Malt Conditioning the EASY WAY!!

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hafmpty

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As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. So I was going to condition my malt for the first time the other day when I realized I didn't have any sort of bin or container large enough to pour my grains into so I could spray them with the water and mix them up. So I thought...I guess I'll just have to do it in a bag.

So I dumped my grain in a big garbage sack and began spraying them with water. Well, instead of mixing the grains up by hand, I had one hand on each side of the bag and would rock it side to side alternating one hand up and the other down. This would kind of roll it side to side on the ground. It got the grains mixed and circulated in addition to spreading the water evenly. I actually began spraying the sides of the bag on each side and would let the water run down a bit and then sort of "throw" the grains into the side of the bag where I'd sprayed the water. I did this until the water I needed to spray was gone. Took only a couple minutes. Then I tied the bag up and let it sit for the 10min and then milled it.

This method mixed the grains up very well and I got a really good crush too. I don't know if it's better than doing it by hand or in a large bin, but there was nothing to it for sure. I think just to be sure I'd use two garbage sacks next time because my basement floor is a little rough. But other than that, this worked great.

If you've never conditioned your malt before...DO IT! It's super simple and I saw a definite difference in the visual character of the grains. The husks weren't nearly as broken as others I've seen.

How do you do it? Take your total grain bill and convert it from pounds to ounces. Then multiply this number by .02 to give you WEIGHT in ounces of water you need to spray on the grain.

For example, I was using 21lbs of grain. 21lbs=336oz (21lbs x 16oz in a lb = 336oz)

336x.02=6.72oz of water. So this is what I sprayed over my pre-milled grain.

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!!! The ounces of water is how much the water WEIGHS not the number of ounces. It's the difference in measure. It's ounces by WEIGHT, NOT ounces by VOLUME.

Here's the websites I learned about this from if your interested:
http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Malt_Conditioning
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Malt_Conditioning
http://www.brewersfriend.com/2010/01/16/malt-conditioning/
 
When I condition my malt, I'll dump 1/4 malt into a bucket and pour 1/4 of the water...stir with mash paddle....repeat until all of the malt/water is added. I'll then pour the malt with water added back and forth between buckets, maybe a dozen times or until the malt/water is evenly dispersed. Wait 10 minutes and crush with my mill. The difference is amazing.
 
THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!!! The ounces of water is how much the water WEIGHS not the number of ounces. It's the difference in measure. It's ounces by WEIGHT, NOT ounces by VOLUME.

Great writeup, but FYI, you don't need to worry about the ounces by weight/volume thing.

Fluid ounces are rather close to ounces of water. 1 fl oz = 29.57 mL. 1 oz = 28.34 g. 1 mL of water = 1 g.

So if you just wanna save time, you can use a measuring cup and measure ounces of volume. At most, you will be off by (29.57-28.34)/(28.34)= 4%
 
I mill my grain before brew day to lessen the work load - when does conditioned malt need to be used by ? Im concerned a delay and the additional moisture could cause problems -souring etc.
 
I read somewhere on this forum, maybe Bobby_M or Kaiser or someone, that a day before is totally fine. No need to worry at that length. Any additional info guys/gals? Maybe a post link? Don't know where I read it but I'm certain I did.
 
I read somewhere on this forum, maybe Bobby_M or Kaiser or someone, that a day before is totally fine. No need to worry at that length. Any additional info guys/gals? Maybe a post link? Don't know where I read it but I'm certain I did.

Kaiser indicated it's not enough moisture to worry.

I haven't had any problems conditioning and milling the night before.
 
Great writeup, but FYI, you don't need to worry about the ounces by weight/volume thing.

Fluid ounces are rather close to ounces of water. 1 fl oz = 29.57 mL. 1 oz = 28.34 g. 1 mL of water = 1 g.

So if you just wanna save time, you can use a measuring cup and measure ounces of volume. At most, you will be off by (29.57-28.34)/(28.34)= 4%
+1. The old saying is: A pint is a pound the world around. Or something like that, let's just ignore the fact that most of the world doesn't use pints or pounds.
 
If i understand what you're saying about oz by wt. and oz by vol, the equation boils down to

grain in lbs * 0.3068 = oz vol of distilled water.

Can anyone confirm that?

Thanks!
perogi.
 
Does conditioning malt make for less flour? Or is it only husks that are protected? The reason I ask is I Brew in a Bag, and don't care about the husk being intact for sparging.
But less flour would interest me.
 
Does conditioning malt make for less flour? Or is it only husks that are protected? The reason I ask is I Brew in a Bag, and don't care about the husk being intact for sparging.
But less flour would interest me.

Conditioning malt applies to the husk of the malt. It makes a huge difference in the Lautering. Most of the husk will remain intact, while the kernels are ground as intended. Biab brewers usually grind extra fine because of their bags. Therefore many BIAB brewers approach traditional brewers efficiency.
 
+HopSpunge+ said:
I have never tried this. Does it increase efficiency or just help prevent a stuck sparge?

