Cold Steeping

I would add the liquid to the boil at the start. Adding it to the mash wouldn't be an issue if you are mainly just looking for color anyways.

 

I do a 14 - 24 hour steep (never noticed much of a difference btw the two) depending on nothing more than when it's convenient for me to start the process. Then I add the liquid towards the end of the boil (last 10 - 15 minutes) personally. I believe this is what Gordon Strong recommended in one of his books, so that's what I went with initially. The short boil is just intended to sterilize the steeped liquid and give it a chance to mix evenly with the rest of the wort.

I'm usually doing something like this I'm trying to reduce / smooth out (in the case of roast malt) or eliminate (in the case of midnight wheat or carafa) any sort of roast quality from coming through in the beer while gaining the dark color contribution. So to me, I guess I worried that the longer boil might undermine that reduction/elimination.

One thing I'll say AGAINST the short boil though is that you kind of dilute your wort a bit by adding that liquid late and giving it less of a chance to concentrate via evaporation. This might be more significant of a concern for people brewing smaller batch sizes of course.

NOTE: Make sure you do the steep in a container that is easy to get the liquid and grain out of. I tried this in a growler jug once (with a lower water to grain ratio) and it was a nightmare.

 

I just did a black IPA a few weeks ago and steeped Black Prinz over night and added at flame out. Got my dark color with no perceptible roast or astringency at all. This will be my go to color process from now on.

 

I'm kind of wondering if cold-steeping prevents pulling unwanted tannins out of the grains. This, to my knowledge, is why coffee and some teas are cold-steeped. I'm curious to know if boiling a cold-steeped wort will recreate the original characteristic of a malt that you'd get with hot mashes and sparges. I'm going to go cold-steep some coffee and then boil it.

 

From the little I've read on the subject, tannin leaching is due to a combination of high ph and high temperature. Since the soak is in room temperature water, the high temperature isn't there. But it's doubtful that anybody cold steeping grain is treating the ph of the water they are soaking it in. So I'd guess the high ph component is definitely a strong possibility.
Now when the heat comes in during the brew day boil, the ph should be a bit more in check. I wish I was more scientifically minded, but since I am not I will defer to Gordon Strong and take him at his word (which has been supported by my own sensory analysis of the beers I've made using the technique)......

In looking at "Brewing Better Beer" by Gordon Strong, he claims (on page 46) that:

"Steeping the grains and avoiding most of the boil results in less astringency and harshness, less acidity, and a little less color. The downside is that another process must be managed, and you have to blend the products to taste. This is one of my favorite methods for making darker beers that don't have a high level of roasty bitterness, such as sweet stout, schwarzbier, and oatmeal stout."

 

When I cold steep, I don't overthink it, I'm just going for color and I bet you get good color within a few hours. Usually the night before brew day, or even the morning of, if I am brewing later in the day, I add water (treated for chloramine, if needed) to crushed grain. During the main mash, I strain with a French press. It gets poured into the runnings.

With Midnight wheat, the value of cold steeping is not clear to me. It is huskless, so will impart substantially lower roast character than a roasted barley. However, the dark grains may impact mash pH, so this is where the Gordon approach might be helpful here, depending on your water chem,

 

If doing cold steeping to avoid extracting tannins or harshness due to prolonged exposure to heat, it kinda defeats the purpose of cold steeping if you add it at the beginning of the boil or mash.

 

Despite being huskless (like dehusked carafa III special, etc.) you still get some roast from using it in the mash, so cold steeping would just further minimize that. I've had some judges bitch about roast being present in a sublimely self righteous clone I did a while back that literally just used enough midnight wheat or dehusked carafa III special (I've done it twice) to be black. Since I've cold steeped or used sinamar, no more issues from judges. Personally, it is less roasty and less astringent (wasn't much to begin with though).

 

I believe I have seen others express this, but my opinions from my own experience is that this grain will work for imparting color to styles that want limited roast, like BIPA, schwarzbier, dubbels, dunkelweizen.

 

I assume you mean black IPA, not belgian IPA by BIPA.... Not everybody wants even a "limited roast" quality in a black IPA though. Some really just want a traditional IPA malt flavor profile (no roast) with a black color. Same thing for some black saisons, black wheats, etc. Don't get me wrong, some people do want to blend a reduced amount of roast with those style variations. But when looking solely for color, adding carafa during the mash (or cold steeped carafa early in the boil) won't accomplish that goal. Actually, cold steeped carafa added late in the boil won't completely do it either in my experience. Cold steeped midnight wheat added late in the boil seems better, but I agree with barfdiggs that sinimar is the way to go if you want practically no roast flavor quality but the dark color.

 

Yes, black IPA. Curse those confusing acronyms. When you say carafa I assume you mean carafa special. I also don't find myself picking up lots of roast from that. I guess its an issue of my low palate sensitivity and/or my personal preference. I do tend to look for a little roast with color.

In a recent brewing network show (can't recall which but probably a Brew Strong Q&A), Jamil expressed a preference for Blackprinz for color with no roast.

 

Yes I meant the carafa specials thanks. The commercial description for Blackprinz actually states "mild roast flavor" but I'm sure it's quite possibly that it's even lower than Midnight Wheat. Haven't tried it for myself yet.

http://www.brewingwithbriess.com/Assets/PDFs/Briess_PISB_BlackprinzMalt.pdf

 

To each his own. I found it to yes, make it smoother, but I didn't notice it bring backing any harshness.

 

I don't doubt that extracting via cold steep (vs. mash) would add a certain degree of smoothness regardless of when the cold steeped liquid is added to the boil. But I do believe that doing so and adding it late in the boil would add even more smoothness. Gordon Strong even mentions that the cold steeped liquid can be added to the fermenter post boil, which probably promotes the most smoothness. Although he says it gives a flavor that is akin to cold steeped coffee to the beer, which he claims doesn't taste good in beer. I don't drink coffee, let alone cold steeped coffee, so I wouldn't know. My main worry about just adding the cold steeped liquid to the fermenter though would be sanitation based.

 

But at what point in the brewing process did you add it? During the mash? During the sparge? In the boil kettle? If the latter, with how much time remaining in the boil?

 

Excellent. Good luck with the brew and let us know if you have any more questions we can help with!