moistening the grain before chrushing

[Kaiser]

Has anyone tried this yet?

Moisten the grain before crushing so that the husks become more elastic, but the endosperm remains dry. This will allow a finer crush while keeping the husks from shredding.

Comming weekend I plan to brew my Adventius Weizenbock (going to be my Christmas beer). In order to get to the starting gravity of 19 *P with a 5 gal cooler I need to crush the grains very well to get the efficiency up. But since I have 60% wheat and don't like the use rice hulls (I wouldn't have room for them anyway) I need to be carful not to shred the husks to much.

I just did a test crush and it looks very promising to me. At first it looks as if the grains are just rolled flat. But when you pick the crushed malt up, the flower falls right out of your hand.


Kai

[valorian]

How long are you soaking them and at what temperature? I havn't heard of this before.

[Kaiser]

How long are you soaking them and at what temperature? I havn't heard of this before.

I gave them a few squits with a spritz bottle and let them for a few minutes at room temp. They will get a slightly different feel to them, but don't feel wet.

Some time ago, when I tried this first, I added to much water and the grains were actually felt wet. When I them crushed them I made a big mess (flour and husks sticking to the grain mill) and the grais were only rolled flat with little exposure of the endosperm. I definately suggest testing this fist with only a small amount of grains.

Kai

[calvey]

I can tell you this much - I crushed some grain that had gotten fairly wet.

It stuck to my mill and made some godforsaken concrete like substance on my rollers. It took a wire brush and a lot of work to clean that mess up.

beware

[Henning1966]

The only reason for wetting grain before milling grain I can see is to keep explosion hazards 2 a minumum. Only place milling that mush grain is the big brewers not home brewers. If it was me I would mill dry as normal and do it until I was scared there was 2 much flour. Then run it through one more time.

[Kaiser]

I can tell you this much - I crushed some grain that had gotten fairly wet. It stuck to my mill and made some godforsaken concrete like substance on my rollers. It took a wire brush and a lot of work to clean that mess up.

Yes, that's what I expeienced as well during my first experiemt. It told me to ge careful and that the grain shouldn't be wet. It should only feel slightly moist.

But I did read that in a home brewing and not in a commercial brewing text. I just can't remember which book it was.

Kai

[bperetto]

I believe it's done at Victory. I haven't tried it yet. I'm guessing you'd have to clean your mill afterwards so it doesn't get moldy.

Do you really need that finer crush? -I mean, is it worth the time and effort? Jus throw a few extra pounds in, and that'll fix the problem

[Kaiser]

I believe it's done at Victory. I haven't tried it yet. I'm guessing you'd have to clean your mill afterwards so it doesn't get moldy.

nothing will be wet. And any wetness on the mill will dry very quickly. Though this is commonly referred to as "wet-crush".

Do you really need that finer crush? -I mean, is it worth the time and effort? Jus throw a few extra pounds in, and that'll fix the problem

I see your point, but I'm trying to mash a 19*P (1.076) beer in a 5gal cooler. Even with a lower as usual water to grist ratio, am I at the max of the cooler capacity. I'll keep DME at hand, but I need to get a higher as usual gravity w/o lautering problems due to 60% wheat and a fine crush.

Kai