steeping grains

[Cadbury]

G'Day Men,
When steeping grains, does it make any difference if I steep the grains separately and add the liquid into the bucket, rather than steeping the grains and then adding the malt and boiling the lot together?
Cadbury

[Chris]

I'd boil. Otherwise you may run into significant problems.

[timmy]

+1 on the boiling....

You run the risk of infection otherwise. I have a Coopers Pale in the primary with a white film over the top of it because I didn't boil all my steep water.....

[earle]

You definitely need to boil the liquor from steeping the grains to kill any nasties. Sometimes I have added the malt extract straight to the fermenter rather than adding it to the boil though. I think this is what you're suggesting?

[Cadbury]

thanks men, I heed your advice.

[spatch]

Oh no!
Did my first brew with 200gms of steeped Crystal malt on Thursday 30th and just added to liquid in with
the hops mix and then added the liquid malt and kit can, mixed, then added that to the water in the fermenter.

Fingers crossed!
It was bubbling away within 24hrs. Good signs?
It smelt nice, hope it stays that way?

[Chris]

You are probably ok spatch, but I wouldn't make a habit of it.

[KEG]

just reading Cadbury's post at the top of the thread - not sure if you meant this or not, but don't boil the grain - only the resulting liquid you get after steeping. discard the grain, or make multigrain bread

[spatch]

You are probably ok spatch, but I wouldn't make a habit of it.

I'm not so sure Chris?
Racked it off into Secondary and dry hopped but she smelt fairly vinegary?
No floaties or anything but and still tastes alright.........fingers still crossed (ever tried typing with your fingers crossed?)!

[homebrewer79]

sounds like an Aceto bacteria infection, have a look at this http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-1.html , it may help you determine if it is or not

[spatch]

Taken from that link.

Bacteria In this case, it probably is. Aceto bacteria (vinegar producing) and Lacto bacteria (lactic acid producing) are common contaminates in breweries. Sometimes the infection will produce sweet smells like malt vinegar, other times they will produce cidery smells. It will depend on which bug is living in your wort. Aceto bacteria often produce ropy strands of jelly which can be a good visual indicator, as can excessive cloudiness, after several weeks in the fermentor (although some cloudiness is not unusual, especially in all-grain beers).
Cure: If you don't like the taste, then pour it out. Lactic infections are desired in some beer styles.

So all may not be lost?
Still tastes OK ATM.