Hi,
I'm brewing an extract kit for Rogue's Hazelnut Brown Nectar today. I have always brewed extract, and I've been trying to improve my techniques.
A few beers back I started heating my kettle water to 160 degrees, then pulling off a gallon of that into a small cooler for the steep. After 30 minutes, I pour the steep water back into the kettle, but the grain bag on a strainer, rinse it with half gallon of 160 degree water that I'd taken out of the kettle earlier, let the bag drain for 10 minutes, then proceed with the boil.
Some advantages to this method are that I can continue heating the water in my kettle, and I can add my first addition of DME / LME while the grains steep. All that reduces my time to boil after the steep is complete.
Anyway, in the middle of today's steep, I had the idea of steeping the grains a second time in the half-gallon of 160 degree water I'd already reserved for rinsing. So I steeped the grains a second time for 10 minutes and used a half-gallon of 175 degree water (I was already warming my kettle water further) to rinse the bag.
The second steep pulled a lot of additional color out of the grains, but. I'm wondering if there are any concerns with doing a second steep like that? I've read that you can extract tannins if you steep too long, but that doesn't appear to happen until well after an hour. If I use this practice in the future, would I be better off doing the first steep for 20 minutes (instead of 30), with a second steep for 10 minutes?
Thanks for your advice!
I'm brewing an extract kit for Rogue's Hazelnut Brown Nectar today. I have always brewed extract, and I've been trying to improve my techniques.
A few beers back I started heating my kettle water to 160 degrees, then pulling off a gallon of that into a small cooler for the steep. After 30 minutes, I pour the steep water back into the kettle, but the grain bag on a strainer, rinse it with half gallon of 160 degree water that I'd taken out of the kettle earlier, let the bag drain for 10 minutes, then proceed with the boil.
Some advantages to this method are that I can continue heating the water in my kettle, and I can add my first addition of DME / LME while the grains steep. All that reduces my time to boil after the steep is complete.
Anyway, in the middle of today's steep, I had the idea of steeping the grains a second time in the half-gallon of 160 degree water I'd already reserved for rinsing. So I steeped the grains a second time for 10 minutes and used a half-gallon of 175 degree water (I was already warming my kettle water further) to rinse the bag.
The second steep pulled a lot of additional color out of the grains, but. I'm wondering if there are any concerns with doing a second steep like that? I've read that you can extract tannins if you steep too long, but that doesn't appear to happen until well after an hour. If I use this practice in the future, would I be better off doing the first steep for 20 minutes (instead of 30), with a second steep for 10 minutes?
Thanks for your advice!