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.25lb crushed = .25lb uncrushed?

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maisch

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The weights of grains in recipes represent uncrushed grain. When ordering crushed grain and measuring out say .25lb from a 1lb. bag does that .25lb of crushed really equal the amount of extract/grain a true .25lb of uncrushed grain produces?

Do not own a mill otherwise I'd test it myself but I'm sure the difference is probably minute if any.
 
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You might lose a little weight in the form of flour and the odd stray husk, but as you hinted at, it's negligible.
 
Could be a *slight* difference to airborne dust loss if the collection at the bottom of the meal if it's not fairly closed off, but in that case I would be more worried about the lung irritation, fire risk, and mess than significant mass loss.

As far as recipes go teat exactly the same.
 
You might lose a little weight in the form of flour and the odd stray husk, but as you hinted at, it's negligible.

I was thinking husk and acrospires. Unless evenly mixed some of their volume would be replaced by extra grain/flour leading to increased extract or vice versa resulting in decreased extract. Probably too small to mention.
 
I know grain mills can throw off some dust, but I'm hard-pressed to think it would amount to more than a fraction of a gram from 1/4lb of milled grain. The amount you'd lose to airborne dust is probably less than the margin of error of the scale you weighed the grain on. Negligible loss.
 
I was thinking husk and acrospires. Unless evenly mixed some of their volume would be replaced by extra grain/flour leading to increased extract or vice versa resulting in decreased extract. Probably too small to mention.
Ahhhhhh I see what you're saying....

Does scooping 2 lbs out of a 200lb pound container of precrushed malt mean you could get a different composition of contents than if you had straight milled the 2 lbs whole yourself...

Yes I could see that being entirely possible.

Corrolary is even with uncrushed grain in a sack. With both sacks and silos when you get to the dregs and end up with a bunch of chaff, the extract goes down.
 
Ahhhhhh I see what you're saying....

Does scooping 2 lbs out of a 200lb pound container of precrushed malt mean you could get a different composition of contents than if you had straight milled the 2 lbs whole yourself...

Yes I could see that being entirely possible.

Corrolary is even with uncrushed grain in a sack. With both sacks and silos when you get to the dregs and end up with a bunch of chaff, the extract goes down.

Thanks for taking the time to understand. I apologize if my example was unclear.
 
Even then the difference, if any at all, is probably not huge, especially to homebrew standards.

But easy comparison could be done with a series of seives.
 
Trying to get 4 even .25lb pulls from a 1lb bag crushed at NB. Noticed a lot of chaff at the bottom and the weight was only .2 lbs on the last pull so either the bag didn't contain a perfect 1lb or the 3 other pulls from the bag weren't perfect .25lb... Anywho probably not worth my concern.
 
The weights of grains in recipes represent uncrushed grain. When ordering crushed grain and measuring out say .25lb from a 1lb. bag does that .25lb of crushed really equal the amount of extract/grain a true .25lb of uncrushed grain produces?

Do not own a mill otherwise I'd test it myself but I'm sure the difference is probably minute if any.
well, if you ordered a pizza and the server asked you if you wanted it cut into 6 slices or 12 ...
same pizza, different sized pieces.
Same with grain crushed vs uncrushed. same weight ,smaller sized pieces.
 
well, if you ordered a pizza and the server asked you if you wanted it cut into 6 slices or 12 ...
same pizza, different sized pieces.
Same with grain crushed vs uncrushed. same weight ,smaller sized pieces.

You are missing the point.

If I measure out 20 lbs from a sack of uncrushed grain and mill it, then I take 20 lbs out of sack of crushed grain, there is a possibility that:

a.) The pre-crushed grain pulled would have a different proportion of husk materials and non-extract weight (less potential extract);
b.) The pre-crushed grain pulled would have a different proportion of potential extract (more potential extract)

How much? Who really knows and while it may be negligible, the thought experiment in and of itself is valid.
 
I would say the difference is so minimal that it is.......... If you could calculate it at all.

The bigger difference is what was described by maish. Having the finer and/or heavier bits left over in the bottom of the container, thus having different potential extract.
 
I had to re-read it . Yes, I see your point. a bag of crushed during shipping can settle and separate and from one portion to the next , the amount of soluble sugars vs chaff and husk , will change, how much is definitely negligible. I prefer to crush my own.
 
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Milled grain tends to stratify so yes, if you don't shake the bag thoroughly before measuring out you might end up a bit heavy on husks and a little light on extract.
 
They actually make devices to split an amount of powdered/particulate material that may have stratified due to density and/or particle size differences, and get the same distribution of particle size/density in both splits. Look up "jones riffle sampling method".

P032B.GIF


Brew on :mug:
 
They actually make devices to split an amount of powdered/particulate material that may have stratified due to density and/or particle size differences, and get the same distribution of particle size/density in both splits. Look up "jones riffle sampling method".

P032B.GIF


Brew on :mug:

At a cost of only $500 - $1000+ it would definitely be worth the investment to ensure proper recipe formulation! :rolleyes:

https://lavallab.com/products/sample-dividers/riffle-sample-splitters/#_
https://www.sepor.com/jones-riffle-splitter/
https://www.humboldtmfg.com/humboldt-small-riffle-type-sample-splitter.html
 
Homebrewers are known for their DIY abilities. :D

Also, the fact that these exist shows that particulate/powder fractionation/stratification is a long known phenomenon.

Brew on :mug:
 
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