Why steep grains

Are you looking to step up your brewing game with some grains? It's not too difficult and extra grains will add a lot more dimension and complexity to your brews. You will also have more creative control of your recipes which will truly make them your own. Here's a short primer on how grains are used in what's known as "partial mash" brewing.

If you're just getting into using grains, this should help you out. If you've been using grains for awhile, perhaps you'll still find some helpful tips here. From a procedural standpoint, steeping and mashing both involve soaking crushed grains in water.

But when mashing, you have a more narrow range of temperatures and grain-to-water ratios to work within. You can steep specialty grains at almost any temperature, from the temperature of your water right out of the tap to nearly boiling.

To be safe, it's probably best not to let your steeping temperature climb above F, especially when you're steeping a small amount of grain in a relatively large volume of water. This may extract excess tannins and give your beer a slight iced-tea-like character.

When specialty grains are steeped, the color and flavors from their husks are dissolved into the water. Likewise, any sugars from the interior of the grains are also dissolved. If a grain has a starchy interior, it should be mashed rather than steeped see list below. Another method that is gaining traction for some styles of beer is cold steeping.

Roasted grains such as Black Patent or chocolate malt are crushed and then steeped in cold water overnight. This allows the extraction of color and some flavor, but it reduces some of the harsher flavors that may not be appropriate such as tannins, which can create an undesirable astringent or bitter taste in your beer. This method works well with black IPA's also known as Cascadian Dark Ales that want the color, and to a lesser degree the flavor additions, without the burnt acrid flavors that some of the darker roast malts can impart.

If the roasted flavor additions are just as important as the color addition, you will need to increase the amount of steeping addition by at least half, if not more. When base grains, or a mixture of base grains and specialty grains, are mashed, the temperature is usually held between F and F. Lower temperatures within this range and longer mash times 60—90 minutes produce wort with a high degree of fermentability.

Higher temperatures within this range and shorter mash times, followed by a mash out, make worts with a lower degree of fermentability. A "mash out" is a step in which the grains are heated, by direct heat or by adding hot water, to F after the mash. For most mashes with a ratio of 1. A short sttep like this seems to make sense and it does indeed quickly add colour at the end of the mash, how much it affects the flavour in terms of the addition being more mellow for instance is debateable.

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Black Patent or Black Malt: Roasted in a drum until the malt flavor has pretty much turned to an astringent roastiness, black patent BP is used for stouts, porters, and black lagers. Use this one with caution, because it is easy to overdo it. One ounce will provide a deep red color and flavor nuances in a five-gallon batch and a half pound will make any beer black and roasty.

Roasted Barley: Differs from black patent because it is made from unmalted barley. Actually more malt flavor seems to show through instead of just roast flavor. Others: Victory malt and biscuit malt with their toasted flavor can be used as specialty grains. However, these grains can contain greater or lesser amounts of starch and if you choose to use them steeped in a malt extract-based recipe, you will risk putting starch in your beer.

Starch is a flavor you are probably not after, and it can lead to haze problems. Choose a grain. Prepare the grain. Have the grain milled when you purchase it, or crack it with a rolling pin at home.

This is less messy if you crack it a handful at a time in a plastic bag. This will keep sharp-tasting tannins in the husks and not in your wort. Put the cracked grain, now known as grist, into a cheesecloth or nylon mesh bag and tightly tie the top. Prepare the water.

Put water in your kettle and turn the heat on just as you always do. Do you need a thermometer? It helps, but you can proceed without one, too. If you think the temperature is getting too high, pull the bag out. The second kettle can be fired up to a boil as you steep in the other kettle and will save a little time. Why not use some of those malts that contain unconverted starch and active enzymes, and go for some conversion?

Most every homebrewer starts with an ingredient kit. When learning a new skill start with the easiest form of that skill. Build upon what you learn slowly and steadily.

Pure extract kits will only take you so far though. The simple fact is it is impossible to pull the same complexities and color out of an all extract brew as can be had from using grains. Some styles are near impossible to duplicate without going into the world of grain.

So, at some point all hobbyists make the slow transition through steeping and mini- or partial mashing. Some stop here, which is perfectly fine. Many award winning brews have been made with partial extract. Others will continue their journey into the world of all-grain brewing. This will be especially pertinent information for those homebrewers just starting the transition to using specialty grain and maybe a little base malt in their brewing.

Steeping is the process of soaking crushed specialty grains in hot water to extract color and some flavor compounds from the grain. Steeping is the logical first step into brewing with grain. It opens up new depth of flavor and color to be plumbed.

This is better than using only extract, but it is still limiting. Not all grains are suited to steeping. All grains can be put into a mash, not all grains can be steeped. Some grains have enzymes that must be activated and put to work to make the sugars in the grain available.

A mini-mash is soaking grains in hot water at a particular temperature range to activate these enzymes, which in turn drive the conversion of grain starches into usable sugars. The malting process decides which grains will work in a steep. If the grain has its starches converted to sugar during the malting process they can be used in steeping.