Question:
Recently I bought ingredients to brew my first all-grain IPA, and realized that my boil kettle isn’t wide enough to steep all the grains in one muslin bag so I came up with the following idea.
1) split the grains (10.5lbs two-row and 1.25lbs specialty grains) into two bags (one muslin and one nylon) and steep one on top of the other.
2) to sparge I’d put a strainer (colander) on tap of my brew kettle and pour 170F over the bags (one at a time) until I reach 5 gallons.
My questions are the following:
1) is this a good idea? 2) how much water do I need to steep the grains in?
Answer:
Steeping your grain by pouring 170 degree water through grain bags won’t work very well.
Mashing all grain should include the original mash for 60 minutes at 152~ degrees. This is leaving all of the grain in water for a full hour stirring occasionally.
At the end of the mash, you’ll want to complete two or maybe three batch sparges (15 minutes each) at 170 degrees.
An affordable method for this would be converting an old or new igloo cooler. They’re great for holding temperature and offer lots of space.