Grain conditioning

[ba-brewer]

For those that do condition- I assume any water added for conditioning purposes will equivalently reduce absorption down the line? I presume since we're talking about a squirt with a spray bottle it's not a significant factor either way.

Been so long since I marked my spray bottle I forgot how water I am adding, so I measure it. Looks like 4oz of water for 9 to 12lb of grain. I don't take that water into account for grain absorption.

If you bother to condition, make sure you clean the mill right away afterwords.

If you use a spray bottle and mix well nothing special required for clean up, once the water is incorporated into the grain it is hard to tell it is even there.

If you shake the water into the grain then you can get some kernels over wetted and can slick to the rollers. That used to happen to me when I would shake out the last water that the sprayer did not pickup, now I just ignore it and only use what get sprayed/spritzed.

 

[Blazinlow86]

When I was conditioning my grain with the barley crusher I would use 2% water to grain bill. After upgrading to a monster mill I've found its not really needed anymore. Cheers

 

[seatazzz]

I mash in a bag, so I've had my crush set pretty fine; I still get intact hulls, but maybe not as much as I would get if I conditioned the grain. I've not had a stuck sparge in a long time but I still don't think I'm getting the efficiency I should be getting; for example, my grain bills are usually 12-14lbs for a 5 gallon batch; the best I've gotten out of them is 1.055 first runnings, and depending on the boil, SG of no more than 1.063. I just think it should be better. Yes I know I can calculate my efficiency percentage, but lazy.

 

[seatazzz]

IMO, you are not likely to see much change in efficiency, just more flow through the grains because of the larger husk particles.

But, couldn't that equal greater efficiency if the strike water is hitting more of the crushed grain particles? I stir thoroughly when I set the mash, AND underlet, so dough balls aren't an issue for me; but if I'm getting channelling I might not be getting enough conversion. Just a thought. Still gonna try it next brewday.

 

[Tbagger]

I have a herms and always add a pound or 2 of rice hulls depending on the batch size. It helps a lot with recirculating even without adjuncts in the bill. I have never conditioned my grain as it just seems much easier to throw in some hulls.

 

[kh54s10]

But, couldn't that equal greater efficiency if the strike water is hitting more of the crushed grain particles? I stir thoroughly when I set the mash, AND underlet, so dough balls aren't an issue for me; but if I'm getting channelling I might not be getting enough conversion. Just a thought. Still gonna try it next brewday.

Channeling is an equipment issue, not a grain crush issue. It is when you try to fly sparge with something like a bazooka tube. The water will flow through the grain and head straight to the outlet end of the tube. The grain at the bottom of the tun opposite the outlet sees little if any rinsing by the sparge water. That is why you need a manifold or a false bottom. The sparge water will flow through the grain to all points of a manifold or through the false bottom.

If you are talking of the water at dough in, there can be no channeling, all the grain is sitting in water during the mash period.

 

[seatazzz]

Channeling is an equipment issue, not a grain crush issue. It is when you try to fly sparge with something like a bazooka tube. The water will flow through the grain and head straight to the outlet end of the tube. The grain at the bottom of the tun opposite the outlet sees little if any rinsing by the sparge water. That is why you need a manifold or a false bottom. The sparge water will flow through the grain to all points of a manifold or through the false bottom.

If you are talking of the water at dough in, there can be no channeling, all the grain is sitting in water during the mash period.

Sorry, should have been more specific. I lauter with a pump and a homemade sparge arm, and I have a false bottom in the tun as well as the bag. I don't recirculate during the whole mash, just the last ten minutes. Doesn't matter what grain:water ratio I use, or the mash temp; still get what I think is crappy gravity. I recently replaced my mash bag for a new one as the old one was starting to get some holes (not a wilser bag, just the generic one from LHBS).

 

[kh54s10]

Sorry, should have been more specific. I lauter with a pump and a homemade sparge arm, and I have a false bottom in the tun as well as the bag. I don't recirculate during the whole mash, just the last ten minutes. Doesn't matter what grain:water ratio I use, or the mash temp; still get what I think is crappy gravity. I recently replaced my mash bag for a new one as the old one was starting to get some holes (not a wilser bag, just the generic one from LHBS).

Are you just recirculating or are you also sparging. If you are not sparging you will always lose some efficiency because you are not rinsing the remaining sugars out of the grain husks.

 

[seatazzz]

Are you just recirculating or are you also sparging. If you are not sparging you will always lose some efficiency because you are not rinsing the remaining sugars out of the grain husks.

Yes I sparge, at the correct temperature. I don't generally do a mashout, PITA and doesn't seem to make a difference. Generally the sparge comes out about 1.035 or less, so I know I'm getting what I can out of the initial mash.

 

[kh54s10]

My three tier rig usually gets me 1.070+ on draining the mash tun. (average 1.050 -1-060 beer). I have Beersmith set to 70% BH efficiency. I usually am within a couple points of predicted OG.

I crush as fine as I can and still get good drainage. Rice hulls when using something sticky like wheat, oats or something like pumpkin pulp.

 

[ba-brewer]

Yes I sparge, at the correct temperature. I don't generally do a mashout, PITA and doesn't seem to make a difference. Generally the sparge comes out about 1.035 or less, so I know I'm getting what I can out of the initial mash.

How do you determine when to sparge, time or gravity?

Is there a reason you don't recirculate the whole mash?

If you check gravity (I use a refractometer) you can tell when the conversion is completed, then do your sparge. This requires calculating the expected mash gravity for your grain bill and water used. Then when you sparge check the gravity of the boil kettle. If the gravity starts dropping quickly before getting to the volume of (strike - absorption - losses) of the pre boil volume you have channeling or are draining too fast.

When I started using a wetter mash ratio 1.6qt/pound and checking gravity of the mash my efficiency became more stable.

 

[OpenSights]

One of our members who went pro hosts a brew class at his brewery once a month. I attended yesterday’s class on the mash. He’s really into the scientific aspect of brewing. While the class is an hour crash course there was so much info that I can’t remember it all but gave me a good direction in my studies.

I asked him about conditioning and he said that he’s never tried it simply because of his mill, but he said it can be a good practice depending on your mill.

Great guy! My club has some sort of educational class at every meeting and a couple of months ago he gave a class on water. He brought three growlers of water. One ro, and two of different treated ro. While I understand with quality water being the main ingredient in beer, I never realized how much of a difference water alone can adjust the mouthfeel.... I always believed the grains were the only factor in mouthfeel.