Cold Steeping Dark Grains

Last weekend brewing the Otter Days Robust Porter I decided to cold steep the dark grains (Black Patten & Chocolate Malt) as described in Gordon Strong's book Brewing Better Beer. Unfortunately I didn't re-read that section of the book before doing so. I only steeped the grains over night instead of the 48 hours I did last time. Additionally I didn't pay enough attention to the water/grist ratio when steeping. These failures resulted in poor color in the finished beer and leaves me wondering if the flavor will be off as well. Live and learn I guess. All that being said, in nearly 4 years of brewing I have only made 1 beer thus far that really wasn't right and even that was drinkable. I am considering, as Gordon writes, conducting another cold steep but with a short boil at the end (for sanitization) and then mixing the extract in to taste and color as a means of getting the end result I originally wanted. We shall see how it plays out.

All in all I feel like I am getting very comfortable with the brewing processes. I try new ways of doing things from time to time to see if it makes a differnce either in quality or ease of production. With each new brew I pay closer and closer attention to my processes and volumes, getting quality control tighter and tighter. My beers have become more consistent batch to batch. Now when I modify the recipe with a new batch I can more clearly see what the difference is. Growth is a wonderful thing!

I wish you all a wonderful holiday season full of great friends and family! Be well all.