As an all grain brewer, are there any grains that you wouldn’t crush for the mash?
I typically do not crush any flaked grains (oats, maize, wheat) and just add them to the mash directly being sure to stir them in well.
i have always ask myself why i am crushing my flaked grains separately just to break them up. I guess my thought was that it helps with keeping the grain bed somewhat uniform and aid in lautering but maybe not. Funny the things we do sometimes just because:)
+1
+another, adding rice hulls.
Greg Noonan, RIP, proposed in Brewing Lager Beer that roasted grains and malts not be crushed to reduce their astringency. This of course reduces the amount of flavor extracted.
OTOH, when he made that recommendation there was not as much attention to water chemistry as there is today. Just because a book had good advice 20+ years ago doesn’t necessarily mean that advice is still relevant.
And most notably, color.
Yep. I mash roasted grains now while controlling pH and make better beer than when I steeped those grains and didn’t control pH very well - by a mile.
+1
I could not imagine not crushing malt for any reason and do not remember that from Greg’s book. Back in “the day” New Brewing Lager Beer" was the most authoritative book on brewing that I was aware of but it has grown long in the tooth indeed. Still a very good resource for reading a malt spec sheet though. better I feel than the new “Malt” book.
What Noonan suggested and the current fad of cold steeping roasted grain isn’t that far apart. Just two ways to try to avoid astringency without having to deal so carefully with water chemistry.
I just add everything into a bucket and run it all through my mill. Never really thought about it.
^ This is what I do as well.
No sense in running anything flaked through the mill. Just add it afterward in the mash as the crushed grain is stirred in. Otherwise you better consider some rice hulls…
I would also add that while you don’t need to mill flaked/rolled items doing so doesn’t hurt them.
I agree that you would not want to crush rice hulls (as the hulls are already separated from the rice and you want them whole to create the filter bed)
Otherwise I’m unable to think of a grain you would not want to mill.