[Stevie]

Tried this last batch and loved it overall. The mash was much less dense due to the husk being more buoyant and the run off was nice a smooth.

Question to those that have tried this in the past is did you notice an decrease in absorption? I got about 8% more first runnings than expected. Total amount of water used for conditioning was on 3.5oz, so that isn't the source of the extra .6 gallons.   

[PAYCHECK]

Tried this last batch and loved it overall. The mash was much less dense due to the husk being more buoyant and the run off was nice a smooth.

Question to those that have tried this in the past is did you notice an decrease in absorption? I got about 8% more first runnings than expected. Total amount of water used for conditioning was on 3.5oz, so that isn't the source of the extra .6 gallons.

I in fact did try this for a DIPA I brewed several months ago.  Oddly though it was by accident, I had the bags of grains sitting on my counter and the water spigot dripped overnight which i was unaware of, to my amazement when I milled my grains I noticed that the husks were not cracking rather staying more in tact although the starch was breaking down.  I thought nothing of it until I drained my wort and noticed I got about 3/4 gal. more wort than usual for this brew.  So it may simply have to do with the pre-absorption of the husks and because they are re-hydrating they become less brittle and stay whole and unable to absorb water form your build.  The sparge was excellent however and I did notice the beer took on a slightly less tanic quality as well as hitting the gravity very quick.

I also summized that if I was to try this again now that I know technically what it was, I would mill the grain finer to aid in the conversion process since I know now that my sparge will not stick due to the husks being so large.  A sort of win win I say.

Hope this helps a little.

[Stevie]

Sounds like your experience was similar. I will adjust my absorption next batch and see what happens.

I crushed at 0.028. I was amazed at how fine the endosperm was with massive husk pieces. I had to show my wife, she didn't care.

My efficiency appears to have ticked up a bit, but I was mostly looking for a nice runoff.

[HoosierBrew]

I had to show my wife, she didn't care.

Sounds familiar.

[jeffy]

I had to show my wife, she didn't care.

Sounds familiar.

I get that a lot.  I do it anyway.

[HoosierBrew]

I had to show my wife, she didn't care.

Sounds familiar.

I get that a lot.  I do it anyway.

Same here. I pretend she's enthralled. Generally not the case, though she's a good sport. 

[69franx]

Yall got me laughing out loud. My SO trues everything I try, tastes whatever I make, and hears about all the cool stuff I learn.  Luckily she does like my beer, unfazed by the rest. And she hates tasting flat gravity samples

[Stevie]

No miracle half gallon this time. I must of don't something funny before. The odd thing is I needed 15 gallons of water and used 3 five gallon water bottles of RO.

[beersk]

I had to show my wife, she didn't care.

Sounds familiar.

I get that a lot.  I do it anyway.

Same here. I pretend she's enthralled. Generally not the case, though she's a good sport. 

I show my cat. He just meows... I'm not sure whether he cares or is telling me to f*ck off.


I malt condition every batch and haven't really noticed an increase in runnings, but the runoff is nice. The crush looks amazing, but I still get dough balls if I mash in too fast. That's annoying. I crush at .032".

[el_capitan]

I've been malt conditioning for a couple years now.  I use 8 ml/lb of grain and it works well.  I have a Schmidling adjustable malt mill and I have that thing cranked down as tight as it will go.  The only time I have a problem with a stuck mash is when I have a lot of wheat or rye in the grain bill. 

Big ups to Kai for sharing this info originally on the NB board.

[hopfenundmalz]

I've been malt conditioning for a couple years now.  I use 8 ml/lb of grain and it works well.  I have a Schmidling adjustable malt mill and I have that thing cranked down as tight as it will go.  The only time I have a problem with a stuck mash is when I have a lot of wheat or rye in the grain bill. 

Big ups to Kai for sharing this info originally on the NB board.

I got the tip on malt conditioning from Jeff Renner a long time ago on the HBD. At Sierra Nevada Beer Camp, Scott Jennings talked about doing it, this was 2009, and Gordon covered it in his Zymurgy article. It never caught on until Kai brought it back, and he does deserve credit for getting the story out to the Homebrewing community.

[69franx]

I know there was another thread talking about volume of water to weight of grist recently. Was it about 2oz to 10#? I know above someone says 8mL per pound, just want to see how everyone else is doing it. Is RO a good idea for this? Don't normally have distilled on hand and know I don't want to use untreated tap water. I always have a little extra RO hanging around

[Stevie]

2-3% of the weight per Kai. 8ml per pound is just shy of 2%. I bought a spray bottle at target that happens to be a bit over 2% with 10 pumps per pound. I got it in the travel size section for about a $1.

I am using RO. Figured it would be a good idea and it also helps to keep minerals from clogging the spray mechanism.

[69franx]

Thanks Stevie, not brewing for another couple of weeks, but am planning on instituting this process into my brewday. I have an extra spray bottle on hand and can just fill with what I need, spray, mix, spray some more, etc until its empty and see where that gets me

[Stevie]

I have been doing it a pound at a time in a big cookie mixing bowl. Takes about 1 min per pound. Not too big of a deal all in all.