Starch Haze - partial/steeping

[BarleyThief37]

Greetings Beer Folk.

I'm concerned with a recent brew that I made (currently at 1wk in fermenter).

Basically, I used the "Steeping technique" for a high-grav (1.087) extract brew using

1lb Caramel 10L, and
1lb Bonlander Munich 10L

That is, steeping up to 155-165degF in about ~3.5gal of water and then holding for around 30 mins. I squeezed the bejesus out of the grain sack afterwards, too!

It has come to my attention that the Munich malt is meant to be "mashed" rather than steeped. Could any unconverted starches from steeping the Munich malt cause any sever detriment to my beer?? It is not too widely talked about online, but I have run across some horror stories regarding "starch haze".

Thanks in advance!

BarleyThief

 

[RM-MN]

Greetings Beer Folk.

I'm concerned with a recent brew that I made (currently at 1wk in fermenter).

Basically, I used the "Steeping technique" for a high-grav (1.087) extract brew using

1lb Caramel 10L, and
1lb Bonlander Munich 10L

That is, steeping up to 155-165degF in about ~3.5gal of water and then holding for around 30 mins. I squeezed the bejesus out of the grain sack afterwards, too!

It has come to my attention that the Munich malt is meant to be "mashed" rather than steeped. Could any unconverted starches from steeping the Munich malt cause any sever detriment to my beer?? It is not too widely talked about online, but I have run across some horror stories regarding "starch haze".

Thanks in advance!

BarleyThief

Yes it could but at this point in the making of your beer it is impossible to tell if you will have a problem or not. A lot will depend on how well the grains were milled and whether the temperature was 155 or 165. At 155 with a well milled grain you would have complete starch conversion within the 30 minutes. At 165 you could have denatured the enzymes before the conversion was complete and if the grains were coarsely milled it might not make much difference how long they were "steeped" because conversion won't happen until the water reaches the starches.

 

[BarleyThief37]

Grains were milled up pretty good - same cut as would be used for 'mashing', from the guy at my local store. I steeped both types of grains together in the same bag. And basically, steeped the grain bag in the kettle as the temp increased from hot sink water up to 155. Thirty minutes later, my max temp my have reached 160-162ish, as I was keeping a pretty close eye on it; dipping and swirling/steeping the bag basically the whole time.

So what's the worst that can happen from "starch haze"? Has anybody experienced this before? I can't find a whole lot of detailed info online....

Thanks

BarleyThief

 

[RM-MN]

About the worst that can happen is you get hazy beer. Have you ever drunk a hefeweizen? Those are supposed to be hazy from yeast (that's the hefe part of hefeweizen) but if you make one and it stays in the bottle too long it will become clear. Some homebrewers will add a tablespoon of wheat flour because the starch haze produced that way will never clear.