New Stout brew

[Pirate_Pete]

As a complete novice, how much water would you use to steep and boil 250g choc malt

I use a couple of litres.
Get the water to about 75C. Steep for 40 minutes and boil for 10.

The other way to do it is put a couple of litres of water in a saucepan.
Refrigerate overnight. Then boil for ten minutes.

 

[crilly]

I use a couple of litres.
Get the water to about 75C. Steep for 40 minutes and boil for 10.

The other way to do it is put a couple of litres of water in a saucepan.
Refrigerate overnight. Then boil for ten minutes.

Thanks Pete,

Do you use a boil in the bag method or just add the malt to the water and filter out after

 

[terrym]

As a complete novice, how much water would you use to steep and boil 250g choc malt

For steeping 250g of grain I would use about a litre of water at about 75*C to which I added the grain. Then leave it for about half an hour preferably wrapped up in something to keep the heat in. Then filter off the liquid from the grain using something like a fine kitchen seive, and then sparge (wash) the grain with half to one litre of water at 75*C. Discard the spent grain (mine goes in the composter), then boil the liquid for 10 mins in a stockpot or saucepan to ensure it's sterile before it goes into the wort. Cool the pot or pan in a bowl of cold water before adding the liquid to the wort.
And you don't boil the grain itself because it is likely to extract tannins which you dont want.

Edit:- Sorry just seen @Pirate_Pete reply

 

[Pirate_Pete]

For steeping 250g of grain I would use about a litre of water at about 75*C to which I added the grain. Then leave it for about half an hour preferably wrapped up in something to keep the heat in. Then filter off the liquid from the grain using something like a fine kitchen seive, and then sparge (wash) the grain with half to one litre of water at 75*C. Discard the spent grain (mine goes in the composter), then boil the liquid for 10 mins in a stockpot or saucepan to ensure it's sterile before it goes into the wort. Cool the pot or pan in a bowl of cold water before adding the liquid to the wort.
And you don't boil the grain itself because it is likely to extract tannins which you dont want.

Edit:- Sorry just seen @Pirate_Pete reply

Your reply was a bit more precise than mine.

I put the grain in an old hop bag made from muslin.

I usually just put mine in the FV after boiling and use it to mix up the stout.
I've always been wary of putting a saucepan in cold water to cool it. I would have thought it could damage the saucepan by warping.

 

[terrym]

I put the grain in an old hop bag made from muslin.

I've always been wary of putting a saucepan in cold water to cool it. I would have thought it could damage the saucepan by warping.

Just bought myself a nylon mesh bag off ebay for small BIAB brews, cost about £2 delivered from China, replacing a muslin bag. At 300mesh its brilliant for keeping back the solids yet porous enough to let the liquid through. I would recommend that over muslin which is too porous really and lets solids through, plus it wets and ends up soggy unlike the nylon.
I use a sink full of cold water to cool my SS stock pot from boiling and never had a problem with warping. If I was using a thick walled cast iron pot however (which I'm not) I wouldn't do it though, since it might crack due to thermal shock.

 

[crilly]

Thanks for the replies, really helpful, one last question, would you use Lactose, read somewhere that its non fermentable, so still need to add more fermentables, but looking to get a bit more body

 

[Pirate_Pete]

Just bought myself a nylon mesh bag off ebay for small BIAB brews, cost about £2 delivered from China, replacing a muslin bag. At 300mesh its brilliant for keeping back the solids yet porous enough to let the liquid through. I would recommend that over muslin which is too porous really and lets solids through, plus it wets and ends up soggy unlike the nylon.
I use a sink full of cold water to cool my SS stock pot from boiling and never had a problem with warping. If I was using a thick walled cast iron pot however (which I'm not) I wouldn't do it though, since it might crack due to thermal shock.

You're braver than I am with the stock pot in cold water. We have a frying pan that's warped a bit. No way am I trying that with our best kitchen stuff.
I just pour it straight in the FV on top of the dry malt and can of goo.
I've used a paint strainer bag when transferring from primary to secondary to bulk prime. That works well.

Thanks for the replies, really helpful, one last question, would you use Lactose, read somewhere that its non fermentable, so still need to add more fermentables, but looking to get a bit more body

I can't really help on that. I haven't used it.
However I do have a Coopers Irish Stout & a 500 gram bag of lactose next to me.
I did have a discussion with terrym about this as I'd read about using rolled oats.
This one's still in the planning stage. The steeped grain / rolled oats could well turn out to be porridge.

As I said before I use varying amounts of dextrose when I make the toucan. Sometimes none and the beer still comes out great.
I don't worry too much about fermentables in my stout. It's the taste that counts. If you want more fermentables just add some dextrose.
Or if you're worried about it thinning the beer use malt.