Is this what Crushed Grains are supposed to look like?

[Edcculus]

If that was run through a mill, the gap must have been a mile wide! Thats a terrible crush. I know some homebrew places err on the side of a bad crush so people don't complain about stuck sparges with a finer crush.

 

[Bobby_M]

From Kai's site:

Both of those are good.

 

[DavidP]

Another happy JSP maltmill user (i.e. a "low end" mill), and that's a ****ty crush. Each kernel should be broken up into at least 4-5 chunks, there will be a good amount of flour.

 

[passedpawn]

Another happy JSP maltmill user (i.e. a "low end" mill)

Hey hey now. Greatest mill ever!

 

[wildwest450]

Funny, I actually said definitely not crushed by the picture, and after reading the first four post's, actually convinced myself they were.

Miss Information wins again, this place is infested by her.



.

 

[BrookdaleBrew]

I don't think the question is whether or not it's crushed, just how well it is crushed.

 

[Pick]

I have to ask this: Is there a difference between "crushed" and "milled"?

In the livestock feed business there is "rolled" as in "rolled oats" and "milled" or "ground".

The op's pictures look like "rolled" barley to me.

 

[SoonerDoc]

They are cracked. Is that considered crushed?
Why does it need to be more than cracked open to steep? (Serious question, not trying to be a smart ass )

 

[BrookdaleBrew]

Good question, because the grain I get from AHS is labeled "milled" and it looks closer to the pics the OP posted.

I guess a grain mill is the next piece of equipment I need to get. The list never ends.

 

[Catt22]

IMO, the malt in question doesn't appear to be crushed. That malt looks strange for sure with more than a few empty husks and even more grain that looks to be completely intact.

Here a close up of what my typical grist looks like. I've spread it out on a black background for clarity:

 

[mojotele]

There does appear to be some shredded husks in there, so maybe it was crushed. Perhaps it was crushed and the flour settled to the bottom of the bag. We don't have a good picture, so it is impossible to tell. Like I said, we need to get that stuff out of the bag and on a background that isn't the same color as the grain.

EDIT: The pictures above are a fantastic example of what we need.

 

[Strave19]

Funny, I actually said definitely not crushed by the picture, and after reading the first four post's, actually convinced myself they were.

Miss Information wins again, this place is infested by her.



.

Same here... I thought "no" - then looked down and... "uhh...erm... I guess it probably is, what do I know" Trust your gut!

I've gotten crushes from BMW and my LHBS and while BMW's is a lot finer, both looked waay more crushed than that

 

[Catt22]

I think that malt was milled, but not fine enough. It also appears that the malt somehow got segregated from a lot of the flour. The malt that got bagged was grabbed from the top and sides of a pile where more of the lighter empty and partly empty husks tend to accumulate. The small amount of coarse flour in the bottom corner of the bag is disproportionate to the total amount of malt in the bag by a large degree.

Defintiely get the malt out of the bag and spread it out on a dark background. That will solve the mystery for certain.

 

[Mikethepoolguy]

Ask Midwest if there is a difference between cruhed and milled, because it is not milled. Maybe crushed means they drove over it with a car, like a kitten.

 

[Mischief_Brewing]

After my first "milled" grain order from Midwest got me 54% efficiency, I put a comment to have them run it through the mill twice. My second grain order from them hit 72%. I've since stopped ordering grain from them until I can get my own mill...

 

[maho]

Definitely not crushed to the point of getting good mash efficiency...

 

[Montanaandy]

If those are all empty husks, I've got to get a new mill! One that sucks out the kernel while leaving the husk completely intact.

Yeah, no kidding.

 

[HoppyDaze]

I would be on the phone to whoever I bought that from right after I saw that. If, those are crushed grains..then its the worst crush in history of brewing

 

[Hang Glider]

sweet jesus, just when i thought things were going to be simple for once.. lol

i can always go over it with an empty bottle to be sure.. it's for steeping, btw

i'll roll over it a bit and use it.

A lot of us All-Grainers would not be happy with this crush for ALL GRAIN batches - but for the love of God, this fella is asking if it's okay for STEEPING! He didn't mill it, he received it this way...(read OP).

Can we answer the OP's question as he intended?
I say it's okay for steeping. (cracked is all you really need).

