Any tips on manipulating grains (milled)?

I've always got my grains milled at the LHBS. Here's a few questions that have been nagging me for awhile?

1. Has anyone experienced a beer flavour improvement when they switched to milling their own or is there just the potential for improved efficiency? (e.g. can better milled grains reduce husk particles etc. getting into the kettle and getting boiled, producing tannin/grainy off-flavours? I do recirculate, but the wort is never perfectly clear)

2. Does anyone do anything special with their milled grains before dumping the bag (e.g. from the LHBS) into the mashtun strike water? I note that the bag I get always has a tonne of flour in the bottom - I assume that's normal and doesn't need to be sifted out first. My current protocol is to add the milled grains slowly to the strike water while stirring vigorously to prevent dough balls forming which could reduce mash efficiency. Is there anything else I should be doing when I handle the milled grains?

1. No flavor difference, just a better.... well, a more consistent crush/efficiency. Your runoff will usually never be "clear" but you should not be getting a lot of grain particles passing through if you vorlauf/recirculate well enough. Also make sure to take you runnings slow and consistent. Surging slow to fast can cause issues with your grain bed and possibly jar particles loose.

2. Only thing is to bring them up to room temp if they've been sitting in a fridge or the like....As for the flour, dump it in and get all the goodness they have to offer.

501irishred said:

1. No flavor difference, just a better.... well, a more consistent crush/efficiency. Your runoff will usually never be "clear" but you should not be getting a lot of grain particles passing through if you vorlauf/recirculate well enough. Also make sure to take you runnings slow and consistent. Surging slow to fast can cause issues with your grain bed and possibly jar particles loose.

2. Only thing is to bring them up to room temp if they've been sitting in a fridge or the like....As for the flour, dump it in and get all the goodness they have to offer.

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Thanks! That's exactly the kind of advice I was looking for. I'll double my recirculation volume to 4L and be sure not to mess with the flow once the grain bed is set. Cheers!

No problem. One other thing, on recirculating or manual vorlauf, you need to be careful on feeding back to the top. You don't want to disturb the grain bed you're trying to establish.

501irishred said:

No problem. One other thing, on recirculating or manual vorlauf, you need to be careful on feeding back to the top. You don't want to disturb the grain bed you're trying to establish.

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Gotchya. I usually use a plate on the top of the grains and pour on top of that to prevent drilling a hole.