Crushing Grain

If I am doing partial mash beers with somewhere around a pound, give or take, of grains, can I crush my grain without any special equipment? How "ground" does it have to be? Are there any appliances (blenders, food processors, coffee grinders...) that I shouldn't use?

Do you have access to a lawn roller? Or a carpet roller? Or Mama's rolling pin? Put the grains into a zip-loc, and roll away. I'ts suposed to be crushed to...um...1/2 flour, 1/2 grits, for all grain mashing. Probaly not critical for partial mash where the effficiency is not so important, it's just for flavor.

casebrew said:

Do you have access to a lawn roller? Or a carpet roller? Or Mama's rolling pin? Put the grains into a zip-loc, and roll away. I'ts suposed to be crushed to...um...1/2 flour, 1/2 grits, for all grain mashing. Probaly not critical for partial mash where the effficiency is not so important, it's just for flavor.

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Yep, rolling pin in a zip lock bag works great! You're just looking to crack the grains open, you don't want to turn it into a powder. That's why blenders, food processors, coffee grinders, etc., aren't recommended - they grind too fine!

Is this simply because the small ammount of base malt included (if its a mini-mash it should have some malt w/ enzymes yielding fermentables) won't be adding as much to final sugar content as the extract? When doing AG you need to do more than just crack the husks, correct?

clayof2day said:

Is this simply because the small ammount of base malt included (if its a mini-mash it should have some malt w/ enzymes yielding fermentables) won't be adding as much to final sugar content as the extract? When doing AG you need to do more than just crack the husks, correct?

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No, you pretty much just crack the husks. You want to expose the starchy interior of the husk to the enzymes so they can chew away making sugars which hopefully go into solution and drain out of the tun. If you grind up the husks too much they won't form an effective filter for the mash and things will gum up.

Having said that, it is possible to not grind finely enough which typically manifests itself as lower than expected efficiency. I like to grind a bit on the fine side as long as I don't stick my mash which seems to give me my best efficiency.

I think a blender , coffee grinder, etc. would work OK here. mmdittter doesn't have to worry about a stuck sparge in a grain bag in a pot of wort. But too much husk flavor in the tea maybe?

casebrew said:

I think a blender , coffee grinder, etc. would work OK here. mmdittter doesn't have to worry about a stuck sparge in a grain bag in a pot of wort. But too much husk flavor in the tea maybe?

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No, no no - avoid a coffee grinder or blender! Coffee grinders grind too fine. Blenders do the same and with less control! It's very possible you'll extract tannins and get that 'tea' taste. Not good brew.

Trust me - a rolling pin in a big zip lock bag will get you where you want to be.

we made our own grain mill a couple of weeks ago. used it for the first time on saturday. worked great. we used a rolling pin cut to length, instead of using a lathe to make a roller. here's the link for the plans. we made it all with a hand saw, a drill and a dremel tool.

http://brewery.org/brewery/library/woodmill.html

One other thing about those spice/coffee grinders and blenders...the blades will actually generate significant heat through friction. I don't know if that chemically affects grains and the endosperm, but it does affect coffee which is why real coffee aficianados use low speed burr grinders.

BeeGee said:

One other thing about those spice/coffee grinders and blenders...the blades will actually generate significant heat through friction. I don't know if that chemically affects grains and the endosperm, but it does affect coffee which is why real coffee aficianados use low speed burr grinders.

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This is off topic, but the supposed heat gain is pure marketing BS (by the guys that sell high end burr grinders)

I compared all my machines side-by-side and there was NO significant increase in bean temperature in any of them. This includes using the cheapest blade grinder, an old Melitta I've had since the 70s. The physics behind this supposed heat increase don't make sense anyway.

Good to know! I do know from a coffee perspective you won't make good espresso with a blade grinder (although I have used them before for coarser grinds), but I've never tried applying my blade grinder to beer grains, just spices.