Squeezing out remaining wort from specialty grains bag?

[Dirk McLargeHuge]

I guess the way I look at it, squeezing probably isn't as detrimental as has been commonly stated, but you really aren't gaining anything much out of it, so why bother?

To get one extra gravity point? Or is it the waste not want not mentality. "All that good sweet water is still in the grain!" I confess that when I watch a cooking show on TV, and the chef dumps 4/5 of a bowl of chopped onions, say, I do talk to the TV to ask why he didn't just dump the whole thing in.

[spiderwrangler]

I confess that when I watch a cooking show on TV, and the chef dumps 4/5 of a bowl of chopped onions, say, I do talk to the TV to ask why he didn't just dump the whole thing in.

That's me with hops. I usually end up throwing whatever's left in at flameout rather than try to reseal and save a couple 1/4 ounces.

[brewinhard]

I confess that when I watch a cooking show on TV, and the chef dumps 4/5 of a bowl of chopped onions, say, I do talk to the TV to ask why he didn't just dump the whole thing in.

That's me with hops. I usually end up throwing whatever's left in at flameout rather than try to reseal and save a couple 1/4 ounces.

Just did that last week with my Dortmunder. Hops AWAY!

[crashlann]

Thanks for a the replies. I am an extract brewer, and I was referring to steeping specialty grains. When I lift the bag out of the pot, it seems like there is a lot of "good stuff" left in there, but I recalled somewhere hearing to not squeeze the grains. Reading Palmers book I think it mentioned in the sparging and lautering process to rinse and allow the wort to drain without any more pressure than its own weight with concern for tannins. Sounds like its not that big of a deal for what Im doing, but not really needed or helpful either. Thanks again!

[spiderwrangler]

I'll often just put the bag in a plastic food storage container in the sink and let it sit until I get up to a boil then pour any liquid in, but I don't really concern myself with it too much. If you don't think you are getting enough contribution from your specialty malts, you can always up the weights by a slight amount for each.

[Fugglupagus]

I also think Palmer says thou shalt not squeeze thy grains. Not sure it really makes a difference, but I treat mine with tenderness anyway. I figure better safe than sorry, and I really don’t think I’m losing anything meaningful.

I’ve also done the grain bag in a colander over a bowl thing. Whatever dribbles into the bowl goes into the kettle. Lately I’ve been steeping in a separate, small pot. While I steep I heat water in my boil kettle to high 160’s. When steep is done, I move the grain bag into the plain kettle water, swirl and dunk a bit, then send the grains directly to compost. Afterwards I carefully add the steeping fluid to kettle, then rock on as usual.

I've also put the grain bag in a colander suspended over my kettle and poured 160 degree water over the top to rinse them off. This method hurt far more than the others I mentioned. So I don't recommend it.