Steep small question

[canihaveurpants]

Hi everyone,
I am brewing my second full boil extract beer on Friday and had a question about steeping grains. I have read countless times on these forums that it is preferable to step small and I want to give this a shot. I wanted to make sure my planned method sounded acceptable.
I plan to bring 5 gallons to boil on my outdoor propane burner while steeping 1 lb. of specialty grain in 1 gallon of water on the stove. After steeping for 25 minutes or so can I just dump the 1 gallon into the already boiling 5 gallons? If not what method would be the most appropriate?
Thanks for any help!
Mike

 

[iskuse]

I usually Steep about 4 lbs (1lb per grain bag) of grain in about 3 gallons of water at 160 for an hour. Then I slowly pour about 1.5 gallons over the bags in a strainer. So I have anywhere from 4 to 4.5 gallons in the pot. Then I just boil that, remove from heat once it starts to boild and add my DME and LME. then watch for boil-overs.

If you have a pot big enough to hold approx. 6 gallons of water. you should be fine.

 

[frazier]

Your method will work fine. Keep the steeping temp below 170. You will want to turn off the flame when you add the extract to the 5 gallons, and stir stir stir. Also, you want the steep water to get a full 60 minutes of boil time. Depending on boil-off, you may need to top up with water at the very end.

Cheers!

 

[BigBlueDog]

In addition to adding the steeping volume to your kettle, you may want to consider rinsing the bag with a couple of additional quarts of 170F water into your kettle.

 

[brtisbuck]

When "steeping small" I prefer to use a partial mash process. I use 1.5l of water per # of grain. I heat my water to about 160* and then add my grain bag. I hold it at 154* for 45 minutes. Nearing the end of my steep I get my kettle up to 170*. I rinse my loosely tied grain bag in my kettle water (tea bag style is fine), let my grains drain real good in my kettle, add my mash or steep water to my kettle, and proceed with my boil process.