Coffee Grinder for grains?

I am brewing an all grain IPA recipe I put together as I type this. I got all my grains from my LHBS except for the roasted barley, which I already had uncrushed. I am using 2oz of it just for some color. Anyway, it dawned on me as I was doughing in that I never crushed the roasted barley. I grabbed my electric coffee bean grinder (which has never been used until now), threw them in and ground 'em up. Just curious if this is a good/bad thing to do if I ever find myself in need of a grain crusher in a pinch again.

A coffee grinder may crush the hulls too much - thus leading to tannin extraction. Which would be a bad thing.

On the other hand, if you just quickly pulsed the grains so that they were just crushed/cracked open (similar looking to what your LHBS-crush looks like) then it may work in a pinch.

For two ounces, I think it would be fine. Just don't go overboard, a few pulses would be more than enough.

Rolling pin

I do not know about in your mash tun, but throw those grounds into your next coffee filter with some fresh ground coffee - bet that would taste just fine.

In all earnst, probably no issue for 2 OZ - I wouldn't make a habit of it just on principle.

I often use my coffee grinder for up to a pound or so. It's a burr mill. I set it to the widest gap. Works great.

Great, thanks for the info! I figured there was a reason we all didn't just use coffee grinders so now I know! I figured that for 2oz it probably shouldn't be a huge deal.

I used a blender to grind up 10lbs of grain for my first AG batch. Similar concept to a coffee grinder, batch tasted great. In fact, there is a home brew supply shop in vancouver that uses a commercial coffee grinder to grind all their grain. I think you would have to literally make flour out of the grain to cause any problems.

If you used a grinder on all of your grain you likely would have a h3ll of a time getting the wort to flow without a stuck mash. The intact grain hulls act as a filter bed to capture proteins and other solids while still allowing the liquid to flow. Without the husks (or with husks that have been pulverized into meal) you would be up the proverbial creek without the required paddle.

The only time i need to grind my own malt is If I plan to toast them, and I normally just use a heavy duty zip loc bag and a meat tenderizer. Seems to work great. I may try the coffee grinder idea though if you say you get good results.

I wouldn't use one of those rotary blade type grinders - certainly not for more than a small percentage of your grain. Mine is a burr mill that grinds to a much more uniform particle size and doesn't shred the husks too much. I think a rotary grinder would create too much flour.

I don't see a problem with grinding 2 oz malt in a coffee grinder, but I wouldn't like to grind 10 lbs. That would probably wreck my coffee grinder.
In fact, in Brewing Classic Styles, they recommend using a coffee grinder for preparing roast barley for the Cerveza de Malto Seca recipe, suggesting that you turn it almost into dust.

-a.