specialty grain?

[sprintman82x]

I'am wondering what the correct way to steep specialty grains in a extract batch. Do you heat the water to 155-165°F then put in grains for 20-30 minutes or do you put them in right away and take them out when the water reaches 170°f or does it make a difference? Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[jonnyp1980]

Steep at temps 150 to 165. You want to be below 170.

 

[Pezman1]

Basically, you soak the grains for around 30 minutes at around 155 degrees.

The temp really isn't that critical. What I do is heat a gallon of water in a small pot to 170 degrees, turn off the heat, dump in the grain bag, and let sit for 30 minutes. In the meantime, the rest of my water is heating in my kettle.

Many folks do it differently, and there really isn't much of a wrong way to do it.

Do not tie the grain bag so your grains make a tight ball. Instead, tie the bag as loose as you can so the grains can have plenty of water contact


There is debate on if you should squeeze the bag or rinse it. I'm not sure it matters overly much at all, but I set my bag in a strainer over the brew pot and pour the gallon of grain "tea" over it into the brew kettle.

Pez.

Edit - don't freak if you exceed 170 or even boil the grains. Chances are you will be just fine ( I know from experience!). There is a POSSIBILITY of extracting tannins if you boil the grains and your PH is off, but I think this is over-rated.

 

[TopherM]

Heat the water to temp THEN put in the specialty grains. It's the same idea as making tea or coffee, you want to extract the color and flavor from the specialty grains, and 155 is the optimal temp to do so. As close as you can maintain the temp at 155, the more consistent results you will get, though it's not a big deal if you lose a few degrees or overshoot by a few.

The magic BAD number is 180F, as prolonged exposure above that temp with help from proper PH conditions will start to leach undesirable tannins into your wort. Don't think of tannins as that much of a boogieman, though, because lots of peeps, including myself, have accidentally boiled, as in 212F, specialty grains for 5+ minutes and had no problems with tannins even at that temp, as the PH conditions really need to be spot on to aid in tannin extraction as well, and they typically won't be in your extract batch unless you are actively trying to control PH with water conditioning agents.

Anyways, all that to say, RDWHAHB!!!

Good luck!