Questions about malt crushing

Yakima 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
K

kojinakata

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 4, 2013
Messages
52
Reaction score
0
Hi everyone,
I did my first batch of all grain brewing without crushing my malt and it turned out ok. For my second attempt, I want to mash my malt crushed. The problem is that I havent got a malt crusher. I have seen some threads on diy malt crushers but I can't spend a lot of time building one of those.
So are there any alternative machines or tools for crushing malt?
Is it possible to crush malt by a handtool?
And I have a coffee grinder, why can't I just use that and use ground malt?
 
kojinakata said:
For my second attempt, I want to mash my malt crushed. The problem is that I havent got a malt crusher.

Is it possible to crush malt by a handtool?
Click to expand...

Where did you buy the grains from? LHBS??
If so, do they have a grain mill? If yes, then I would go right back and ask them to crush it for you.

If no, then anything is better than no crushing.

Perhap rolling it with a rolling pin or crushing it with something.

The issue with a coffee mill will be getting the crush too fine (like flour)

Whatever you do, just do not overdo it.
 
The first couple times I used an old mini food processor pulse 2-3 times for 2-3 seconds each. Still a bit too much floury stuff. I finally broke down & bought The Barley Crusher grain mill with 7lb hopper,wood base installed & crank handle for $130 at NB. Stock setting of .039" works way better. A lot less floury stuff & clarity is better. OG's are up a bit too.
 
wow, surprisiong it worked without crushing your grain. what was your efficiency like? you will for sure need to crush the grain if you want to do all grain successfully. i would check at your lhbs and see if they have a mill or get one like a barley crusher. you don't want to mill too finely or you might have some issues. another question, are you doing BIAB?
 
The problem is that I don't have a LHBS. And I cannot buy a barley crusher simply due to the fact that I live in finland. I could not measure my efficieny, but I know the beer turned out nice.

Clarity of the beer is not an issue for me, so if I grind it with a coffee grinder and make a flour malt, what are the downsides of it?

I tried the rolling pin, but it simply does not crush the malt.

I will try the food processor next.

And I am not doing a BIAB.

Do you know a diy malt crusher thread or link? I might do that, if the food processor does not work also.
 
kojinakata said:
Clarity of the beer is not an issue for me, so if I grind it with a coffee grinder and make a flour malt, what are the downsides of it?
Click to expand...

Depending on your mash tun setup, too fine of a crush will cause issues with the draining. Think of it this way:

Imagine A TON of small flour sized particles sitting in the bottom of the mash tun. It is like thick wet paste that can cause blockages.
 
In addition, a good crush involves breaking open EVERY single grain husk BUT leaving them intact.

THe husks of the grains act like a natural filter to allow sugars to flow out and into the kettle for boiling. If you crush enough to make a lot of flour, then more than likely you have destroyed the husks as well.

Does this make sense?
 
brewkinger said:
Depending on your mash tun setup, too fine of a crush will cause issues with the draining. Think of it this way:

Imagine A TON of small flour sized particles sitting in the bottom of the mash tun. It is like thick wet paste that can cause blockages.
Click to expand...

I use a cooler box for mashing and a strainer for filtering when pouring the mash into my boiler. It will not cause blockages in the strainer, but it will pass through it easily, that makes it a problem when boiling. Anyway a food processor seems the better option.
 
kojinakata said:
I use a cooler box for mashing and a strainer for filtering when pouring the mash into my boiler. It will not cause blockages in the strainer, but it will pass through it easily, that makes it a problem when boiling. Anyway a food processor seems the better option.
Click to expand...


You actually pick up the cooler and dump it into the kettle through a stainer?
 
I dont order my malts but make them at home. If I order them online, I will make sure they will be crushed :). I know that website, but experienced a few difficulties when ordering.
 
kojinakata said:
Yes. Its hard but could not think of another way to do it.
Click to expand...

Check out some of the DIY videos and things on YouTube and the such.

There are plenty of ideas there on installing a manifold, false bottom or screen type filter and then draining via the spigot on the side of the cooler.

Good Lord Man, that is a lot of heavy lifting!!! And not a very efficient way of getting the job done.

