Grain "Dust"

[Marshach]

Hi All,

I am brewing my first batch tomorrow. It will be an American Amber extract kit that I ordered from Norther Brewer. In looking through the ingrediants, I noticed that the bag of specialty grains has a lot of "dust" in it. By dust I mean a lot of fine powder that was obviously created by the husk of the grain during packaging, shipping, etc.

Should I be concerned about trying to filter that out before I steep my grains? I am pretty sure it is fine enough to go through the bag that I will use to steep them in my wort. Plus, I think it will probably get worse once I try to open my grains by running them under a rolling pin. Now, this might not be a big deal and it may just be another thing that, if it does get into my wort, just settles to the bottom during fermentation. However, I don't want to cause any "off flavors" by leaving it in if I should try to filter it out first.

As always, thank you all for your help.

 

[Vuarra]

Are you saying the grains were not crushed before they sent it to you? FWIW, the dust is more than likely flour that usually occurs when the grains are cracked. I've never had a problem with it, as it usually becomes part of the trub.

 

[rico567]

We also call that dust "flour." Got some when I used to have my grains crushed by the supplier. I get some now that I crush my own. If you get too much, probably not a good thing....but only for AG brewers. A lot of that stuff is probably powdered endosperm (the big gob of starch in any grain) and will convert. If you filter it out, all you'll be doing is filtering out starch that can be converted to sugar, which is what you're after.

 

[Marshach]

Thanks for the feedback.

One of the problems is that I can't tell if the grains were crushed or not. From looking at them, they appear to the eye as if they might have been crushed. However, the instructions that came with the kit say that if the kit comes with specialty grains . . . you should crush then before you steep them. That being said, my assumption was that they were not crushed by the supplier. Plus, it was my understanding that grains lose their freshness pretty quick after you crush them.

Either way, I will probably give them an easy once-over with the rolling pin before I steep, but will not take out any of the dust. Thank you all again for all of your help. Everyone on this board is very helpful to noobs like me, and I think I can speak for all of us when I say . . . thank you!

 

[Vuarra]

After reading your feedback, I looked at some of my 2 row that I keep for brewing emergencies (as in, I'm bored and want to brew). A lot of the husks look intact, but there is a bunch of white pieces and powder at the bottom of the bag. That is what crushed should look like.

As well... you're welcome, especially from the advanced noobs like me

 

[RobbyBeers]

A lot of that stuff is probably powdered endosperm

Yea man, and whenever you get one of those nervous, new-to-homebrew types, and they are looking at their glass quizzically, wondering why it's all cloudy, you just say, "Hey, that's the powdered endosperm. I put it in there on purpose. Drink up."

 

[Cap'n Jewbeard]

Sweet - Rico, I did not know that, about the flour being convertible starch. I mean, when I say it out loud like that, "Flour is convertible starch," then yeah I should have figured it out, but hey.