Time saver? Or ill advised?

[mahilly]

Can steeping grains be steeped in a separate pot while simultaneously boiling the extract and hops in the main pot? (And then add them together once steeping is done) Or will this yield a different (bad) end result?

 

[Pappers_]

You'd need to be careful that your total volume doesn't exceed whatever size batch you are trying to brew (5 gallons, probably).

 

[Baldy_Beer_Brewery]

When doing extract kits, I steeped my grains as the water was approaching boiling temperatures pulling the grain bag at about 150 or 155 degrees. So essentially this took no more or no less time than what you are wanting to do.

You aren't getting your fermentables from the steeping grains so it isn't a big issue.

 

[viking999]

The problem with this method is that the gravity of the extract part will likely be higher than the total gravity of the wort, which results in inferior hops utilization. Ideally, the hops should be boiled in something with the same ingredient ratios (and thus the same gravity) of the whole wort. So you can split up the recipe into fractions and prepare each one in a separate pot (which I do because I don't have the cooking power to boil a full batch), but separating different parts of the wort into different pots will impact the hops negatively. The method you describe will work, but I'd expect a result similar to doing a partial boil and then topping off with plain water.

One method some people use is they do a partial boil, but they hold off on adding part of their extract until the end of the boil, once the hops are mostly done cooking. That improves the hops utilization, because they are cooking in wort that is closer to the full boil gravity for most of the time. I've never tried this, so I can't say for sure how well it works.

Another thing that would work if it takes you a long time to come to a boil is to do the steeping separately while waiting for the other pot to come to a boil. Then the steeping will hopefully be done by the time the other pot is boiling, and you can just combine them before adding extract and hops.

But Baldy's suggestion is probably the best if you really want to cut out that steeping time. A lot of people on here steep the grains that way without reporting any ill effects, although I've never tried it.