When do you crush grains?

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Morkin

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I'm going to start my first all grain this Saturday. I was wanting to know when is the best time to crush the grains. I have a corona mill, and want to crush tonight,( Friday) and was wondering if I would see any side effects to crushing a day or two before brew day. I want brewday to go as quickly and smoothly as possible.
 
I usually crush the night before when I am getting all my stuff ready. I cant think this is any different than getting the grain crushed when buying it either online or at LHBS. I wouldnt want it to sit around for more than a couple weeks, but a couple days is no biggie.
 
Usually right before I dough in, but lately I have been prepping the night before so I can get things cracking at dawn.
 
Were it me, and it was my first AG, I'd crush the night before so that it was one less thing to mess with on brew day.

And I will often buy grains crushed and not be able to use them for a week or two and have never had any problem. In fact, I brewed Sunday with grains I bought back in May and I don't expect any problems.
 
I usually do it the day of, while my strike water is heating. I've never had any problem doing it this way as I have ample time until the tap water heats up to my desired temp.
 
Night before since I got a Barley Crusher. When I crushed at the LHBS I would crush on Wednesday or Saturday for a Sunday brew. Only days they were open.

Inside of a week, I think you're ok. Wouldn't crush any farther out.
 
I have a motorized mill so I usually do it right before mashing. Just fill it, flip the switch, and work on other things. But a couple days out won't make any difference so long as it's kept cool and dry.
 
Night before. I like to get started early and don't want to wake swmbo. I just keep em crushed in my bucket covered over night.
 
You can crush them ahead of time, no problems. You can crush for the next batch too, if you want. Just seal 'em up and toss them in the fridge (cool and dry).
 
I usually do it when my water is heating. I wouldn't worry about doing it the day before or even 2 days. Just make sure that it stays dry. I crush my grain right into a bucket and put the lid on it until i'm ready to dough in if it's at all humid.
 
Timing dosent matter too much, sometimes I crush the night before, sometimes I sit my Barley Crusher on the side of the mash tun & crush directly into the tun.

I have made beer with grain that has been crushed over a month, its turned out fine.
 
Not sure why, but I'm a little surprised and the numbers of folks crushing the night before...interesting.

I too have a motorized mill so while the strike water is heating I fill the hopper, plug in, and let 'er rip. Then off to get other things prepped. It takes a while to get the water heated up so it's a good time to get everything else set.
 
I read somewhere that it's best to crush the day before, or in another room or outside, because of the barley dust that gets in the air. From what I understand there may be bacteria on the grains, and if the dust settles in your wort during or after chilling, it could infect your batch.
I have crushed grain inside on a sunny day and have seen the dust in the air for quite a while. Perhaps it's worse with a Corona mill.
Has anyone else heard of this?
 
I crush right before with a BC. If I was doing it by hand I might do it the day before. I can't imagine that anyone could discern the difference with grain crushed the day before as long as you were not keeping it open in a steam bath or out in the open in a bad environment. Basically by crushing grain you are taking off the protective layer and that is going to start the process of the grain degrading faster than if it was left whole. How do you measure this? No clue.
 
Thanks guys! I think I will mash tonight and brew on Sunday. Thanks for all the posts!
 
Night before, and I measure out all my mash and sparge water too. Then it's off to the races the next morning. Two less things to worry about. :mug:
 
I guess I'm different, but I crush them AFTER the mash since they're soft then and it's easy to just do it by walking around on the spent grains with my tennis shoes on. Of course I've been only getting about 11% efficiency so maybe it's not the best approach.
 
I guess I'm different, but I crush them AFTER the mash since they're soft then and it's easy to just do it by walking around on the spent grains with my tennis shoes on. Of course I've been only getting about 11% efficiency so maybe it's not the best approach.

You owe me a laptop LCD cleaning! :D
 
The afternoon before I brew. I have enough to do on brewday. Do I believe this hurts anything? No.
 
WHOA there little feller! "MASH" tonight, then brew Sunday. I really hope you meant "crush" tonight! If not, please let us know so we can alter our advice.

Ha, that is what I meant, thanks for reading between the lines.

My first all grain I think went very well. My target was 1.050 and I hit 1.044, not bad. I think this was due to low efficency, I went with a batch sparge and my temp was just a tad bit off. But I"m not complaining, this is probably the clearist beer that I have seen before adding the yeast. Wort Chiller and Mash tun worked great on thier first try! Fermenting very nicely this morning as well, smells great. Thanks for all your help guys!
 
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