How to grind

So im standing in my kitchen trying to figure out how to crush my grains and i thought maybe use my coffee bean grinder. Anyone else use this? if not that what else should i use? Rolling Pin?

you don't want to GRIND them, just crack them open a little bit.

put them in a plastic bag and crush them lightly with the rolling pin or cast-iron frying pan.

-walker

Oh alright. Crushing them makes more sense anyhow, thanks

There are mills out there that crush the grains perfectly.

http://www.rubblebrewery.ws/brewery/maltmill.html

The theory is that you crush the grains to release the starches. The husks should remain somewhat whole as they will serve as a filter when the mash is sparged. For steeping, I would say that you would want to do the same. A coffee grinder will make fine particles that would be very hard to remove from the wort.

RichBrewer said:

A coffee grinder will make fine particles that would be very hard to remove from the wort.

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... and probably won't taste all that good.

-walker

I used to use a rolling pin, but after seeing how the grinder does it at the homebrew store I don't think it was being grinded enough. You might want to try a small sample in the coffee grinder. Talking just a sigle push of the button. Once you know what a grind is supposed to look like, getting it that way should be easy.

Not to get off on a tangent, but why do they say not to squeeze the muselin bag with the specialty grains? I sparged with 2 quarts hot water last night but I wanted to SQUEEZE IT! I resisted the urge though, until I took it outside. Nice brown water came out, seems like a waste.

If you squeeze it you will release tannins which will produce an off taste. I did the exact same thing you did two nights ago. I just poured water over it till I got the amount of liquid I needed in the brewpot before cooling.

WhatsOnTap said:

Not to get off on a tangent, but why do they say not to squeeze the muselin bag with the specialty grains? I sparged with 2 quarts hot water last night but I wanted to SQUEEZE IT! I resisted the urge though, until I took it outside. Nice brown water came out, seems like a waste.

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Gosh, did I goof? I brewed a spiced porter this afternoon with chocolate and black patent malt and rolled oats. I'll swear I read someplace, maybe in Palmer, to squeeze the bag between 2 plates. I've done this a couple time before but I think that the beers turned out alright. What kind of taste would the tannins lend to the brew. Also the oats in the bag with the steeped grains made the leavings real gummy. What do the oats add to the brew?

yeah, Palmer says to squeeze it. other resources say to NOT squeeze it. I've done both, and I haven't noticed any difference, honestly.

Your beer will be fine. Relax.

FYI: tannins leave a very astringent, bitter taste behind. If you don't know what this is, BOIL a teabag in some water for a few minutes and drink it. Your tounge will seem to dry up some from the tannins in the tea.

-walker

2pugbrews said:

he oats in the bag with the steeped grains made the leavings real gummy. What do the oats add to the brew?

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the oats add a silky smoothness to the beer.

Question for you regardint the oats: what kind of oats were they?

if they were regular old Quaker-style rolled oats, I think you are supposed to cook them before adding them to the beer. If you don't you could end up with a big goo-ball. One of our female brewers (JillC, I think) had to toss an entire oatmeal stout batch because it ended up thick and gooey due to not cooking the oats first.

-walker

http://brewery.org/brewery/library/woodmill.html

i built this grain mill. it works great. we are going to motorize it soon as well.

Walker said:

the oats add a silky smoothness to the beer.

Question for you regarding the oats: what kind of oats were they?

-walker

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Got them at the home brew supply store along with the specialty grains etc. Owner pretty experienced. Came from a brewery in Anchorage and a long time home brewer. The wort seemed normal. BTW, I used a Fermentis Safale 56 yeast - no starter, just sprinkled into the fermenter. Pitched at 7pm - by 9 next morning was bubbling away 1 per second. Second day 2 per second. Glad I used a blow off setup as krausen had pushed up into the tube. I used tubing the same diameter as the airlock. Is their any danger of the tube clogging?