Am thinking of doing a steep of my dark grains along aide my mash, then combining the two. I only want to steep the dark grains 20-30 minutes to avoid extracting as much of the bitterness. I am really after the color they convey more than anything. My readings have suggested that the process of roasting the grains breaks down the starches in the darker grains and will allow for some extraction of sugar. Additionally steeping the grains for a shorter period reduces the color obtained from the grain. So for a 20-30 minute steep time what percentage of sugar and color should I expect?
Steeping along side a mash
- Thread starter Draken
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20-30 minutes will give you about all the color they have to offer. The sugar contribution is nill compared to the base grain/extract.
That's what I'd do. Instead of steeping grains separately, I'd either use them in the mash, or add them at the end of the mash for the sparge, to extract color.
What about 'cool' steeping the dark grains? I've heard of brewers doing this overnight, to basically just extract color for beers like CDA. I've never tried it, but am considering it for my next CDA.
As for steeping the specialty grains in a separate mini mash, I've done that several times but I've always had an ~equivalent amount of base malt with the specialty grains so I can't attest to what type of fermentable sugar extraction you'd get. My guess would be that it would be minimal compared to the fermentables that come from the main mash. I do the mini mash for ~30 mins @ ~152 during the main mash and then combine the two into the kettle, and I've only done this because I was using paint strainer bags for BIAB and had too much grain for one bag to handle. The results were great, I got the same efficiency I expect from a single BIAB mash (~75%), but again, no clue on the efficiency of the mini mash alone.
As for steeping the specialty grains in a separate mini mash, I've done that several times but I've always had an ~equivalent amount of base malt with the specialty grains so I can't attest to what type of fermentable sugar extraction you'd get. My guess would be that it would be minimal compared to the fermentables that come from the main mash. I do the mini mash for ~30 mins @ ~152 during the main mash and then combine the two into the kettle, and I've only done this because I was using paint strainer bags for BIAB and had too much grain for one bag to handle. The results were great, I got the same efficiency I expect from a single BIAB mash (~75%), but again, no clue on the efficiency of the mini mash alone.
BBL_Brewer
Well-Known Member
I've been steeping dark grains in the wort preboil will good results. I steep for 30 minutes at whatever temp my wort ends up at once I combine both runnings (usually in the 135F range). I think it will be unavoidable to omit all flavor and only contribute color. I would keep the amount used to a minumum if color is the primary objective, in which case I wouldn't count on it for a significant sugar contribution.
In a CDA, I use very little dark grains, just enough to get me to ~30 L. Here's a little write up I did about the style, there's also a link in there to a PM recipe thread that I've brewed a few times, and other's have contributed some really solid ideas to the thread/recipe.
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