Conditioning malt before milling

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Were you using the same roller gap for the 75% efficiency brews? A tighter gap can up the efficiency and at the same time lower the attenuation limit (final gravity)

[Will_D]

Just remember that not many grain mills use stainless rollers!

need I say more?

[armedcor]

Same gap width.

Will the amount of water used is quite tiny. I was slightly concerned about rusting etc but after conditioning and letting stand for 10 minutes I wasn't overly worried. The texture of the malt definitely felt different but it definitely wasn't wet etc.

[biertourist]

Just finished up my brew day today. I conditioned for the first time. Sprayed my malt with 2% by weight with water which ended up being about 99ml.

Ended up with a much fuller mash tun than normal. Tbh i wasn't sure if I'd even crushed the grain when I looked at it first but everything was cracked it just left the hulls much more intact than usual. Sparging was a breeze also, the liquor just flowed through. I used a pretty tight crush as well about 0.035

Exactly!  Done correctly!

I was getting a bit scared for a while.  I malt condition 100% of my beers this way using the "2% by weight" rule and using a spray bottle to apply.  It is actually an insanely small quantity of water and you want to mix thoroughly and let it sit for at least 10 min before crushing.


The crush is just like in the photo - INSANELY intact husks that almost look like they're uncrushed sometimes.  No more rice hulls for me!

Malt conditioning also helps reduce the extraction of tannins from husks for low gravity beers or when using grainy German Pilsner malt.  -I wouldn't make a Kolsh without malt conditioning, personally. --This is one of the primary differences between professional grade mills and home brew / low cost micro brewery mills- professional grade mills have all sets of rollers linked together and driven at the same speed which minimizes friction and tearing / shredding of the grain husk material; home brew and cheap micro brewery mills just use friction between the grain and the 2 rollers to turn the 2nd non-powered roller this frictional force tends to shred the husk which makes a higher risk of stuck sparge and tannin extraction -the faster you spin those rollers the more frictional force and the more intense the shreding.  --Malt conditioning reduces / eliminates this issue as the husk becomes more flexible and doesn't get shredded.


Adam

[biertourist]

Just remember that not many grain mills use stainless rollers!

need I say more?

Yes, you need to say much more.  There is a difference between "wet milling" or steam milling that introduces much more water and requires stainless rollers and malt conditioning with 50ml - 100ml of water that is just lightly sprinkled onto the outside of the grain.


Dublin's high humidity air probably exposes far more moisture to your rollers than malt conditioning.


Adam

[biertourist]

My efficency out of the mash tun was about 80% that's with constant recirculation no sparge. My last brew was about 75%

Feel free to tighten up the gap.  By malt conditioning you can safely close the gap on your mill - you'll get higher efficiency and reduced risk of stuck mash / sparge and tannin extraction.

Malt condition == WIN especially for only a 10 - 15 min increase in your brew day; none if you do it the night before the brew day.

I've malt conditioned about 15 beers in a row now; the only time I don't is when I buy special base malt and crush at the home brew shop because I don't want a 50lb sack of that particular base malt. -I'm at 84-88% efficiency depending upon the recipe and batch size and that's with single infusion, single batch sparge and only a little recirculation.

I'm probably going to malt condition for life.

Adam

[Covey]

I was going to start a Topic on how to reduce the level of  moisture in your grain, I had left a bag of pale  malt and stout malt in the shed (bought last Aug) as i was working my way through what i had in house. so i open the bag last week to find the moisture is high but with no mold or anything but you def notice when your crushing it and like the pictures above wasn't sure if it was crushed at all. I use BIAB so the husk shape doesn't bother me. I feel like i need to dry the grain to make sure it doesn't get worse or go moldy. Has any one any opinion on it

[Ohnidog]

I was going to start a Topic on how to reduce the level of  moisture in your grain, I had left a bag of pale  malt and stout malt in the shed (bought last Aug) as i was working my way through what i had in house. so i open the bag last week to find the moisture is high but with no mold or anything but you def notice when your crushing it and like the pictures above wasn't sure if it was crushed at all. I use BIAB so the husk shape doesn't bother me. I feel like i need to dry the grain to make sure it doesn't get worse or go moldy. Has any one any opinion on it

I'd be a little wary of malt thats been damp for a while. Theres a musty tasting/smelling compound called 2,4,6,trichloroanisole with a very strong flavour that won't just ruin your beer, it could ruin your whole system as its very difficult to get rid of.

[johnrm]

Moist malt for 7 months in a damp shed is not the same as conditioning malt 20 mins before your mash.

[Covey]

ok there goes 50kg of malt to the sheep out the back

[Covey]

Moist malt for 7 months in a damp shed is not the same as conditioning malt 20 mins before your mash.

I know

[HomeBrewWest]

Just remember that not many grain mills use stainless rollers!

need I say more?

Yes, you need to say much more.  There is a difference between "wet milling" or steam milling that introduces much more water and requires stainless rollers and malt conditioning with 50ml - 100ml of water that is just lightly sprinkled onto the outside of the grain.


Dublin's high humidity air probably exposes far more moisture to your rollers than malt conditioning.


Adam

Glad you posted this Adam, I wonder how many brewers will miss this post and over wet the grain?

Even with stainless rollers, the rest of the mill is usually not stainless.

So please do not put "wet" grain through our new Bulldog mill (or any other mill). There is no need since the two rollers are connected so that there is no shear force on the grain.

I've no idea how you would dry a mill after wetting it, it could potentially even seize up. The Bulldog mills, Brewferm mills, and any other mill would all be destroyed by wet grain. I'm just a bit concerned that some brewers will use too much water and destroy their mills.

[biertourist]

Just remember that not many grain mills use stainless rollers!

need I say more?

Yes, you need to say much more.  There is a difference between "wet milling" or steam milling that introduces much more water and requires stainless rollers and malt conditioning with 50ml - 100ml of water that is just lightly sprinkled onto the outside of the grain.


Dublin's high humidity air probably exposes far more moisture to your rollers than malt conditioning.


Adam

Glad you posted this Adam, I wonder how many brewers will miss this post and over wet the grain?

Even with stainless rollers, the rest of the mill is usually not stainless.

So please do not put "wet" grain through our new Bulldog mill (or any other mill). There is no need since the two rollers are connected so that there is no shear force on the grain.

I've no idea how you would dry a mill after wetting it, it could potentially even seize up. The Bulldog mills, Brewferm mills, and any other mill would all be destroyed by wet grain. I'm just a bit concerned that some brewers will use too much water and destroy their mills.

Totally, agree.  "Wet milling" is a thing, but wholly inappropriate for home brewing and definitely wholly inappropriate for non-stainless mills. -Wet Milling also isn't the same as "malt conditioning" which is just spraying 2% moisture by weight over the surface of the grain, mixing well and letting it sit for 10-20 minutes.


Adam

[cruiscinlan]

I did a less exact version of this myself and it worked great for the pale malt part of the grain bill.  Big trouble though when I crushed the caramel/chocolate and roast barley, it caked itself to the rollers like cement and I ended up chewing the cog teeth a bit {as they're plastic}. 

So just a word of warning, use the torque setting on your drill.

[armedcor]

Sounds like the grain was too wet. Definitely shouldn't haven't caked to the rollers.