Steeping specialty grains methods

[Daver77]

I learned to brew from a kit I got when I bought my 5 gal stuff. In the instructions it says to steep the specialty grains in a muslin bag. I go t the LHBS and the guy behind the counter says he recommends not using the grain sock because you don't get max efficiency that way.

BTW this is Maltose Express where I get my stuff from the owners wrote the book Clone Beers and Beer Captured.

So he proceeds to explain how to "steep the specialty grains.
According to the way they do it , if they are steeping say 1lb of grains they put it in a smaller pot with a gallon of water and mash for an hour at 155 degrees. He then uses a strainer to dump the grains in while the wort goes into your big pot and then pours the sparge water also at 155 over the grain bed sitting in the strainer.

Anyone else do it this way?

 

[rudu81]

I suppose that the strainer method would work, but you're not really looking to get a lot of fermentables out of the specialty grains. Specialty grains add color, body, flavor, etc. Your LHBS guy is right in essence, but I'm not sure it's worth the effort - I'd just use more extract.

 

[Daver77]

Yeah that's what I figured. He made it sound like a mini mash.

Come to think about it I'm headed that way. I want to to partial mashes soon!

 

[Yooper]

That's crazy- and way more work! Of course, you don't want to pack the grains into a bag tightly. You want the grains to be loose in the grainbag, so that you can stir it well and thoroughly saturate the grains. If you have more than a pound of grain, you can use a bigger bag (like those 5 gallon paint strainer bags from Home Depot), or two smaller bags.

I won't comment on my feelings about Beer Captured, as that's not really important to this dicussion except to say that their instructions are often lacking and some of the recipes aren't really very good.

Keep in mind that some AG brewers do the entire batch in a bag- BIAB for Brew In A Bag. They make great beer. If they can make an entire all-grain batch in a bag, I think you could do a pound or two of specialty grains!

 

[Daver77]

That's crazy- and way more work! Of course, you don't want to pack the grains into a bag tightly. You want the grains to be loose in the grainbag, so that you can stir it well and thoroughly saturate the grains. If you have more than a pound of grain, you can use a bigger bag (like those 5 gallon paint strainer bags from Home Depot), or two smaller bags.

I won't comment on my feelings about Beer Captured, as that's not really important to this dicussion except to say that their instructions are often lacking and some of the recipes aren't really very good.

Keep in mind that some AG brewers do the entire batch in a bag- BIAB for Brew In A Bag. They make great beer. If they can make an entire all-grain batch in a bag, I think you could do a pound or two of specialty grains!

Yeah I mentioned brew in a bag and they looked at me like I had snot on my face.

I try not to ask for advice in any brew shop I have been in. I ussualy get pretty good info here and from books.

 

[Rev2010]

Keep in mind that some AG brewers do the entire batch in a bag- BIAB for Brew In A Bag. They make great beer. If they can make an entire all-grain batch in a bag, I think you could do a pound or two of specialty grains!

Yooper here is extremely wise as always. As she said, you don't want to jam pack a sock to the brim with grain, but as long as it's not tightly packed in there you're perfectly fine.

I use muslin bags and I also have large nylon straining bags. I've used the muslin bags so far exclusively since they're dirt cheap and I don't need to worry about cleaning them out for reuse. The only thing I've found with muslin bags that I can recommend is giving them a rinse first. Sometimes they come with lots of cotton fluff and personally I feel better without that in my wort


Rev.

 

[jonmohno]

Is there any disadavantage to mash or steep with loose grains and then just strain them with a nylon bag into the brew pot with water for the boil water thats warming?
Ive also been adding room temp water after the steep or mash then bringing the full volume upto the boil to add the malt extract and hops

 

[cervezarara]

There's a pretty interesting thread on fermentability of crystals here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/testing-fermentability-crystal-malt-208361/

I guess it depends on what you want to get out of your grains- I like the body they impart if i use a highly attenuative yeast.

Cheers

 

[Yooper]

Is there any disadavantage to mash or steep with loose grains and then just strain them with a nylon bag into the brew pot with water for the boil water thats warming?
Ive also been adding room temp water after the steep or mash then bringing the full volume upto the boil to add the malt extract and hops

No, I can't' think of any advantage or disadvantage. Just that trying to strain them all out afterwards might be a pain.