Spec grains, hot steep or cold steep?

[PhilbyT]

Having had a little taste of it with ROTM Steam Beer, I would like to move more into adding some grains to brews of K & K and full extract. I do like the smooth (malty?) edge it gives the beer, not that I feel it's that discernible with 100g of (medium?) crystal grain.

 

So in your experience guys, first questions related to steeping spec grain. What's the difference between cold steep or hot steep, which is better, which is more suited to which type of grain if this is a criteria at all?

[Hairy]

I have only ever hot steeped grain.

 

Cold steeping dark grains is supposed to lead to less astringency but I guess you need to try both methods to compare.

[ben 10]

From what I understand, hot steep draws sugars, cold steep colour or next to nothing.

[Hairy]

Cold steeping still extracts sugars etc but it just takes a longer period of time.

 

You may find this article helpful.

 

Jovial Monk - Steeping Grain

[Beerlust]

Hi PhilbyT.

Having had a little taste of it with ROTM Steam Beer' date=' I would like to move more into adding some grains to brews of K & K and full extract. I do like the smooth (malty?) edge it gives the beer, not that I feel it's that discernible with 100g of (medium?) crystal grain.[/quote']

I too have brewed the ROTM Steam Beer.

 

The "smooth malty" taste you said you enjoyed from this beer is mainly as a result of the lager yeast that is used in the recipe. Crystal grains generally add a sweeter caramel-like tone & influence the colour of your beer. True malt flavour is generally derived from "base" malt grains rather than "specialty" malt grains, that also require mashing, not steeping, to gain their benefits in a brew.

 

Take the time to look through the yeasts available for home brewing, both ale & lager, as they can influence the final flavour profile of your beer by as much as 60% (I've read). A good majority of the British ale yeasts are kinder to malt profiles than many of the American counterparts. Apart from that, many lager yeasts are designed to be more malt friendly, rather than hop friendly.

 

Cheers,

 

Anthony.

[PhilbyT]

Thank for the responses guys. Hairy, great "how to" sheet, what to do you with the darks like chocolate or blacks if you have only ever hot steeped? This info suggest you should cold steep those.

 

Lusty, I will definitely consider yeasts, I find its difficult to focus on all variables at once, so I think tinkering with one thing at a time is best for me. So I am tempted not to go too fancy with yeast just yet, maybe just play a little with extra grain. I get what you mean by the caramel like tones and colour, I definitely see the colour in the Steam Beer, not so much the flavour from the spec grain.

 

I tasted some original Anchor Steam side by side with my homebrew and whilst the colour of Anchor Steam is not as dark I can definitely taste more caramel flavour in the Anchor, I suspect they use a lighter colour. So I want to play with this. I notice a lot of recipes K & K, extract around on the forum use more than 100g of the medium crystal malts for example some up to 500g.

 

What do you think? Play with grains or is there more to learn from varying yeasts?

[Hairy]

Thank for the responses guys. Hairy' date=' great "how to" sheet, what to do you with the darks like chocolate or blacks if you have only ever hot steeped? This info suggest you should cold steep those.[/quote']

I hot steeped them.

[ben 10]

 

I tasted some original Anchor Steam side by side with my homebrew and whilst the colour of Anchor Steam is not as dark I can definitely taste more caramel flavour in the Anchor' date=' I suspect they use a lighter colour. So I want to play with this. I notice a lot of recipes K & K, extract around on the forum use more than 100g of the medium crystal malts for example some up to 500g.

 

What do you think? Play with grains or is there more to learn from varying yeasts?[/quote']

 

I would limit cara / crystal etc grains to 250g (ish). The sugars can become very cloying and overpowering if you go for too much.

 

I will stand by my though that hot steep will dissolve the sugar and a cold steep wont do a lot.

I read somewhere that cold steep choc malt brings out colour and not the flavour.

I don't have a sheet to back this up but that doesn't matter.

One way to tell for sure would be the same recipe both ways.

[Beerlust]

Hi PhilbyT.

What do you think? Play with grains or is there more to learn from varying yeasts?

The decision is really yours. What I would suggest though is to pick a "constant". What I mean by that is for say 2-3 brews in a row' date=' have one aspect of the brew remain the same through each of those 2-3 brews. Either make the malt bill the same, the hop bill the same, or the yeast the same. Then simply play around with the other 2 of the 3 variables. You will learn what your changes are making in terms of flavours etc. in your beers at a much faster rate by adopting this method.

 

As I like hoppy flavours in my beers, that was the first area I began to change from brew to brew, with a reasonably stable malt bill & yeast type. Once I was satisfied to certain levels with what I feel I had learned about different hop varieties, I began to play around with different grains for steeping & mashing to see how they influenced flavours, again using the same yeasts, & a stable hop schedule for the most part.

 

If you alter too many things too quickly with your brewing, it can sometimes be difficult to discern where your newly discovered flavours are coming from.

 

You get the idea. [img']wink[/img]

 

Cheers,

 

Anthony.