Understanding Instructions

[specialized]

Hey I'm going to attempt a recipe today but am a little confused about the wording in the instructions, perhaps some of the more experienced people here can help me out.

Here's the instructions word for word:

"Begin by heating 2 gallons (7.6 L) of water in your brewpot. Steep specialty grains for 30–45 minutes at 154 °F (68 °C) in a separate pot. (Use just over 1 gallon (~4 L) of water at 165 °F (74 °C) in a large kitchen pot for steeping water.) After steeping, remove bag and let drip dry for a minute. Then add “grain tea” and dried malt extract to brewpot."

The wording is a little confusing to me.

Am i right to assume that i

1. heat 2 gals to 154 and steep grains for 30-45 mins
2. heat 1 gal to 165 and then steep grains again?
3. combine ingredients and then proceeded as normal?

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

No. Heat the 2 gallons virgin while you simultaneously heat/steep the additional 1 gallon alongside. Then combine.

 

[Grizzlybrew]

It's telling you to heat 2 gallons in one pot (no particular temp - working towards a boil) and then steep your grains in another pot with 1 gal of water @ 154°. When the grains are finished steeping, pull them out, let them drip-drain and then pour that 1 gallon of water into the pot with the 2 gallons heating (on its way to boiling).

I'm not sure why you wouldn't just use 1 pot with three gallons, place the grains in cold and when the temp gets to 165° - 170°, just pull them out and continue towards your boil. You are trying to extract flavor and color from the grains which should have happened by that time.

 

[specialized]

Yea i'm not sure either. I think i'm going to call an audible on this one and just steep in 3 gallons of water.

 

[electric_beer]

Uhh you are steeping grains NOT boiling them.

Am i right to assume that i

1. heat 2 gals to 154 and steep grains for 30-45 mins
2. heat 1 gal to 165 and then steep grains again?
3. combine ingredients and then proceeded as normal?

EXACTLY.

A partial mash means that you heat your water to a little above 154 because the grains will drop your temperature and then once they grains and water mixed together then you let it steep (rest) for 40mins. You should start heating the other gallon about half way through your rest so that when you pull the grains out of the first water and put them into the water that has been heated about 165-170 and do a mash out (let it rest about 10 mins). Then remove the grains (I wouldn't squeeze the bag because it can extract tannins just like a tea bag) and business as usual.

Don't put the whole thing in 165 to start or you will have tannins and off flavors more than likely. Granted they mellow with time, but come on. Also the higher temp you steep them the less fermentable they will be and you might end up with a stalled FG.

I hope this makes sense as I all grain brew.

 

[Grizzlybrew]

Specialized - post your recipe, it helps diagnose issues a lot of the time...

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

A partial mash means that you heat your water to a little above 154 because the grains will drop your temperature and then once they grains and water mixed together then you let it steep (rest) for 40mins. You should start heating the other gallon about half way through your rest so that when you pull the grains out of the first water and put them into the water that has been heated about 165-170 and do a mash out (let it rest about 10 mins). Then remove the grains (I wouldn't squeeze the bag because it can extract tannins just like a tea bag) and business as usual.

Good point depending on the grains provided. Which does beg the question of what they are.

If there are any base grains then yes this very well could detail a partial mash regimine. But, if these are all crystal/caramel and roasted then there is nothing to mash and a steep is all you can do for them.

 

[specialized]

Specialized - post your recipe, it helps diagnose issues a lot of the time...

Well it's too late to change what I did. However I am interested to know the difference between base grains and specialty. And when to mash and to not. Here's the recipe. It's from byo.com

Harpoon Winter Warmer Clone

2 lbs. (0.75 kg) Light dried malt extract
3.33 lbs. (1.9 kg) Light liquid malt extract
0.50 lbs. (0.23 kg) 2-row pale malt
2.0 lbs. (0.91 kg) crystal malt (90 °L)
0.50 lbs. (0.23 kg) CaraPils malt (15 °L)
1 tsp. Irish moss (15 mins)
6.25 AAU Clusters hops (60 mins)(1.25 oz./35 g of 5% alpha acids)
1/4 tsp. cinnamon secondary
1/8 tsp. nutmeg secondary
Wyeast 1968 (London ESB) or White Labs WLP002 (English Ale) yeast
0.75 cups corn sugar (for priming)

Step by Step
Begin by heating 2 gallons (7.6 L) of water in your bbrewpot. Steep specialty grains for 30–45 minutes at 154 °F (68 °C) in a separate pot. (Use just over 1 gallon (~4 L) of water at 165 °F (74 °C) in a large kitchen pot for steeping water.) After steeping, remove bag and let drip dry for a minute. Then add “grain tea” and dried malt extract to brewpot. Bring to a boil, add hops and boil for 60 minutes. With 15 minutes left in the boil, add Irish moss and liquid malt extract, stirring well to ensure it dissolves completely. After boil, cool wort and siphon to fermenter. Add water to make 5 gallons (19 L), aerate and pitch yeast. Ferment at 70 °C (21 °C). After primary is finished, rack to secondary and add spices.
Thanks to Al Marzi of the Harpoon Brewery for the information used to construct this clone of Harpoon Winter Warmer

 

[Grizzlybrew]

I am interested to know the difference between base grains and specialty. And when to mash and to not.

This is a brief over view: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/101/malts and this is a great resource to check out: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Malts_Chart

Basically, the base malts are fairly neutrally-flavored grains that provide the backbone for the beer. Specialty grains are those grains that enrich the flavors, aromas, and appearance of your beer.

In your recipe, the extract is comprised of base malt, the 2-row is also base. The crystal (used to add caramel) and cara-pils (used to add dextrins and thus body to the beer) are your specialty malts.

Notice that in the second link, base malts like 2-row, 6-row, maris otter have very few, if any, characteristics checked off? And that the specialty grains list things like caramel, toast, biscuit, roast, etc?

You can also see that malts like crystal and cara-pils don't need to mash to contribute to the party - a good steeping will do the trick.

Hope that helps!

 

[specialized]

So I brewed this beer about 2 weeks ago. Just checked gravity for the first time. Stopped at 1.020. SG was 1.056.

My calculated FG on brewtarget is 1.017, so it's not too bad. Also the beer tastes fantastic so I'm not worried about those 3 points.

But I am curious, do you think because I didn't properly mash the 2 row I have a slightly high FG?

 

[Malintent]

So I brewed this beer about 2 weeks ago. Just checked gravity for the first time. Stopped at 1.020. SG was 1.056.

My calculated FG on brewtarget is 1.017, so it's not too bad. Also the beer tastes fantastic so I'm not worried about those 3 points.

But I am curious, do you think because I didn't properly mash the 2 row I have a slightly high FG?

No. Higher than expected FG would either be due to getting MORE out of the grains than expected (more starch to sugar conversion due to a better mash - or a higher degree of non-fermentable sugars due to temperature profile of the mash), or due to a less than ideal fermentation (or impatience - it ain't done yet).

Was the OG on target at 1.056? If so, then I put my money on 'less than ideal fermentation temperature'. What was the temperature during fermentation?