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Steeping Specialty Grains

rrbrewer

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Most of the batches I have been brewing lately have come from a local homebrew store.  I start out steeping a bag of grains for 15-30 minutes at 160 F.  After removing the grain bag, I add the bittering hops and boil 30 minutes.  I add the LME after this boil.  Is this method what is being referred to as "Partial Mash Brewing"?
 
So how do you profile the steeping grain process in Beersmith?  With the extract profile type?  I usually just bump up my LME to raise the ABV, and add crystal grains for SRM.

My local homebrew shop crafted a recipe for me and knew I would be doing extract with specialty grains but they set the Beersmith profile to partial mash.  When I asked about it, they said it was because I was technically doing partial mash.  The only thing I think made it different was the recipe called for Biscuit malt, rye malt, and flaked rye.  I am confused, here is my process:

1. steep grains
2. add LME
3. hop boil

How should I craft recipe's in Beersmith?  Extract or Partial Mash?

Thanks - any clarification is greatly appreciated!
 
Partial Mash is actually mashing a smaller amount of the grains and then topping off with extract to get up to your gravity.

Extract, with specialty grains, is where you steep the crushed grain in warm water (154F ish) and then removing the grain from the water.  Usually heating the water up and adding the extract right before the boil.  Then boiling and adding hops according to your schedule.

BeerSmith will account for steeped specialty grains in an extract beer.  From what I have read in the above posts (both rrbrewer and derekge) the correct type of recipe in BeerSmith would be extract.
 
Well, now I have just run across something very interesting........

I am in the process of converting an old recipe into BeerSmith and running in to original gravity discrepancy issues.  The old recipe is extract with specialty grains.  The OG should be 1.068 but when I build the recipe in BeerSmith, using the extract profile, it comes up with 1.057.  Interestingly, when I change the profile to partial mash it comes up with 1.068.

Hypothesis: When you are steeping specialty grains you are actually mashing them to some extent.  Thinking about it, the grain is crushed just as in a normal mash; the grain is steeped (mashed) at 154 degrees; the grain is rinsed (sparged) with warm water.  This is kinda like a single infusion mash.  There is actually quite a bit of sugar that comes off these grains, then extract is added to bring it to bring up the gravity.

Conclusion: What we think of as extract brewing (when steeping specialty grains) should be entered into BeerSmith as a partial mash recipe.

Cheers!
 
glienhard said:
Well, now I have just run across something very interesting........

I am in the process of converting an old recipe into BeerSmith and running in to original gravity discrepancy issues.  The old recipe is extract with specialty grains.  The OG should be 1.068 but when I build the recipe in BeerSmith, using the extract profile, it comes up with 1.057.  Interestingly, when I change the profile to partial mash it comes up with 1.068.

Hypothesis: When you are steeping specialty grains you are actually mashing them to some extent.  Thinking about it, the grain is crushed just as in a normal mash; the grain is steeped (mashed) at 154 degrees; the grain is rinsed (sparged) with warm water.  This is kinda like a single infusion mash.  There is actually quite a bit of sugar that comes off these grains, then extract is added to bring it to bring up the gravity.

Conclusion: What we think of as extract brewing (when steeping specialty grains) should be entered into BeerSmith as a partial mash recipe.

Cheers!

Just an FYI

I'm trying out BeerSmith and did a "test run" of the software by entering in a recent Brewers Best kit recipe. The actual OG was 1.081. BeerSmith Extract said it should be 1.075. Partial Mash indicates the OG should be 1.082 ... almost right on what the actual was.

I think I'll use"Partial Mash" for my steeped recipes. I'm not concerned about the instructions being off as the steeping process is pretty minimal anyway.
 
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