What is the largest percentage of grain bill for steeping?

I've recently moved from extract-only to extract + steeping grains. I'm making a recipe now and wondering if there is a max limit for steeping grains as part of the total grain bill? For a double witbier, right now I have this profile for my total fermentables (steeping = 30%, non-malt sugar = 30%, malt extract = 40%):

  • 2lb CaraPils (20%)
  • 1lb 2Row (10%)
  • 4lb Extra light DME (40%)
  • 1lb Candi Sugar (10%)
  • 2lb Honey (20%) Does anyone have any insight on this? Is 30% too much to rely on steeping?

Topic steeping recipe extract-plus-grains homebrew

Category Mac

1
answered at

There's no upper limit in terms of how much speciality malt you can actually use and still extract sugar - the limit is more to do with taste.

To my mind, in an extract brew, 20% is the maximum amount of caramel/crystal malt that I would use in a recipe, simply because of the amount of residual sweetness left, which is on top of the sweetness left by the malt extract that typically leaves behind 20%-40% unfermentables.

20% carapils is on the high side - 5-10% is more typical, although if you want a fuller mouthfeel, as is desirable in a wit, then 20% is the way to go.

Some other points about the recipe:

  • The 2 row makes this a mini-mash rather than a steep. The difference is that you are converting starches into sugars, rather than simply leeching out the sugars with a steep.
  • There's no need to steep the honey - you can just put it into the boil. It's almost entirely fermentable.

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