Is my barley crushed...enough?

I recently bought some 'allegedly' crushed barley for my first brew after many years of not brewing. I placed the order online and picked it up later that day. When I got home and took a closer look the barley appears to be pretty much fully intact...there's a tiny bit of flour in the bottom of the bag. The grains look whole...but they might be cracked. It's been so long I can't remember what it's supposed to look like but my foggy memory is that it looked more crushed than this.

So do you think my barley is crushed at all or just not enough?
If not crushed enough...is there a way to crush it without the equipment? I'm gonna buy a Barley Crusher but I won't have it by this weekend and I really wanted to get the first batch going this weekend. Could I just lay it out flat and use a rolling pin? I don't care if it's a little time consuming...the local shop is way across town and I'd rather not drive all the way over there.

I guess the good thing is that this is all it took for me to decide to get a Barley Crusher and just buy my grains whole.

Thanks for any help.

If it looks like any of the hulls are still in tact then I'd guess that it hasn't even been crushed.

Short of taking it back to the LHBS you could try using a rolling pin. If you search I'm sure that someone has written up a procedure for cracking grain this way. I have never done it though.

ohiobrewtus said:

If it looks like any of the hulls are still in tact then I'd guess that it hasn't even been crushed.

Short of taking it back to the LHBS you could try using a rolling pin. If you search I'm sure that someone has written up a procedure for cracking grain this way. I have never done it though.

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Stores will crush on the light side in order to reduce your efficiency, this way next time you will buy more. Crush it yourself with a rolling pin.

This is crushed........

Thanks for the reponses...and pic. I did check Papazian's book and there are two comparison pics in there. I tried doing 1# of Victory Toasted last night with a rolling pin and it didn't come out nearly as crushed as the pic above. I'll try to crush the Domestic 2-row more than I did the Victory....the 1/2# Crystal actually looks a little cracked/crushed. I ordered a Barley Crusher but won't get it in time for this weekend...but I have the malt for a Pils waiting for it. I guess I'll just consider this an experiment of sorts...I have some LDME just in case.

impatient said:

Stores will crush on the light side in order to reduce your efficiency, this way next time you will buy more.

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I disagree. Most home brew shops are trying to cater to a large crowd. If you have an issue with your stores crush, I'm sure they wouldn't care if you run your grains twice. Do you think a HBS would rather have you get a slightly coarser grain or a stuck sparge?

Anthony_Lopez said:

I disagree. Most home brew shops are trying to cater to a large crowd. If you have an issue with your stores crush, I'm sure they wouldn't care if you run your grains twice. Do you think a HBS would rather have you get a slightly coarser grain or a stuck sparge?

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I agree with Anthony. I seriously doubt that any LHBS would do that for that reason, but rather to help reduce the chance of a stuck sparge.
Customers would probably be a little less concerned about getting a little lower efficiency than fighting with an MLT that just won't freakin' drain.

If they are worries about stuck sparges they should sell some rice hulls along with the grain