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grain bag question
I've been looking at some clone recipes, and I've seen something like the following a few times:
"Steep the crushed grain in 2 gallons (7.6 L) of water at 155 ºF (68 ºC) for 30 minutes. Remove grains from the wort and rinse with 2 quarts (1.8 L) of hot water"
Where does the rinsing part come in??? I'm not sure what the recipe is calling for at this point. Rinse the grains..where? Back into the wort? I don't get it!
It's basically suggesting you have a half gallon of clear hot water (perhaps also heated on the stove) to pour through the grains into the wort to get as much color out of them as possible. These are directions for specialty grains, like Crystal Malt or Chocolate Malt, which are added mostly for color and flavoring as they have verry little fermentable sugars and don't contribute to alcohol content that much. Think of this like a giant tea bag. Most brewers suggest you don't squeeze the bag but rather dunk it over and over and let the water drain out into the wort. You can get a cheeze cloth at most home brew stores.
Most recipes call for the grains to be steeped in 150-160* water for thirty min, but I've found (to save time) it works just as well to put the bag in cold water and leave it in there while I raise the water to 155*, then tea bag it and stir for maybe ten min and it's pretty good.
With specailty grains though there is no rule set in stone because you're not really mashing it par se; specialty grians lend themselves more to experimentation; realy specialty grains and hops are where the brewing gets fun, because that's where you make the beer your own. With two row and barley you need to be more scientific because you are trying to turn the starches into sugars for the yeast to eat, that involves a mashing process which usually requires you leave the grains in 150* water for an hour or more and keep the temp of the water regulated, say, in a cooler. If you're looking at all grain brewing recipes, and your still quite new to brewing, you may want to consider sticking with extract brews with specialty grains for a while longer until you are realy comfortable with brewing and then make the jump to all grain or a "partial mash" which is a combination of all grain and extract. All grain requires a lot more time, and equipment, the price tag of which can add up fast.
I'm more of a cider brewer, so Thirsty and bruguru may get on here and tell you I'm full of hogwash, but I'm actually full of cider...
...But based on your description this is what I think you're looking at on the recipes.
Thanks a lot, brother!
I am pretty new - just started this year with a couple of kit recipes, and I'm now trying to move on to making a few extract recipes of my own. I've read a bit about all grain and mashtuns and I think I want to try one or two extracts first before moving on to that level. Breaking down how the different grains work in the process is something I've been trying to figure out, so thanks for the details!
To that point, I suppose it would be relevant to ask this: what's the real difference in liter degrees? I keep seeing the reference, and see that my local brew store's different styles of various grains are all qualified by ºL. I just saw "1.0 lb. chocolate malt (350 °L)" in a clone recipe I may want to attempt. What is the difference between 350ºL and 500ºL?
Thanks again for the input!
That's a question for Thirsty, or Brewchez, or Bruguru...Those guys have been doing all forms of brewing beer forever...well, long enough to answer your question, perhaps with more detail than you're ready to handle...certainly more than I'm ready to...
L is for Lovibond. So it's stating how many degrees Lovibond the grain is. Lovibond is a system for describing color. The higher the number the darker the grain and thus the darker the color impact on your beer. Most base malts (2 row, Pilsner, Wheat etc) is in the 2-3 L rating whereas the higher roasted malts such as chocolate, black patent, roasted barley, carafa etc are upwards of 300 to 500 or more.
that is most helpful, Andrew. Much obliged!
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