Considering placing a larger order for Crystal 40 and curious about…
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How long will crushed grain last?
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Can I buy a good grain crusher for a reasonable price?
Opinions vary on precrushed grain. Some say 2-3 days others say a few months. Id buy uncrushed and crush as needed myself
If you are doing small batches you can get away with a mill like this
http://www.amazon.com/Premium-Quality-Grinder-Wheat-Grains/dp/B000U5NZ4I/ref=sr_1_sc_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1391988116&sr=8-2-spell&keywords=victoorian+mill
Otherwise your spending 150+ on a good brewing mill
I’ve been told crushed grain is kind of like anything else perishable. As in if you let air get to it it will get stale. So as long as it’s closed up tight to keep air out it should last for a month or two without getting stale. I’ve used crushed grain that was over 3 months old before with no ill effects, but YMMV.
If you’re going to continue brewing for awhile I would go ahead and invest in a mill you don’t have to turn by hand. I got a barley crusher with the 3 lb hopper for around $150. Worth every penny.
I have a plate mill like the one linked above. Works fine. I don’t think the crush is as good or as consistent as a roller mill but I’m still making good beer with it.
I brew a lot of small batches so it’s not that big of a deal to hand-crank 2-4 pounds of grain but it’s a whip to hand-turn the bill for a larger batch with 10+ pounds of grain. You can drive them with a drill but I haven’t done that yet.
I’ve read online that some plate mills will potentially throw metal shavings into the grain. Have you had that issue?
yes, during my plate mill days i kept a magnet inside a ziplock and ran it threw the crushed grain. took about 5 seconds. I allgrained with it once, crushed 18lbs of grain, destroyed both shoulders and dropped 300$ on a 3roller all SS mill. havent looked back yet. Gifted the plate mill to a freind who i got extract brewing. He loves it;)
I used to hand-grind with an ancient sausage grinder and a grain grinding plate. Just to do a pound was sheer torture. After buying a BC I graduated from “steeping”. ;D
The people who say crushed malt is only good for a “couple of days” are flat out wrong. Keep it sealed and dry and it will last for months.
+1.
I agree. It’s all about oxygenation. Keep as much air out as possible and it will last a long time.
Think about the saltine crackers on the pantry shelf and how they seem to last “forever” until you open them and then go stale in a week if you can’t seal them back up. It’s the same with grain.
Paul
Invest in a vacuum sealer. I’m using hops bought back in 2008. Have some sealed roasted malt from back then too. Just found it in the freezer and it looks pristine.
Given a choice, I would mill right before brewing. But, I would think it’s a minor difference. For me it’s the same work to mill my grain bill after measuring mash water than it is to mill it any other time. If I didn’t have a mill I would vacuum pack. I actually vacuum pack most of my specialty grains anyway.
By the way, I just ordered a Cereal Killer, couldn’t pass up the price. So my corona will be retired to the kitchen or used when I want to powder some carafa special
Yes, given the choice I’d prefer to crush right before. And you might loose a little flavor and aroma over time. But I also think you’d be hard pressed to really tell the difference. I have some cara red that has sat crushed in the bag that sat through an unheated garage in the alabama summer that still tastes like it was crushed yesterday.
I wonder if a base malt(or a roasted malt even) would have a different reaction to this kind of treatment compared to the crystal malt that you have experienced it with. Thoughts?
First off, Cara Red is not a crystal malt. All you have to do is crack it open and look at it. I guess every one thinks cara vienna and cara munich so they think cara red is a crystal-like malt as well. But it’s not.
OTOH it’s not a basemalt either. I was surprised at how well the Cara Red help up 'cause I thought it would be ruined (and I have half a pallet of it still) but to my surprise it doesn’t taste old at all and has a lot of flavor. In fact, I brewed with it yesterday. if I didn’t know it was cracked months ago I would not have guessed it.
But to try to answer your question, at my brewery we have to order our malt crushed because of logistics. I order pallets full of basemalt (and not cheap stuff, either: Thomas Faucett Maris Otter, Best Pils, Munich and Vienna) and I try to use them all within a month of ordering but sometimes a bag will sit (in the heat and humidity mind you) for a couple or three months and I can’t really tell any major degradation.
So my thoughts are, as long as the bag is sealed, any malt will last for quite a while - especially if you keep it cool. If I can have 55 lb sacks of malt sitting on a pallet in the middle of 95-100 degree non-climate controlled warehouse and there is little drop in quality just think the wonders of zip lock bags, air conditioning and humidity control will do for the homebrewer.
I have not seen any shavings in my grain but I also haven’t tried running a magnet over it. I will give that a try on my next batch and report back.
I’m not sure where the contact point would be that metal is grinding aggressively enough that it is tearing apart. The plates shouldn’t be grinding against each other
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/CaraRed is the info i was going off for carared, Shrug.
I used to think it was caramel malt because that’s the section Weyermann has it listed on their website, plus the “cara” thing. But the pros here say it’s not and has to be converted. Just tapped an Irish that I used 2 pounds of it in. Doesn’t taste overly caramel. Kind of a cross between Munich and Vienna to me. Lots of color.
That seemed odd to me too. I mean, a mash should filter out the particles anyway, but those things are made for making bread. Perhaps its just cheap mills?
The one i linked was definitely a China Special. when we first started using it there was def more debris in it then after it was broken in. There can also be metal shavings in the grain itself but i mostly used the magnet to fulfil my own neurotic tendencies.