When and how do I steep

[jkw1000]

I am brewing a partial mash recipe tomorrow and I have read that it may be better to not mash my dark grains and steep them. My recipe is:

6.6 lbs. Amber Liquid Malt Extract
1 lb. Light Munich Grain
1/2 lb. Greman Dark Crystal
12 oz. Carafa Grain
2 oz. Hallertauer Hops (60 min.)
1 oz. Tettnager Hops (5 min.)
1 pkg.White Labs WLP810 San Francisco Lager Yeast

How and when do I steep the dark grains (Carafa and dark crystal)? I mash with a mini cooler and do partial boils, adding near freezing 3 gallons of water to carboy.

 

[JonM]

Well, the way I would do it is to steep the grains in the water as it heats up, then pull the grain out when the water gets to 170. Others do it differently, but that's what works for me.

The only problem I see with this grain bill is the Munich. That's a base malt and it needs to be mashed to do anything. So if you're going to mash the Munich, you might as well just throw the specialty grains in with them. Or you can just skip the Munich all together - the extract will give you plenty of fermentables and the one lb. of Munich would only add a small amount of sugars.

 

[alane1]

Heat the wort to about 160-170 place the crushed grains in a grain bag and steep at this temp for 20 min, remove grains and continue with the boil.

 

[jkw1000]

My dilemma is, I am mashing with 1 gallon and then sparge with another gallon. Do I steep them in the 2 gallon wort (less with mash ton loss) after sparge? I would hate to steep in a separate amount of water and add that as it would throw off my boil volume and hop utilization.

 

[JonM]

I don't quite follow - if you're mashing the Munich, why don't you put the specialty grains in with the mash? if you steep them separately, that's just an unnecessary extra step. Steeping them separately won't do anything different than putting them in the mash.

 

[jkw1000]

All I have heard and read is, don't mash certain (or all, not sure) dark grains. Beersmith also say no to mashing certain ones, the dark ones in the recipe here included. You get chalky flavors and other things. I did here in big dark beers (like porters and stouts) it's not as noticeable.

 

[JonM]

Ah - yep, you're right. I've seen things that recommend getting the color from carafa, but avoiding its flavor contributions by not mashing it. Some people will sprinkle the carafa onto the mash right before the sparge and then sparge as normal, which works well. I bet steeping the carafa in the runnings would do the same thing.

You probably do want the flavor contribution from the crystal malts, though.

 

[jkw1000]

Ah, that's a good idea about adding to mash last. Steeping in sparked wort was my thought originally. Thanks!