Conditioning grain

[Oneflewover]

Does anyone else do this? I've been conditioning grain for a good long while now, but wondering if it is something I can cut out of my brewday. Main benefit for me is that husks are kept intact and that really helps avoid stuck or slow sparges. It also pretty much eliminates dust when milling.

I don't want to go back to buying crushed grain as I like the control I get from milling my own, plus I only brew once per month and I do think whole grain keeps better. In the grand scheme of things, then, conditioning it isn't hugely time consuming, but it would be good to strip out all unnecessary steps.

Any thoughts? Cheers

 

[Oneflewover]

I'll take that as a 'no' then

 

[Alastair70]

I’ve been buying crushed custom kits for each brew. A mill is next up on the shopping list. After my most recent purchasing balls up, I’m hoping a bit of a discussion kicks off on this one.

 

[crescent city Mike]

My understanding is that in "malt conditioning", a fine spray of water is applied to the grain as it makes its way to the mill. My sources say about 1 quart of water for every 100 lbs of malt. Wet milling calls for soaking the malt in warm water for about an hour before milling. Steep conditioned milling involves the warm steep but for only about 60 seconds before milling. The goal of each of these methods is to make the hulls pliable so that they aren't pulverized and form a better grain bed for the lauter after mashing. It also has the happy effect of reducing dust to nearly nil during the process.

If you have a mesh basket or large colander and use the last method, that may kill all of the birds with a single stone.

 

[dwhite60]

I've done it with good results. Does help with lautering and I got cleaner wort.

Now I do all BIAB so it doesn't matter.