use a paint strainer bag instead of the muslin bag. I hope that was caramunich. It can be steeped. Munich must be mashed,or you get starch water haze.

 

[amandabab]

Not enough munich to worry about starch, its a steeping recipe. just use the Midwest directions.

the must be mashed thing is over used. Small amonts of "must be mashed" grains have been steeped for color/flavor for decades without starch gremlin ruiinng the batch.

 

[BansheeRider]

Sounds good. I have paint strainer bags so maybe I'll use that. I'll let it drain on its own in a pot through out the boil and dump it in late.