Squeezing out remaining wort from specialty grains bag?

[Dirk McLargeHuge]

Just let the sack hang there... hahahaha.

And remember:

Don't bother with squeezing it.

Not

[brewinhard]

Squeezing the grain bag at the end of steeping can result in tannin extraction (and polyphenols) from the husks of the grains going into your boil. You definitely don't want that flavor as it will lead to some astringency in the finished product. Either let the bag drain in a colander over the boil, or you can rinse it with a quart or so of water around 165 deg F.

[spiderwrangler]

Temperature and pH are going to have much more effect on potential tannin extraction than bag squeezing.

[imahokie]

And most BIAB'ers (including myself) say to squeeze the bag - the tannin extraction is theory and never reality as far as I've read in the BIAB forums

[Cody]

I think the concern here raised by brewinhard centers around the fact that by squeezing the bag, you are stretching it, thereby potentially allowing grain husks to fall into your kettle. I don't think that anyone will argue that boiling grain husks in diluted wort has a high probability of tannin extraction.

That said, I personally haven't experienced issues with this method, which I use from time to time when I mash in a bag.

[spiderwrangler]

you are stretching it, thereby potentially allowing grain husks to fall into your kettle.

In that case it would depend on whether you are using the disposable stretch bags or the reusable ones that are more durable.

[brewinhard]

It doesn't appear that he is doing BIAB. He is steeping specialty grains and probably using extract. At least, that is what I am gathering from the initial post. Either way, avoiding squeezing the specialty grain bag is probably a good practice to keep doing to make the cleanest beer possible.

[spiderwrangler]

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?