Steeping vs Mini-Mash

[Beer_Guy]

I was looking through my inventory and wanted to use up some ingredients I have.

I have about a pound of base grains, 1.6lbs of steeping grains and 1.37lbs of Briess Golden Light DME.

Question 1: How will doing a mini mash with the steeping grains help?

Question 2: How will just steeping the base grains affect the final brew?

Extract
1.37lbs Briess Golden Light:

Base Grains:
0.7lbs Pilsner
0.25lbs Victory.

Steeping grains:
0.6lbs Crystal 20L
0.45lbs Crystal 40L
0.5lbs Chocolate

FYI: This is for a 1.5 gallon batch.

 

[BendBrewer]

1 - You can steep or mash the steeping grains with the base malt. We mash them with the base malt out of convenience.

2 - Base malts need to be mashed to convert the starches to sugars. If you steep them, you'll be adding unwanted starches to your beer and no fermentables.