Malt Conditioning

[Jack Arandir]

I read about malt conditioning and I thought I would try it. The idea is you spray the grains with a little water before crushing, and it makes the grains more pliable for a better crush.

I tried it on a Best Bitter:
4 lb Munton's Maris Otter
4 lb Warminster Floor Malted Maris Otter
4 oz Weyermann Carahell
4 oz Thomas Fawcett Crystal 45
1 oz Midnight Wheat (for color adjustment)
2.5 g CaSO4
5.0 g CaCl2
0.3 oz Warrior 60 min
2.0 oz Willamette 10 min
1 pkg WY1968 London ESB

Target OG 1.045
Actual OG 1.033
Brewhouse efficiency 58% (Typical efficiency 80-82%)

Clearly I milled the grains too coarsely, and I noticed they were undercrushed too late. Apparently with extra pliability you have to narrow the roller gap.

I'm not worried; I just downgraded the beer to an Ordinary Bitter.

My question is whether malt conditioning is worthwhile enough to change my process. Should I bother adding that step and adjusting the mill to a finer crush?

 

[Red over White]

For me it depends on the grist. My crankenstein 3 roller is easy to switch gaps and I mill wicked slow at 50 rpm. With plump Barke malts I don't need to condition and mill wider. I do condition and close the gap for most other malts and mill extra tight for distillers malt when boosting overall diastatic power of the mash.

 

[VikeMan]

My question is whether malt conditioning is worthwhile enough to change my process. Should I bother adding that step and adjusting the mill to a finer crush?

Are you unhappy with the mash efficiency you get with your normal process?

Malt conditioning is a way many commercial brewers squeeze a few extra points of efficiency out of their mashes, because the pennies matter. But they do it in a very controlled, repeatable way. i.e., they are not randomly spritzing water on by hand.

IMO, malt conditioning for most homebrewers would be a solution in search of a problem.

 

[davesrose]

Seems like you already had a good efficiency. Only time I'd consider trying something new is if my efficiency is too low, and/or is inconsistent. If you change one thing, you probably have to change other factors to compensate and experiment with a few more batches.

 

[brewbama]

I used to malt condition but got tired of it. The juice just isn’t worth squeeze for me (aka it crossed my personal PITA line).

 

[Dland]

If efficiency it what you're after conditioning grain, there are a lot of other things to optimize for the effort involved, law of diminishing returns, as it were. If conditioning for other reasons, such LoDO, not sure how one would quantify or measure the effect.

What it does for sure is add an extra step to brew day, and make ones mill need thorough cleaning after each use, or face rust and or mold.

 

[Jack Arandir]

IMO, malt conditioning for most homebrewers would be a solution in search of a problem.

This is exactly what I'm asking. Unless there's some significant benefit, it seems malt conditioning is not worth the effort.

 

[seatazzz]

I've conditioned for the last two batches, but going forward I'm going to nix it. Had to take my brand new grain mill apart yesterday to get all the gunk off the rollers, and my efficiency wasn't any better than with unconditioned malt. It's an extra step that isn't really necessary, IMO.

 

[dwhite60]

Malt is cheap. Another step to improve my efficiency has to be easier than measuring out additional malt.

What I found from malt conditioning (you have to at least try it) is I could get a much finer crush with the hulls still intact enough to create a good filter bed. I didn't see any other appreciable benefit. I biab so bigger hulls don't mean much.

 

[day_trippr]

^that^ is pretty much the entire reason why one would consider malt conditioning.

As for cleanup, I reserve one pound of base malt from the conditioning process and use it to chase the conditioned malt out of the roller knurling. Does a respectable job of it. Also, it is very important to not let the moistened malt sit around at all! Spritz, mix and immediately mill, otherwise the grain kernels will get damp and make a true mess of things that dry malt can't remove...

Cheers!

 

[Dog House Brew]

I’ve conditioned many times. I’ve never had any issues with lautering. I does make a difference in keeping hulls in tact. Just isn’t worth the effort in my current practices.

 

[RM-MN]

Malt conditioning to improve efficiency is a two step process. Step one is to dampen the grain so the hulls are toughened enough that the mill doesn't completely shred them. Step two is to tighten the mill to crush finer, taking advantage of the fact that the hulls are tougher and won't shred at that tighter setting. You have to decide if the two steps are worthwhile to you.

 

[Wagon_6]

I’ve always conditioned (2% of grain weight, wait at least 10 minutes before crushing). Like others, I BIAB and like to constantly recirculate to hold the temperature. I recently upgraded to a Solo from a full mesh basket so it put my process to the test. Conditioning allows me to crush a bit finer, but not crazy BIAB dust, and recirculate aggressively without stuck sparges.

 

[Bobby_M]

Right. You definitely have to crank the mill down tight for it to work. The idea is to get the "guts" of the grain to have the same crush you're used to but then the husks will practically be whole but empty. The point of doing it is to get the same efficiency you're used to but without any lautering trouble that would normally require the addition of rice hulls.

 

[hottpeper13]

^ ^ totally agree and would add that doing this has almost eliminated dust from all phases. I have a fluted 3 roller stainless mill. I changed up my brew day beginning by first weighing out the grain and then misting and mixing,then I get my liquor in the BK and HLT and light'em up. That takes ~10 min and the grains are ready to be milled. I clean with a stiff paint brush.

 

[TLaffey]

I use a RIMS system and conditioning helps me get consistent flow through the grain bed during the mash. Two things: 1) don't use too much water or you gum up the mill. 2) it takes some time after conditioning for the malt to soften. For me, usually about 20 mins while strike water is heating.

Over time I've found that I can dispense with the sprayer. I condition about 3-4 pounds at a time by "raking" a bit of water into the malt with my fingers. Each "mini-batch" then goes into another bucket to wait for milling time. Same amount of water overall, though.