Malt Conditioning Poll

I was just curious on who has done this. I'm brewing a Red Rye Ale soon with about 28% rye and am going to give it a shot to see if it helps me avoid a stuck sparge. I could also be cool with a tiny bump in efficiency if it happens. We'll see.

For those of you who have did you go by the 2% water to grain ratio or did you just wet it down a bit?

How about "I've heard of it, but I get 80-83% efficiency on my system now, and have never had a stuck sparge, so why would I bother"?

By the way, I am not sure how conditioning your malt will help with a large percentage of hull-less grains. Just throw in some rice hulls.

I tried it and it made no difference. I've used as much as 40% rye and never in 425 batches had a stuck runoff.

I always condition my malt, but I dont have access to rye in my country so I use it primary for easier lautering.

Conditioning also improves extraction of maltose, glucose and maltotriose, reducing the leaching of harsh-tasting tannins from husks into the wort... on the other side, dry milling reduces protein content but increases ferulic acid.
There are positive and negative sides of both methods, and you have to choose by your own which suits best for you.

If you"re interested in science behind it there are great informations here:
http://www.scientificsocieties.org/jib/papers/2011/G-2012-0118-1141.pdf

None of the above. I have never had a stuck sparge and get pretty good efficiency, so I have never felt the need. I also don't want to add another variable, or step to my procedures.

So, I have heard of it but probably will not bother.

love it. always do it.

LKABrewer said:

How about "I've heard of it, but I get 80-83% efficiency on my system now, and have never had a stuck sparge, so why would I bother"?

By the way, I am not sure how conditioning your malt will help with a large percentage of hull-less grains. Just throw in some rice hulls.

Click to expand...

Boo yaaaah. No need