I order extracts from NB and most of them come with a disposable mesh bag with specialty grains, the instructions specifying to take the grains out after the temperature reaches 170*F. After pulling the mesh bag out, I have always squeezed it relentlessly to get every drip out of the mesh bag (often hurting myself from the heat in the process -- but I figured it was worth it). Just 2 minutes ago, however, I was squeezing the mesh bag …

I'm planning on brewing an American Wheat Ale with extract soon and looking for advice on specialty grains. I'm reading suggestions to not use any specialty grains, but I thought I'd see if anyone had luck adding any. My recipe with look something like this: 4lbs Wheat DME 2lbs Light LME 1oz Cascade 1oz Centennial Wyeast 1056 Probably ferment it around 64F in the hope of a fruity addition from the yeast.

Found a bunch of specialty grains I'd intented for a beer but lost to time. They've been in brown paper bags for well over a year. Is it worth using them at all for a small batch or has time/air ruined extraction, ruined flavor, etc?

Hi typically use liquid and dried malt extracts and add hops. For the first time i am also going to steep some grains. I am making 23l english best bitter and have bought all the standard ingrdients for that style. My problem is i don't have an exact recipe and have no idea on typical ratio of grain to water when steeping (will use large stewing pot). I am just looking for rough guidance, this brew is experimental anyway. Kg/litre …

You're not supposed to "mash" with only roasted grains according to a variety of sources (e.g., this). What comes out if you do? Is it only starches, since no enzymes were active?

I bought what was supposed to be Carafa 3 special. But it has a lot of husk. I don't want roasted bitterness and acridicity in this brew. What should I do? Today is the brew day and I needed to go with what I had. So I steeped 400g (grounded to about 200-300 microns) in cold water all night. Today I used 150 microns filtering bag and discarded solids. Resulting liquid is thick, black, opaque and hardly bitter. I was …

I've been doing a lot of reading on brewing in preparation for my second batch. The first mention of using specialty grains that I found suggested boiling them in the brew water for a full hour. I then went out and got a brew book and started reading, When they first mentioned using grains, they said to NEVER boil the grains, just steep them in boiled water for 15 to 30 minutes depending on what kind of beer you're making. …

(This title is purposely worded after this question.) I'm about to begin all-grain brewing soon. I'm excited about all of the options, combinations, and ratios of the different grains, but it is very daunting. I have 8 carboys so I might as well use them to learn the distinctive taste of various grains and combinations of grains. In order for this tasting experiment to be valid, I would need to use the same yeast and hops across every batch. I …

I have a smaller (5 gallon) mash tun. I recently mashed 14 lbs and was only able to get a mash to water ratio of 1.2 and filled the tun!. Temp was right on, but I only got 55% efficiency. I have a recipe with 9 lbs of base malt and 6 lbs specialty (Cara-helles and Caravienne). Can I mash the base malts and only steep the specialty malts to reduce the amount of grain in my mash tun and …

I was half way through steeping my specialty grains (from an extract kit) when I realized that my four 6.5 gallon carboys were already in use and I forgot to purchase another one. I decided to let the temperature get up to 160F and pull the grains out, clean off the lid to my kettle, place it on and threw the kettle in the refrigerator. I plan on resuming my brew tomorrow, roughly 24 hours from now. Was this the …

What is the correct way to finish using steeping grains. The recipe I was following called for rinsing the grains with a few quarts of water. I had them all in two cloth sacks and poured the water over them above the simmering wort. Should I be squeezing out the sacks? Or just let them drip until they stop dripping? My beer didn't turn out as dark as expected, so I've been thinking I probably should have squeezed them out …

I'm doing my very first steeping brew (2nd brew ever), and I've got about 3 lbs of specialty grains total that go into my recipe. I've lightly crushed the grains, and I'm ready to put them in the steeping bag(s), but I'm not sure how much should go in each bag. should I just put all of it in one bag, use a different bag for each grain, or just split it in half so there's more contact to the …

I'm looking to do my first extract brew after doing a couple of kits and have found what claims to be an extract recipe, which uses Maris Otter Pale Malt grain. Is this a speciality grain I can use for steeping with an extract brew? Also, is there anything I can look for in the future that signifies that a grain is suited to steeping in an extract brew rather than requiring mashing? It doesn't appear to be something that …

I've just worked up this (extract, specialty grains) recipe from glancing at clone recipes for old Rasputin imperial stout and black butte porter--they both have a smooth, chocolaty thing I'm going for as a base. But my goal is to bring the dark fruity flavors of a dubbel to the stout. My question is about the grain bill. Does this seem balanced? I abhor too much coffee, bitter roast flavor in a stout, and I don't think it would go …

Making Jamil's saison today: 10.5# pilsner .75# wheat malt .75# munich it is supposed to have 2oz of caramunich, but instead I measured, milled, and then MIXED with the rest of the grain .75 LBS (12oz) of caramunich. Yes, six times the recipe. I know caramunich will add body, caramel, and sweetness (the latter very NOT appropriate for the style), HOWEVER, here is the catch: I am planning on doing a secondary fermentation with this beer with 3-4lbs of fresh …

In an effort to spread brew day out across a few weeknights, I was wondering if there is any harm in steeping grains ahead of time? I don't plan on leaving the "tea" for more than a day or two, covered, after the steep and before the boil, but would it make a difference how long it was between steps? What would the effect be?

When all-grain brewing, you typically add all your grains to the mash, right? Is there ever a time when you leave some of the specialty grains out and steep them instead? What are the pros and cons of mashing everything versus leaving some grains out of the mash and steeping them?

working on improving recipe formulation and wondering which is better? Looking for good mouth feel and head retention,(who isn't I guess) but most of all a big malt forward beer. In doing unrelated research I found that the region I live in (Northwest) produces way more malty beers then other regions, for example our amber ale would be would not fit in the BJCP style guidelines on the east coast. Just curios if anyone has experimented with either of these …

I understand (from experience) how to brew with extract and steeping specialty grains. I understand (from reading numerous books, blogs, etc.) how to do an all-grain mash. I see little on how to partial mash. Do I add the specialty grains to the partial-mash or after? Do I sparge the partial-mash? Do I wait the hour that an all-grain mash requires? Typically my beers take 6(or so) pounds of malt syrup, what percentage of malt should be partial-mashed and how …

Is there any reason to rinse the bag of specialty grains after steeping? I did this yesterday on a whim, thinking I would be able to extract as much of the sugars as possible. I used about 1qt. of hot'ish water directly into the brewpot and it seemed to work fine. At this point, I'm questioning my method since the water was not 170 degrees like the rest of the wort in the brewpot, but I guess it's a learning …