pre-milled grain and efficiency

The consensus seems to be that buying milled grain from the HBS tends to result in a coarser crush and lower efficiency.

I wonder what would happen if you took a lb or two of the pre-milled grain and gave it a quick pulse in a food processor? You'd still have plently of husks for a good filter bed. The husks being harder than the endosperms would probably not be effected too much by a quick pulse or two.

Might increase efficiency a bit without resulting in stuck sparges--thoughts?

I have a reflex that requires me to shudder when someone mentions pulverizing grain with a food processor or coffee grinder, no matter for how long. While I agree that the HBS's tend to crush too coarse, I'd prefer to go over it with a rolling pin versus grinding it (if you don't have a mill! ). Should accomplish the same thing without the shudder reflex

Or ask the HBS to grind it finer. I get pretty average results from the LHBS crush, while the Kaiser gets great results...but I think he adjusts the crush whereas I've just always bunged it in and let it rip.

Overall, I think the mechanics of a food processor blade are just too different from the crush of a knurled roller to give me warm fuzzies.

When I steep I usually crush under a rolling pin. But that brew I did the AG last time... wow.... that was a lot of grain. Uhh.... a rolling pin.... talk about building upper body strength

Take it back to the the LHBS, or use a rolling pin. BUT whatever you do PLEASE don't put you malt in a food processor, blender, or coffee grinder. You will likely end up pulverizing it way to much and end up with a waste of malt, that is unless you were planning on milling it to make flour for bread