Beer Forum

Gentlemen,
I have a friend that waited til the end of the boil to steep his specialty grains (at boiling temp). He then let them soak for the prescribed amount of time, of course at a much higher temp than called for. What are your opinions on how this will affect the outcome of the brew?
Thanks

I'm not well versed in extract brewing but my guess would be you will end up with a highly dextrine effect. You most likely will have extracted tanins at those temps and that will effect the flavor of the beer for sure. First rule, never give up on your beer until it's drinking time.

I'm trying to understand why. I can't see any benefit from that method, unless he was steeping in a separate pot and mocking a full boil.

He didn't intentionally do it. It was a step he missed (a big one, I know), but thought he could catch up later. I will let him know not to count it out until drinking time. He may love the tannin-esce flavor.

Yeah... don't give up until you realize that it's undrinkable (which it may not be). But your "friend" is probably going to end up with a pretty astringent beer

At a boil, especially given the water-to-grain ratio, he will have denatured the enzymes almost immediately, so I doubt he will have extracted any sugars from the specialty grains. His beer will probably be a bit lower gravity than projected if he was expecting any contribution from steeping.

The enzymes in specialty grains were already denatured during the malting process. The steeping of specialty grains only dissolves the sugars already present in the grains. No need to worry about conversion. The main concern with boiling is as posted above; harsh tannins.