Malt Conditioning

DrPaulsen · Post by **DrPaulsen** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 1:47 pm

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/f ... opic=613.0

I tried this technique out on half of the pale malt used in yesterday's session (i.e. all the pale malt for the first 10 gallon batch). The night before, I sprayed 3 oz of water per 10 pounds of malt (approximately 2% by weight) onto the grain and let it soak. At first the grain felt pretty wet, but by the next morning it seemed about as dry the unconditioned malt.

The conditioned malt produced a noticeably superior crush, with nice cracked husks and less flour. Also, the first batch had a couple of points higher extraction efficiency. All other mash variables (temp, mash thickness, sparge rate, etc.) were constant between the two batches, or at least were close enough for this type of anecdotal data point.

I was skeptical at first that this technique would make a gummy mess on my malt mill, but it did just the opposite. For anyone that's interested, I recommend giving malt conditioning a try -- it requires very little work and should improve the quality of your crush.

brownbeard · Post by **brownbeard** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 1:57 pm

An interesting test would be to see what the results are if you compare a batch with conditioned malt to a batch with rice hulls added.

hoboscratch · Post by **hoboscratch** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 2:09 pm

Was the purpose of doing this to try to improve the crush so that rice hulls were not needed? IE, you were crushing so finely that a stuck sparge happened to you every now and again? Or was it just a test to see if crush and efficiency could be improved without changing the gap on your mill?

DrPaulsen · Post by **DrPaulsen** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 2:23 pm

The purpose was to reduce the amount of recirculation time I need to get clear wort. I've had trouble in the past with bits of husks passing into the BK b/c they get so severely shredded by my Barley Crusher (factory standard 0.039" gap setting) that even after 10-15 minutes of recirculation it wasn't running clear enough.

I bet the filter bed improvement with conditioned malt is on par with adding several handfuls of rice hulls to the mash. The one big difference, though, would be the reduced amount of flour. I was surprised at how clean my mill was after grinding the conditioned malt.

hoboscratch · Post by **hoboscratch** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 2:37 pm

Right on. My interest is peaked, I think I will give this a try next time I brew.

brownbeard · Post by **brownbeard** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 3:25 pm

DrPaulsen wrote:The purpose was to reduce the amount of recirculation time I need to get clear wort. I've had trouble in the past with bits of husks passing into the BK b/c they get so severely shredded by my Barley Crusher (factory standard 0.039" gap setting) that even after 10-15 minutes of recirculation it wasn't running clear enough.

I bet the filter bed improvement with conditioned malt is on par with adding several handfuls of rice hulls to the mash. The one big difference, though, would be the reduced amount of flour. I was surprised at how clean my mill was after grinding the conditioned malt.

That's interesting. I usually have clear wort with less than 2 quarts of runoff.

DrPaulsen · Post by **DrPaulsen** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 3:36 pm

brownbeard wrote:That's interesting. I usually have clear wort with less than 2 quarts of runoff.

My wort stops being cloudy very quickly (i.e. within a minute or two of recirculating), but I still end up with little bits of grain husks for awhile after that. When impatient in the past, I've just filtered them out with a cheesecloth. Even though it might work, I've never worked up the courage to place a stainless scrubbie over my drain port, for fear of a stuck sparge.

JimF · Post by **JimF** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 4:53 pm

Thanks for the tip! I think I'll give it a try on my next brew day. I too have a barley crusher and it takes a long time to get clear wort running into the boil kettle.

BrewHound · Post by **BrewHound** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 9:56 am

I have been doing this for a while, just a note, you do not have to leave overnight. I measure my grain and put in pales, then using a spray bottle mist the grain as I turn it over. Then just let stand for 15 or 20 minutes and it is good to go.

This really does help to get a better crush, it reduces the tearing and shreding of the grain husks.

carrisr · Post by **carrisr** » Mon Jun 06, 2011 1:10 pm

I tried this out on the Pale Ale that I brewed this past Saturday. I misted the grain lightly and mixed up well., then repeated this several more times. The grain still felt dry but was not "dusty" any more. I basically did that and then got all my brewing gear set up and water heated, so it sat for maybe 45 minutes.

The goal was to see if it would improve the crush I get with the corona mill. That mill normally really shreds the husks. The results were definitely worth further study. The husks were noticeably more intact with less shredding. It didn't seem to change the flour composition much and my efficiency didn't change.

However, the first runnings drained nicer than I've ever seem before. The grain bed was very even, porous, and the runnings were more clear than usual after a very short vorlauf. Second runnings also ran very smoothly, but looked more like normal, just a touch cloudy.

hoboscratch · Post by **hoboscratch** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 7:45 am

I've had similar results. I have not had any changes in efficiency but I get little to no shredding and pretty much no flour. Its not that big of an extra step that I have been doing it for about 4 or 5 batches now. I just put mine in a garbage sack and spray and mix, spray and mix, etc. Its a lot easier than trying to stir a 5 gal bucket of grain. I usually measure out the grain the night before, condition first thing on brew day, then start getting out equipment, heat water, mill, mash in. I would say it sits for anywhere from 10-30 minutes depending on how many trips I have to make to the basement to grab things I've forgotten.