Flaked Barley

So, I’ve used flaked barley several times.  I never mill it.  I received my latest supply order and the consistency of the flaked barley looks different than previously.  Previously all of the flaked barely I have received looks just about like oatmeal.  This time it is a lot thicker and coarser, so I was wondering if I should mill it, or just throw it in the mash like I normally do?

You can probably go either way.  It won’t hurt to mill it so err on the side of caution and run it through would be my advice.

Another option would be doing a cereal mash first & then add it to the regular mash. Cheers!!!

I wouldn’t mill it, I find milling flaked grains really gums up mills.  I would check with the shipper on exactly what kind of flaked barley you got, and then do either a cereal mash or mash as normal depending on the answer.

Let us know what you decide and how it works out.

I don’t see why he’d need to do a cereal mash.  If the barley is flaked, it’s already gelatinized the starches.

You’re right, but since it doesn’t look like normal flaked barley I’m worried about the “if the barley is flaked” part.

Mixing it in with the rest of the grist before milling helps with this.

if it’s flaked it should easily crumble between finger nails

if it’s flaked it should easily crumble between finger nails

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It didn’t flake easily.  I actually went ahead and milled it, as I was away from my computer and just now saw all the replies,  and it didn’t mill that easy.  But what’s done is done, my system always sticks with flaked grains, so I added some rice hulls.  All should be good, gonna brew in the morning, RDWHAHB!