I am making a quick extract beer to teach someone how to brew. Question Do you have to do a mini-mash for these or just steep in the 5 gallons till the water gets to 165 degrees, then remove? 1 lb of caravienne malt 1lb of caramel malt 20l .8lbs of caramel malt 40l Thanks!
Those are all crystal/caramel malts. Steeping is fine. (30 minutes at 155-ish is how I'd probably do it.)
You don't want to steep in the entire 5 gallons. In "Brewing Classic Styles" it says you want to keep your grist to water ratio less than a gallon per pound. In this way the pH stays under 6 and minimizes tannin extraction. So for the above recipe that'd be 2.8 gallons or less. And of course keep it under 170F too. I generally shoot for 160-165F.
+1 to steeping at a ratio of 1 lb. of crystal malt per gallon of water. I personally steep at something like 150-160 degrees F. Cheers!
crystal/caramel malts have already had their starch converted to simpler sugars, then toasted to achieve some level caramelization. So simplified sugars are already soluble and ready for yeast, hence no need to mash. Base grains and specialty grains that have not undergone conversion of the starch such as amber, biscuit, aromatic, etc...do need to be converted and hence should be mashed. Hope that makes sense.
For the future, what will it ever hurt to have an extra # of 2 row added to a steep? It takes another 20 minutes but your mind can be clear that you won't have starch issues.
Say you want to add some flaked wheat to your extract malt bill. Flaked wheat is a bunch of starches. Starches get broken down by the diastatic power in base grains. i.e. 2-row. If you just add the flaked wheat you'll have really hazy beer and a better chance to infect your beer because it didn't break down into something your yeast could eat. Adding 2 row to an unknown steep is a safe way to make sure you break your starches (of any grain) down to make sure your beer is tasty. Cara anything has already been converted btw.