Both. Conditioned malt has a more flexible husk that is harder to fracture. This aids in lautering but, due to the husk being more durable/flexible, it also can allow for tightening of your mill gaps giving a finer endosperm partial size and increased efficiency - (to a point).
 
I just read that. 1% increase is not much. I think I will pass on the malt conditioning step :)

The quote below are more reasons to condition your grain. :fro:

"In addition, running off times were shortened by about 20 min. Beers brewed from conditioned and unconditioned malts showed similar analysis except with regard to colour (conditioned malt, 3.5; control 3.9) but a taste panel significantly 5% identified the odd beer and preferred that brewed from the conditioned malt."
 
I did the conditioning but the grain particles built up around my rollers and turned out to be a pain in the ass to clean it. How do you avoid this from happening to your grain mill?
 
I did the conditioning but the grain particles built up around my rollers and turned out to be a pain in the ass to clean it. How do you avoid this from happening to your grain mill?

Conditioned my malt today (first time tried it).
Rollers stayed clean.
Only did the base malt, not the specialty grains.
10 lbs of pale malt with 3oz of water and let sit for 10 minutes before milling.

Worked great. Will do it again.
 
Laszlo said:
I did the conditioning but the grain particles built up around my rollers and turned out to be a pain in the ass to clean it. How do you avoid this from happening to your grain mill?

3 thoughts ( now that I look at it it's really one thought -too wet);

1)too much water. I do around 0.3 Oz per pound of grain using a kitchen scale to weigh a spray bottle intermittently while stirring grain.

2) not mixed well. The moisture level in the malt is so low that you have to make an attempt to spread the water around a bit or it's gonna soak in where it lays. You could also try letting it sit for longer before milling . The malt should never get wet enough to stick to anything once you mix it in. It's the difference in a dry cigar vs one in a humidor at 80%.

3) give the water some time to be absorbed by letting it sit in an airtight container and/or stir it/mix it well.
 
+HopSpunge+ said:
I just read that. 1% increase is not much. I think I will pass on the malt conditioning step :)

Who among us wouldn't gladly spend HUNDREDS on equipment to get 30 min off their brew day AND get an average increase of 1.0-1.2% efficiency/yeild to boot? This costs nothing and takes 10 min!

Now, that being said, I don't see my lautering times being cut in half (nor would I want to )but in my system , I've been able to adjust to get my efficiency up by an average 5% since I started this practice. And I'm fearless in my lautering as far as stuck mash is concerned.

If your mash efficiency is greater than 75% and your beer tastes good without it- well; you probably don't need to complicate your brew day.
On the other hand - if you've tried it and didn't see an advantage in doing it...well, you must be doing it differently than I do.
 
Thanks Brewskii.I think you are correct I used much more water than the suggested amount.Also did not let the grain sit before milling.I will give this a another chance.
 
Does conditioning malt make for less flour? Or is it only husks that are protected? The reason I ask is I Brew in a Bag, and don't care about the husk being intact for sparging.
But less flour would interest me.

In my experience, conditioning the malt produces less flour. I use a Corona style mill and I BIAB. When I condition malt I usually allow the grain to rest for an hour or so. The grains don't seem to "shatter" when crushed and as a result, produce less flour. I can tighten my mill for a good fine crush.

You can demonstrate this for yourself. First, take a dozen or so grains and moisten them with a couple drops of water. Then take another dozen or so dry grains and crush them with a tablespoon. Go ahead and crush them up pretty good. Wait at least 10 minutes and then crush the "conditioned" grains.
 
Ya. If I still fly-sparged I would try it. I don't see how it would improve batch or no-sparge. Besides the extra 1%. I don't see how your saving time on your brew day. But, I could be wrong. I didn't wana go read all the linked articles about it.
 
+HopSpunge+ said:
Ya. If I still fly-sparged I would try it. I don't see how it would improve batch or no-sparge. Besides the extra 1%. I don't see how your saving time on your brew day. But, I could be wrong. I didn't wana go read all the linked articles about it.

Yeah, the idea is that I don't have lautering issues so I grind finer. Which affords me a higher yeild and i worry less about tannin extraction due to fewer torn husks. I don't run balls-out on my LT (nor do I want to). Regardless of yeild/lautering, conditioning makes a huge difference in what comes out of your mill.
 
G'day, I use a millmaster minimill but can't get the grain to move unless I have the gap real wide. Would conditioning the malt fix my problem?
 
Terence said:
G'day, I use a millmaster minimill but can't get the grain to move unless I have the gap real wide. Would conditioning the malt fix my problem?

It "may" get it to grab a little better, but some mills really need you to do a two-stage milling, once to smash the grain and again to get it to finish size. Yours may be like that.
 
Conditioned the malt, added 2%water by volume, 13kg grain bill, 300ml water. misted and mixed and let sit for around 1 hour (just 'cause I got sidetracked). Grain pulled through the mill with little trouble, will always condition now, all grains crushed and all husks intact. Perfect!
 
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