steeping grains

[Dr Octavius]

hey guys. im an extract brewer and never tried partial mash. i read an extract recipe that asked to steep 12 oz of chrystal 60L, 12 oz of crystal 80L, and 8 oz of carapils. would that actually work with just steeping or would i need to do a mini mash? any help would be great. and thanks in advance

[spiderwrangler]

There are two broad classes of grains that will benefit from a steep alone. The crystal (caramel) malts, and highly kilned malts. What you have are all crystal, so a steep would be just fine. Highly kilned like choc, roast, or black patent will also work for steeping. Basically you will be able to extract color, flavor and aroma from steep, but won't get much fermentables out of it. For that reason, any starchy grains commonly used as specialty malts (flaked grains, victory, biscuit, munich, vienna etc) will need a mash in order to convert their starches, otherwise you are just rinsing the starch off into your wort.

[Dr Octavius]

oh cool thanks. so im fine just steeping them. another two questions and i know i might sound pretty retarded but how long should i steep them for and can i steep them all at once or would i get better results if i do them separate?

[adamK]

In the past when I steeped grains, I would just combine all of them, and put them my brewing water as I heated it up. Once the water gets ~180F I would pull out the grains and sparge a little hot water through them to get more of the flavors out. A set temp might work better, but that method worked for me. There should not be any benefit, though, to steeping each grain type separately.

[spiderwrangler]

180s hotter than I'd like... if I'm steeping, I usually put them in my water cold and pull at 170F. Only benefit would be shorter or cooler temp for highly kilned (maybe).

[adamK]

Only benefit would be shorter or cooler temp for highly kilned (maybe).

Good correction!

[BDawg]

A better process that will help prepare you if you ever want to make the move to AG would be to shoot for a specific temperature in the normal mashing range and keep it there for 30-45 minutes. A good temp for this is 153F.
You will learn to adjust temperatures, and get used to using heat and cold to zero in on and then settle at a steady temperature. Besides, these temps work great for steeping so you are kind of killing 2 birds with 1 stone.

my .02-

[Dr Octavius]

oh that make sense BDawg. i should just work on keeping the steady temp.it will help in the long run. thanks