Brewing NB’s Alt extract recipe. Accidentally steeped to 190. Will it have a material impact on the taste?
None
Haven’t come across this question before and it never happened to me. Good thing is that tannins being extracted from the hulls of the grain is more related to water pH than temperature. Do you know the pH of your water? If it is 5 to 6 you may not have any sort of problem. Did you taste the steeping water? If you did, did it make your mouth pucker from astringent tannins? Nothing to worry about if you used distilled or RO water for steeping the grains.
No, I didn’t taste the steeping water before adding extract. My wife installed a crazy $1K+ whole house water filter , so our water is super purified. No idea of the PH.
Your water may be below a pH of 6.0 which would be good. Try an internet search for what effect your installed system may have on pH.
When you step up to all grain, you will see that the sparge water is usually 168° (below 170°). The reason is supposed to be so you don’t extract tannins from the grain hulls. Keep in mind that there is a lot more grain than your steeping.
I don’t think with the amount of grain used you will taste any difference. In the future I would keep the steep temp to mid 150s if possible. All you are doing is getting the flavor of the specialty grains from them in hot water.
EDIT: Not just flavor but also color and mouth feel depending on the grain.
1 Like
It’s not the temp, it’s the pH that’s an issue for tannins.
3 Likes
Denny, does the temp matter at all or is it 100% based on pH? For example, if the steeping grains are kept at 155° are you less prone to extract tannins rather than 170° if the pH is out of whack?
^^^^ Thats a curious question. The stuff I’ve read claims tannins and un-wanted proteins are extracted above 170*. hhhhmmmm… Sneezles61
Temp matters if your pH is out of whack. But think of a decoction…you boil the grain, which is certainly a lot hotter than 170! You don’t get undesirable tannins becasue the pH is low. But to answer your question as directly as I can, as far as I know if your pH is out of whack, higher temps exacerbate the issue, bjt lower omnes do not necessarily eliminate it. IOW,if your pH is off you can extract tannins at 155 but not as easily as at higher temps.
2 Likes
Good stuff Denny! Thanks for the explanation!
