Cold Steeping

[periolus]

Hello!

I am brewing tomorrow, but am planning on cold steeping my dark grains today. Problem is, in Gordon Strong's book he states a 1lb grain : 2 quarts mix. Elsewhere on the internet, it is suggested you should use 3 times as much grain as you would in the mash, but Gordon doesn't say that.

Can anyone clarify? I don't want to put too much of the black stuff into my porter!

Ta!

 

[fbsf]

I have to admit I've not come across this before...What's the advantage of cold steeping - is it to avoid the potential for tannin extraction?

 

[bunkerbrewer]

I've heard of people cold steeping Carafa Special 3 for black IPAs - it gives colour without much roasty flavour.

Not sure I'd bother with a porter, though - I'd want those roasty flavours in the mash!

 

[periolus]

There are two advantages - it reduces the bitterness that very dark grains can impart, so gives a smoother flavour - AND - it reduces space in the mash tun ; )

I'm after a bit of space-saving but was mainly keen to try the 'smooth' profile that this technique is supposed to give. Just an experiment really.

 

[bunkerbrewer]

Interesting. Space-saving aside, I've also heard (from a John Palmer podcast, I think) that you can achieve a similar effect by only adding the dark roasted grains for the last 20-30 mins of the mash.

ISTR he compared it with making coffee - the longer you steep the coffee the more bitter it is.

 

[Good Ed]

any of the Carafa Special malts have had the husks removed which reduces the harshness of the malt, and is fine in the mash.

How to cold steep from Aleman; use 3 times amount of black malt than your recipe, add cold water at 2.5L/kg and steep for 16 hours, strain off liquid and add to the copper.

If you want just colour adjustement; for 23L, put 25g black malt in a coffee grinder and sprinkle on the mash before sparging.

good luck :

 

[bunkerbrewer]

any of the Carafa Special malts have had the husks removed which reduces the harshness of the malt, and is fine in the mash

Yep, I mash Carafa III for my black IPA (it tastes really good!)

 

[periolus]

BUGGER! Just cooled my wort ready to put into FV and realised the cold-steep liquor is still in the fridge! Am boiling it on the stove and will add to the FV first before emptying the boiler into it. Will that work? What a silly sod I am!