I listened to my wife.... Am I in trouble?

So a few weeks ago I'm getting geared up to do a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone. It called for a couple different kinds of malt (1/2# Crystal 30L & 1/2# Carapils). So I'm in the kitchen with the grain and the rolling pin and she starts giving me the "What are you doing that for? Why don't you just put it in the food proccessor... it will be so much quicker.". I reluctantly agreed despite the feeling I had that this short cut could come back to haunt me.

So today I'm in my LHBS and one conversation led to another and I mentioned I did this. The guy there said that this could be a problem - that if I obliterated the grains that it would release too much tanins and that could be problematic. Well I didn't pulverize the little buggers, but I imagine that I did inflict more violence on then than I would have with a rolling pin.

So... What's are your thoughts on my lapse in judgment and the effect that it could have on the batch?

Thanks!

 

Too late to worry about it now. Guess it depends how "processed" the grain got. Time will tell....

 

I liked the title of this post

Cant fix it now, if it turns out fine you have a new way to mill

 

It will be just fine. Biab brewers will crush really fine without these issues and unless you steeped it for a long long while I would imagine you will see no ill effects. I'm pretty sure I heard of others using this technique.

 

"I listened to my wife"

That's a rookie mistake, and ya hate to see that

I wouldn't think pulverizing husks releases appreciably more tannins, that's more a function of mash chemistry. In a conventional MLT it might cause an epic stuck mash, though...

Cheers!

 

I'd reckon'spect you will be fine. It is pretty hard to atomize grain with a food processor UNLESS you use the 'Acme Multi-Purpose Roadrunner and Grain Atomizer' which hasn't been available since 1965.

 

If you think your grains are pulverized, you should see mine and I don't get tannin extracted either. You'll be fine.

 

The only real risk s a stuck sparge due to the finer crush making the grain bed so dense. If that didn't happen you're probably great

 

Let us know how it turns out. Interesting. Good luck

 

I don't think breaking the grain up too much causes tannins. Mash pH and temperature and grain husks cause tannins. If the temps were kept in the 150's/low 160's and pH was ok - no tannins will leach.

In my experience, rolling pins do a crap job of breaking up grain. I think you were right to listen to your wife. Better yet, in the future, get a grain mill or get em crushed at the homebrew store.

 

Tannin extraction is exacerbated by a combination of pH + temperature, not crush.

 

^this. I've heard all kinds of incorrect claims from guys at HBS's.

 

Depends. Is it a Blendtec blender?

Homebrew grains, will they blend?

 

Not as much trouble as you'd be in if you hadn't listened to your wife!

 

I ground my grains in a blender for years before I finally bought a mill. It would take me about an hour because I would only blend about a cup at a time using short pulses. Never had a bad flavor.

 

+1 ..pulverize them if you like - only your lauter will suffer.

 

In this case, listening to your wife was probably OK. However, if you ever tell my wife I said that I will deny everything!

 

In addition to the time I spend pouring through various posts on this site, this morning I spend the better part of an hour looking at almost all the "Will it Blend" vids... A sepactularly satisfying waste of time!

So Thunderchicken... in return, I offer you this:
http://www.wimp.com/destroymachine/

It has NOTHING to do with this thread, yet I felt compelled to include it.

Cheers

 

I used a cheap food processor for years in the beginning. I would suggest getting yourself a mill though. you'll have a more consistent crush & flavor extraction from your specialty grains. I'd assume you're using extract for the bulk of your fermentables, right?

 

You are correct - I've not yet graduated past extract brewing. But a mill sounds like a good idea..

 

I brewed with extracts for 13 years. nothing wrong with it. I've been AG brewing for only almost 2 years. a mill, even just a small cheap one, is worth the investment IMO.

 

Holy crap, that was hilarious!
Thanks for the link, totally worth watching! :rockin:

Cheers!

 

I actually grind my specialty grains to a fine powder using a coffee grinder (I add them during the last 10 minutes of the mash (continuous recirculation)) and have no problems.

 

I used a food processor for a batch of Kolsch that was mistakenly shipped to me without being crushed. It turned out fine. Didn't notice any tannins. It was a BIAB batch, so I didn't have to worry about a stuck sparge.

 

I have done hat before a couple times and it worked great ok.

 

Lhbs guys seem to be a little behind the times, generally speaking. Mine still pushes secondaries for all beers. Getting tannins from grinding your grains too fine is one of those things that I read about in ten year old brewing books, but modern home brewers don't worry about anymore. As long as your ph is good you should be fine, except perhaps for the occasional stuck sparge.

 

I read this post and I can't believe that none of the responses pointed out the significant advantages of not only listening to your wife but doing what she suggested. (I trust I need not explain the psychology of this unless you have no SWMBO, in which case you are spending too much time brewing (Wow, I bet that will be a stick hitting the bee's nest.) The future benefits of what you did will last a long time. She may even decide that this is an interesting thing to do now that she knows she can contribute and will start reading about how to make wine in your carboys instead of beer. In any event, a shared hobby is a blessing.

So tell her she is a genius and go from there.

 

Making beer is the only time my wife doesn't ask questions and just does what I ask her to.

(Grind 'em fine. Heat is what makes tannins come out. IMHO)

 

As an example of the pure wisdom contained within your reply, evidence the following:

Given my prior significant expenditure (a Blichman burner for ~$150) I was a bit hesitant about testing the waters for making the jump from bottling to kegging. I mentioned that it would be nice if I didn't have to spend so much time bottling, washing bottles, etc., but that kegerators can be expensive. Her response was... "well, you spend enough time on this that you might as well invest in something that's going to save you time in the long run."

Now, I don't know if I can contribute her support of the kegerator investment directly to agreeing to her idea of pulverizing the crap out of the malt, but I'm sure it didn't hurt. I kegged my first batch over the weekend...

Cheers

 

I gotta say: that was one tough washing machine. It kept going until the bitter end.