[lumpyloaf]

Hello all,
I am making an IPA I am trying a brew in a bag with LME.
I have already ground my grains together in a single bag, 1 LB of Crystal 60 (and a tiny tiny bit of Crystal 80) 4 LB Pale Malt.

My plan was to steep these grains for about 45-60 minutes in about 3 gallons of water in order to get the fermentable sugar that I need from the 4 LB of Pale, and then add half of my 5 LBS of LME and 4 oz hops, then add the sterile 2 gallons to top it off. However, am I going to get a bad flavor if I steep the Crystal 60 that long? Since Crystal 60 is my specialty grain, I am thinking that I should have used a separate bag for it.

Also, is it okay to steep/brew in 3 gallons with that much grain and then later add the 2 gallons I need to top off 5 gallons?
Thanks!

[tommymorris]

Hello all,
I am making an IPA I am trying a brew in a bag with LME.
I have already ground my grains together in a single bag, 1 LB of Crystal 60 (and a tiny tiny bit of Crystal 80) 4 LB Pale Malt.

My plan was to steep these grains for about 45-60 minutes in about 3 gallons of water in order to get the fermentable sugar that I need from the 4 LB of Pale, and then add half of my 5 LBS of LME and 4 oz hops, then add the sterile 2 gallons to top it off. However, am I going to get a bad flavor if I steep the Crystal 60 that long? Since Crystal 60 is my specialty grain, I am thinking that I should have used a separate bag for it.

Also, is it okay to steep/brew in 3 gallons with that much grain and then later add the 2 gallons I need to top off 5 gallons?
Thanks!

There is no problem with steeping the crystal 60 for an hour. I recommend "steeping" at 150F. I put steeping in quotes because you're really mashing.

Good luck.

[lumpyloaf]

Thanks!

[santoch]

I totally concur with what alestateyall said.

[ethinson]

I usually do a half-hour with my specialty grains since usually I'm looking just for color.  I also steep at about 150, so it's a quasi-mini-mash.  I don't have a lot of experience with grain, but since a normal mash is an hour or more I'd have to agree with alestateyall that it won't hurt.

As far as the topping off goes, I do that all the time and have never had a problem with it.  I do small stovetop 3 gallon batches but can only boil 2 gallons in my tiny pot.  I usually don't even bother to boil/sani the water I top off.  Since BeerSmith calculates for the full volume I usually don't have a problem hitting my starting gravity. The thicker/higher gravity boil can affect hop utilization but it seems to be mostly negligible, especially on a homebrew scale.

Cheers!