Expert: Keith Patton - 8/8/2007

Question
I just did my second batch, and used grains. I used my grain bag but had lots of husks/skin/shell flakes. Did i need to mill/grind the grain prior to steeping? I got most of the flakes out but should i have done something different?

Answer
Aaron:

Most of the time the grain is cracked when you buy it.  If you got it from a brew supply store they will do it for you.  Without cracking or crushing it you won't get much of a mash.  Now, you say steep. Steeping and mashing are two different things.  If you are doing an extract and specialty grain recipe it is steeping.  The specialty malts, black, roasted, crystal, don't need to be mashed.  They only lend color, character and flavor.  If your recipe does not include extract but only pale malt and specialty malts, you need to do a mash.  Mashing allows conversion of the starch in the grain to maltose sugar.  That is what makes the wort, your runnings sweet and gives the yeast sugar to convert to alcohol and co2.

Don't worry about the husks etc unless there was a lot.  You don't want too much in the boil because it can add astringency to the beer. A few won't matter.  Now if you mash the grain commonly it is done at around 155 degrees.  Some beer higher some lower.  The lower the mash temp the higher the attentuation.  Meaning the drier the finished beer cause the yeast will ferment out ALL the sugar. Higher temps allow some sugar to carmelize and the yeast cannot break those down and the beer will have more body.  Mash for about 90 minutes.  The mash should have the consistency of porriage or runny oatmeal.

Keith