FYI: Don't Send Flaked Grains Through Yer Barley Crusher

[Evan!]

I found this out the hard way. I had a triple brew day today, one of which was an imperial stout. I measured my grains out last night and, not thinking about it, tossed the pound of flaked barley into the stout grist. This morning, I had the pils mashed in and went to crush the grains for the stout...and about halfway through the first hopperful, it just...stopped. The roller was still turning, but it stopped crushing. My heart dropped and I thought I'd broken the thing. Just what I need...the crusher to poop out on me halfway through crushing the second batch of three. Ugh.

Turns out that those fuggin flakes like to get caught in between the slave roller and the fin that comes off the hopper to direct the grains into the gap...and when that happens, the slave roller stops, and renders the mill useless. I ended up having to pick up the whole mill and roll the slave roller backwards a little bit manually from the underside...had to do this a few times over the course of 16 lbs of grain. So, uh, I just wanted to toss a little PSA out there. If you're too lazy or stupid (me!) to add the flakes after you crush, be prepared for this nonsense. While it certainly pissed me off, I was really just euphoric that my BC wasn't dead...

Cheers!

 

[Catfish]

Also you can run the flaked grains through a coffee mill first, after being powdered in the coffee mill they shouldn't cause much sticking in the grain mill.

 

[SenorWanderer]

i've put flaked barley/wheat through my mill without a problem. what kind of mill do you have? if you don't crush them what good are they in the mash?

 

[Sea]

There is no need to crush Flakek grains.

 

[RLinNH]

i've put flaked barley/wheat through my mill without a problem. what kind of mill do you have? if you don't crush them what good are they in the mash?

No need to crush Flaked Barley/Oats.

 

[Evan!]

i've put flaked barley/wheat through my mill without a problem. what kind of mill do you have? if you don't crush them what good are they in the mash?

I have a barley crusher---I'm sure it's got to do with the particular design of the fin that comes down over the slave roller, and that it might not be an issue on other crushers.

As others said, there's no need to crush flaked grains. There's no hulls to rupture, so they're fine without a crush.

 

[jdoiv]

I've found that I can get an efficiency boost by crushing flaked grains. By breaking them up some more, more sugars can be converted. I agree though that they are a PIA to get through the mill.

 

[Evan!]

I've found that I can get an efficiency boost by crushing flaked grains. By breaking them up some more, more sugars can be converted. I agree though that they are a PIA to get through the mill.

That's putting it mildly! You're talking about maybe 2 or 3 complete hangups per hopper load with the BC. Definitely not worth the few points you might get from sending it through. I don't use it for gravity points really, anyway---I use it for body. Are you using a BC?