- You do NOT want to boil grains, as such high temperatures will extract unpleasant-tasting tannins from the grain, which lend an astringent, puckering quality to the beer, a definite off-flavor that should be avoided.
- Steep the grains in a muslin bag or piece of cheesecloth at 150-170ºF (66-77ºC) for half an hour, then remove them, giving the bag a gentle squeezing to remove some of the absorbed water. Again, too vigorous a squeezing will put tannins into the beer.
