If I decide to do a full boil how will that effect my steeping? Will steeping in 5 gallons delute my steeping, or should I steep in a gallon of water before adding it to the total of 5 gallons, provided it calls for 1 gallon per 1lb of grain?
Using too much water will cause a higher ph and possible tannic flavor. Depending on the style of beer and the ph of your water to start with the higher ph could be more or less of a problem. At best you could easily expect less mouth feel or a thinner sensation with the final beer. Stick with the 1 and 1/4 to 1 and 1/3 qt of H2O per lb of grain. The other problem that you run into if you use all your H20 in you partial mash or extract steep is that you have nothing to sparge with.
Steeping is just dissolving sugars on the grains and rinsing them off. The larger the volume of water the more effective it will be.
If mashing ...... well that is something completely different.
Using too much water will cause a higher ph and possible tannic flavor. Depending on the style of beer and the ph of your water to start with the higher ph could be more or less of a problem. At best you could easily expect less mouth feel or a thinner sensation with the final beer. Stick with the 1 and 1/4 to 1 and 1/3 qt of H2O per lb of grain. The other problem that you run into if you use all your H20 in you partial mash or extract steep is that you have nothing to sparge with.
+1. for steeping, the volume is irrelevent since its just a rinse and sparging of it is entirely unnecessary.
+1. for steeping, the volume is irrelevent since its just a rinse and sparging of it is entirely unnecessary.
yes...volume is irrelevant...along with tannin extraction. you shouldn't be steeping in anything over 155 anyway...your just taking off color and some sugars.
Thanks for the all the replies, it makes sense to me that the volumn shouldn't matter since you wouldn't be boiling any the grain past 155 degrees, just the "tea water" after the grains are removed.
Tannin extraction is from ph not temperature. How else would decoction mashing work?
"For best flavor results, the ratio of steeping water to grain should be less than 1 gallon per pound. This will help keep the PH below 6 and minimize tannin extraction in alkaline water."
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