Newbie advice on steeping grain

[slippy16]

Hello everyone, new here... be nice....

Hi All,

I’m starting my extract brewing adventure with a nice new 20L pot, so it’s not going to be full volume (can’t fit a big one on the stove) and I’m asking for a bit of advice.

I’m going to start by brewing some ales form the book – Homebrew Beer by Greg Hughes. In the extract version of the recipes, it says that if not using a full volume boil, go with 10 litres of liquid, ad 1Kg of DME to this and then the rest of the DME required at 5 mins from the end of the boil. This bit I get, but...

What I am confused about is how much water to steep the grain in – is it the 10 litres? It doesn’t say in the book.

If so would my routine look like this –

Steep grain in 10L of water
Add 1KG DME + boil
Add hops to time
Add remainder of DME at 5 mins from end of boil
Cool
Strain into fermenter
Add yeast
Wait...

That’s how it works in my head – is that the right way?

[Jim]

Hi slippy16, and welcome to Jim's.

I'm not familiar with that book, but the procedure you described looks fine to me. The lower sugar levels achieved by only adding part of the DME at the start of the boil will give you better hop utilisation, so there is a logic to it.

You might also be interested in this thread about grain steeping; it'll give you a few more things to think about.

Incidentally, I get a 33l stainless steel boiler on my stove no bother.

[slippy16]

Hi Jim,

Thanks for that, reassuring. If all goes well on my first few brews, I may well invest in a better pot with a tap. My one isn't tapped and I probably couldn't lift anything over 15 litres of liquid off of my cooker!

Cheers,

S.