Increased flavor from steeping

[arbrinkman]

I recently brewed a porter in which the recipe called for steeping 2 pounds of specialty grains in 1 gallon of water at 160 F for 30 minutes.  This resulted in a beer with almost no porter character.  Should I have used a greater volume (2 gallons) of steeping water to get more flavor from the grains?  I steeped (black patent, crystal 80, chocolate and special roast malts).

 

[Oginme]

How well crushed were the steeping grains? 

It has been quite a long time since I did steeping grains, but I recall having to up the amount of grains to get the character that I wanted.  Typically, steeping releases a fraction of the sugars versus mashing and the finer the grains are crushed the better the extraction.