Steeping Temp went above 170 Degrees

[HopKeller]

Newb here. I was brewing an IPA with a friend of mine and we got busy bullsh*itting and such...anyhow, the steeping temperature for our specialty grains went above 170 deg, briefly. I was on it quickly and and reduced the temp. I'm wondering, though, how much affect this may have on the beer. After pitching and checking the OG, we both tasted it and it didn't seem especially bitter - I'm assuming we'd taste any abnormalities caused by overheating the grains at that point. Am I wrong?

BTW - this was a partial mash, not all grain.

 

[bgrayson726]

Steeping grains above 170 will probably cause tanins in your beer. It could also cause astringency (think sucking on a tea bag). You probably won't know the damage until after it has fermented. How long was it over 170? And what temp did you bring it down to? How long was it at 150-155 and how long was it over 155?

 

[scrambledegg81]

All depends on how long the grain was left in. You might have extracted a few tannins (since you mentioned it was only left in briefly), but in the overall scheme of things, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Since it's a regular IPA, I wouldn't suggest conditioning it for more than 3-4 weeks, but as long as you didn't squeeze the grain bag, you should be fine.

 

[Weizenwerks]

Did you take the temperature of the grain or the water?

The temperature of the grain is what matters. As long as the temperature of the grain remains below 170 degrees, there is no tannin extraction. It's not about the water temperature, it's about the grain temperature.

 

[GoHawks]

All depends on how long the grain was left in. You might have extracted a few tannins (since you mentioned it was only left in briefly), but in the overall scheme of things, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Since it's a regular IPA, I wouldn't suggest conditioning it for more than 3-4 weeks, but as long as you didn't squeeze the grain bag, you should be fine.

Does squeezing the grain bag cause tannin release? What about if the temp was under 170?

 

[scrambledegg81]

Well that was common knowledge until I looked a little deeper. I understand hardly anything about grain biology (?!), but there's some knowledgeable insight about tannins here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/mysterious-villian-known-tannin-247720/

 

[GoHawks]

Well that was common knowledge until I looked a little deeper. I understand hardly anything about grain biology (?!), but there's some knowledgeable insight about tannins here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/mysterious-villian-known-tannin-247720/

Thanks for this i appreciate it.

 

[HopKeller]

Thanks for all the info.
The water temp rose to 170+ for only a few minutes. I did not squeeze the bag, knew better than that. We hopped the heck out of it, so yeah, I'm hoping any potential off flavors that may have developed would be overshadowed by the hops.
FYI, we used Warrior & Centennial for bitterness, flavor and aroma and added some Amarillo dry hop after pitching the yeast.