My last malt forward brew, an English BW, I cold steeped all the specialty grains. I was really happy with the reduction in astringency. I'm thinking about brewing a Spiced Winter Warmer / Christmas Ale, and considering once again cold steeping specialty grains. I'm also thinking I'd adding to the grains, the spices to cold steep. Any one try this? I'd assume good results. Solfening / rounding spice flavor and also helping to preserve spice aromatics.
I haven't done this exactly, but I have dry spiced in the keg, which of course is a form of cold steeping. But if you steep spices along with your grains, then the spice extract is going to get a full boil. A lot of (most?) people who add spices in the kettle do it at flame out or with only a few minutes to go, because some of the spice aromatics are pretty volatile.
When I did the cold steep of grains, after removing grains I only did a 10 mins boiled. Still a good thought regard spice aromatics lose in 10 mins boil vs. flame out.
One thought I’ve had but not tried is to set some finished beer aside and steep spices in that, using an abundance of spice. Then dose the finished batch with the spiced portion. I haven’t thought through the logistical details.
I've cold steeped spices in mason jars using wine, being careful to minimize oxidation and then adding the wine to the beer. I used wine because I was trying to replicate beer I had once. It was a beer that was spiced and aged in used wine barrels. It worked well I thought. I'd use the method again.