This forum is a great tool... use it and ask a lot of questions and we will have you on your way in no time at all.
 
kojinakata said:
brewkinger said:
You actually pick up the cooler and dump it into the kettle through a stainer?
Click to expand...

Yes. Its hard but could not think of another way to do it.
Click to expand...

How about the way everybody else on the planet does it? The way described all over this website and in every book ever written on all-grain brewing? Use a fine-mesh bag to contain the grains in a pot (for Brew-In-A-Bag) or a stainless braid, false bottom, or bazooka screen in a cooler (for cooler mashing).

If you made your first batch without crushing the grains at all, then there's very little chance you actually made beer, as there would have been virtually no sugars released for the yeast to feed on. You simply must find a way to crush your grains, or there's no point in even bothering. It's a fundamental step in brewing.

For small batches, you can get by crushing the grains with a rolling pin, or you might have some luck with the careful application of a food processor, but the "correct" approach is to use a grain mill. Either your own, or at the LHBS, or borrow from another brewer, or order your grain already milled. But one way or another, the grain must be milled.
 
kombat said:
How about the way everybody else on the planet does it? The way described all over this website and in every book ever written on all-grain brewing? Use a fine-mesh bag to contain the grains in a pot (for Brew-In-A-Bag) or a stainless braid, false bottom, or bazooka screen in a cooler (for cooler mashing).

If you made your first batch without crushing the grains at all, then there's very little chance you actually made beer, as there would have been virtually no sugars released for the yeast to feed on. You simply must find a way to crush your grains, or there's no point in even bothering. It's a fundamental step in brewing.

For small batches, you can get by crushing the grains with a rolling pin, or you might have some luck with the careful application of a food processor, but the "correct" approach is to use a grain mill. Either your own, or at the LHBS, or borrow from another brewer, or order your grain already milled. But one way or another, the grain must be milled.
Click to expand...

+1
Crushed grains are VERY important.
 
kombat said:
How about the way everybody else on the planet does it? The way described all over this website and in every book ever written on all-grain brewing? Use a fine-mesh bag to contain the grains in a pot (for Brew-In-A-Bag) or a stainless braid, false bottom, or bazooka screen in a cooler (for cooler mashing).

If you made your first batch without crushing the grains at all, then there's very little chance you actually made beer, as there would have been virtually no sugars released for the yeast to feed on. You simply must find a way to crush your grains, or there's no point in even bothering. It's a fundamental step in brewing.

For small batches, you can get by crushing the grains with a rolling pin, or you might have some luck with the careful application of a food processor, but the "correct" approach is to use a grain mill. Either your own, or at the LHBS, or borrow from another brewer, or order your grain already milled. But one way or another, the grain must be milled.
Click to expand...

I did it only for one batch because I could not wait to get on with brewing. I will probably go with the BIAB method since it is much easier.
It tasted nice, that was enough for me :). Now that you expressed its significance, I will look into malt crushers. I opened this thread because I wanted to know if there was a way other than buying or building a crusher. Ordering or making one takes time, a lot of time in fact for someone as lazy as me, thus any alternative is better.
 
I understand the lazyness factor, but I really don't think it's that difficult to go online and order a grain mill from somewhere that can get it to you. Even if it isn't fast, you can experiment with your coffee grinder in the mean time. But if you are malting your own grain and going to all that trouble, ordering a grain mill seems like a pretty easy task to pull off. It just makes sense to have the right tool to get the job done. This isn't What kind of pot, plastic or glass fermenter, what brand of burner, crushing grain is a basic part of the brewing process, it's something you want to do right. Look up carona mills here and on the rest of the internet, a lot of people here use them and that would probably give you just what you need. I just don't think this is one area you want to try to find a workaround on.
 

Similar threads

F
How do I speed up my crush time?
Replies
14
Views
1K
fuzzybee
F
T
yet another strike water volume question.
Replies
1
Views
616
doug293cz
doug293cz
orgenomescii
Brewing like a Barbarian: Ancient Irish Descriptions of Malting & Brewing
Replies
2
Views
1K
McMullan
McMullan
M
Floating oily balls post fermentation - Help!
Replies
15
Views
913
hotbeer
hotbeer
G
New member
Replies
5
Views
393
ncbrewer
N

Latest posts

Back
Top