Malt conditioning is a must for the corona mill!

[TNGabe]

Wow. Just ran my first batch of conditioned malt through my corona and all i can say is WOW! Lots of big, beautiful intact husks.

 

[jhall4]

For those of you not familiar with malt conditioning (like I was, until moments ago):

To condition the malt, put the malt in a bucket and use a spray bottle of water (note: about 3oz for 11lb of grain) to spray the top of the malt a few times. Now mix the malt and repeat. You want to distribute the added moisture as evenly though the malt as possible. Soon the malt's feel will become less like dry straw and more like leather. Once it loses its dry feeling and a few of the kernels start to stick to your hands, let the malt sit for a few minutes to let the husks soak up the moisture. Get the mill ready and set it fairly tight. After all, you conditioned the malt to be able to crush it tighter.

The wiki goes on to recommend skipping this as a beginner, but if I get a corona mill I think I'll start doing this right away...

 

[Polboy]

but whats the other benefit beside the look of your crush?, i use corona mill but never went through the trouble of conditioning malt, seems like a lot of work for little or no gain

 

[jhall4]

The 'look' of your crush is basically a quick way to judge how well your grain bed will drain and how easily you'll extract tannins from the husks. No shredding = better drainage and lower risk of tannins. Lots of shredding = poor drainage and higher risk of tannins.

If you can mill your grain finer while leaving your husks less shredded you can, in theory, raise your efficiency without suffering those negative aspects.
Also, corona mills are notorious husk shredders, especially when you start to mill your grain finer.

 

[TNGabe]

I had a much easier time lautering and sparging when I brewed today with conditioned malt, than I had previously without. I think I it's might be less key with a roller mill, but I couldn't set the corona fine enough to eliminate whole malt without shredding the husks and getting too much flour. Today's brew was 20% wheat, I'll be stoked to see if I can get through the next 50/50 wheat/barley brew without rice husks.

 

[Polboy]

i understand the theory but im still wondering if OP sees consistent increase in efficiency, also i dont think it change the risk of tannin extraction which is ph and og depended and not affected by the husk size

 

[TNGabe]

I don't think my efficiency was better - maybe 2%, but that could be the new grain I'm using. I think the wort was clearer and beer will be better - and as I just posted (before reading previous) think more husks will help a lot with brews with lots of wheat, rye, or corn.

 

[RM-MN]

but whats the other benefit beside the look of your crush?, i use corona mill but never went through the trouble of conditioning malt, seems like a lot of work for little or no gain

The benefit would be the ability to "crush" the grain finer without having problems with lautering or sparging. The finer crush is what will raise your efficiency but without the conditioning the Corona mill leaves you with such torn up husks that they cannot form a good filter bed. If you can get the finer crush without a stuck sparge you will get the same efficiency.

 

[jhall4]

i understand the theory but im still wondering if OP sees consistent increase in efficiency, also i dont think it change the risk of tannin extraction which is ph and og depended and not affected by the husk size

True that's the primary factor, however if you have conditions that would result in tannins being leached the problem will be a lot worse if your husks are shredded. More surface area = more extraction...