Read and heed directions???

[ChunksJR]

So I was looking for some of the "kits" available online with generic instruction for us Noobs and came across some of these quips on an unnamed brewsite's directions (quote in italics, question in red):

Fill your brewpot with 2.5 gallons of water. Place the specialty grains inside a muslin bag & tie. Add the bag to the brewpot. Turn on the heat. Remove the bag just before the water boils. Does this not result in some severe potential tannins going into the (>170deg) water? What does adding the grains @ <150deg do?

Now that the fermenter is sealed & set aside...pour the [OG] sample into an old beer bottle, place a paper towel in the neck & locate it next to your fermenter. This is called a satellite fermenter. It is used to take hydrometer readings without opening the fermenter. If the satellite becomes infected, the readings are still accurate. Is that "satellite fermenter" statement accurate? Sounds like a good idea to prevent possible future contamination. Anyone with experience on this?

Nostrovia,
dan

 

[erikpete18]

Yeah, the kit instructions will always get you beer, but that doesn't mean they can't be improved upon.

Does this not result in some severe potential tannins going into the (>170deg) water? What does adding the grains @ <150deg do?

I've heard of plenty of people doing this and the beer turned out fine. That being said, I always liked to just warm the water up to about 160, toss the grains in, and let it sit there for 15-30 minutes, then pull it out before turning up the heat. You're really just looking to dissolve some of the sugars and color compounds. If nothing else, practicing getting your temps right around 160 and trying to keep it there puts you on the way to partial mashes if you decide you want to go that far.

Is that "satellite fermenter" statement accurate? Sounds like a good idea to prevent possible future contamination. Anyone with experience on this?

Satellite fermenters will still ferment out, but you can't use them to tell how far along your beer is. The only thing they are good for is to determine what your FG will be. For example, if the satellite fermenter finishes in 5 days and reads 1.018, that doesn't mean that the rest of your batch was finished in 5 days, but it does mean that it should turn out around 1.018, but you'll still have to measure the big fermenter to make sure. That or just leave your big fermenter alone for 3 weeks and measure then, and then you could compare to the satellite fermenter to make sure you didn't stall out.

 

[Golddiggie]

The extract brews, with specialty grains, that I made always said to put the grain ball into the cold water, heat it up to 160F (was told by the guy at the LHBS to not get it up to temp fast), let steep for at least 10 minutes, pull, drain, and discard the grain ball and then get up to a boil and proceed as normal. You could heat to a lower temp, like in the 150's range if you wanted to. I wouldn't go lower than that, and not have the grain ball much higher than 160F on the other end.

For the satellite fermenter thing... I only saw that mentioned (on here) very recently (such as this week)... I've never done it and probably never will. I really don't see the point to it. I let my brews have all the time they need to finish, and become as good/great as they can. Having better control over the fermentation temperature would be of more value than some dinky satellite fermenter (IMO).

I'm using the long primary, no secondary, fermentation model for my brews (I'm not making lagers and such yet, so this works for everything I make)... This means, my brews sit on the yeast for 3-6 weeks before I rack to the bottling bucket.

 

[aggiejay06]

There's definitely no advantage to leaving it in the water and pulling it right before the boil, except for getting to a boil faster after steeping your specialty grains...that being said, I think you'd have a better end result by holding them at a steady temp and sacrificing an extra 15 minutes or so to the beer gods to get your boil going.

 

[Golddiggie]

+1 on the sacrificing to the beer gods for longer... If you can give them a virgin once in a while, your brews will be blessed more.

 

[Kieran]

You can test the optimum temperature with a spent bag of grains. The internal temperature of a packed bag of grains will be a lot lower than the water temp. Obviously the grains on the outside have the best chance of releasing tannins if you bring the water too high. You have a better chance of holding the grains at the 150-ish range after turning off the heat if you heat them up with the water.

 

[NorthRiverS]

I've used a satellite fermentor, a beer bottle, several times. However, I have found their gravity readings to be quite a ways off from the gravity reading in the fermenting bucket. So I don't rely on it as much any more.

NRS