 

[wildwest450]

I ordered my specialty grains from Midwest crushed, and they came like this, supposedly crushed; but, are they really crushed

His original question is if the grains were crushed, from the look of the pics they are not. The steeping question wasn't until his 3rd post in.

A lot of us All-Grainers would not be happy with this crush for ALL GRAIN batches - but for the love of God, this fella is asking if it's okay for STEEPING! He didn't mill it, he received it this way...(read OP).

Can we answer the OP's question as he intended?
I say it's okay for steeping. (cracked is all you really need).

 

[Bobby_M]

You might call grain milled if it were run through a mill but what if the roller gap is set to 3/8"? It's like waving a closed vial of white labs over the bucket and calling it pitched.

 

[DustinHickey]

Answereing previous question if there is a difference between rolled milled.

Yes and no, there is carona mill and roller mill. Both are milled but there are types of mills. Roller mill works best with malted balrey because is punches the grain in the face without damaging the husk to much. I use a "barley crusher" mill after getting 20 percent efficiency from grain I had milled by some jerk at the brew store. Thing works great.

 

[MetallHed]

Hey all thanks for the discussion. I'll shed more light on this situation.

This was an 8 oz. bag of carapils that I ordered from Midwest Supplies for the Lemon-Coriander Weiss extract kit.

The original pics were with the grain in the bag as I took them out of the box. I don't know anyone that brews and apparently have never seen properly crushed grains. I just assumed (and we all know what happens when you do that) that since I ordered them to be crushed, that they'd come crushed.

After opening the bags and looking closer I can see what everyone was saying about the kernels still being mostly intact. I dont have a mill, so I took an empty 22 oz bottle and used it as a rolling pin. I did the best I could. Here's a before and after (my camera isn't that good, I used micro so hopefully you can see it):

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Hopefully it worked okay. FWIW my first beer I didn't look closely at the grains and, again, assumed. It turned out pretty good, IMO. I brewed today, and the airlock is bubbling less than half an hour after pitching, not that the grains have anything to do with fermenting.. lol
:rockin:

 

[erock2112]

That's exactly what every bag of uncrushed grain I've ever seen has looked like. There's always a little powder in the bag. Your bottle rolling probably did the trick and is fine for an extract batch.

 

[BrookdaleBrew]

I'm glad this thread came about. The pictures posted have been a great, great help. I assumed if my bag of grain was marked as milled then it was milled to an adequate level. This thread proves otherwise.

I have done a few partial mashes and luckily only 1 all grain batch (at 60% effeciancy, gee, I wonder why?) My next equipment purchase will most defintiely be a grain mill so that I can make sure my grain is crushed properly.

It makes me wonder though, how many people out there are brewing with grain like this and wondering why their effeciancy is suffering?

 

[passedpawn]

I'm glad this thread came about. The pictures posted have been a great, great help. I assumed if my bag of grain was marked as milled then it was milled to an adequate level. This thread proves otherwise.

I have done a few partial mashes and luckily only 1 all grain batch (at 60% effeciancy, gee, I wonder why?) My next equipment purchase will most defintiely be a grain mill so that I can make sure my grain is crushed properly.

It makes me wonder though, how many people out there are brewing with grain like this and wondering why their effeciancy is suffering?

Low efficiency = need more grain = buy more grain. I'm not saying that they are giving you a poor grind intentionally, but I will say that it is not in their best short-term interest to worry too much about your grind.

Imagine what your gas mileage would be if Exxon built cars

 

[mojotele]

The before image shows me that your grain was most definitely not crushed. At all.

The after image is better and should be sufficient for steeping. I wouldn't recommend it for mashing, but for steeping I bet it is fine.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[MetallHed]

If this can help ONE PERSON besides myself.... then I have successfully contributed to HBT. This is, apparently, something that needed to be brought up.

 

[lumpher]

The before image shows me that your grain was most definitely not crushed. At all.

The after image is better and should be sufficient for steeping. I wouldn't recommend it for mashing, but for steeping I bet it is fine.

Good luck and have fun!

yep. not great for mashing, but looks good for steeping. hope it comes out good, and have fun. it's a tasty hobby to have :rockin:

 

[MVKTR2]

I just sent an email to midwest with a link to this thread. Hopefully they'll give us a bit of info or atleast it'll be a step in directing them to some of their customer's concerns.

Schlante,
Phillip