Is this crushed grain?

DZDOLLAZ 2021-02-21 20:37:17 UTC #1

Rookie Warning

My lovely wife just bought me the BIAB system for 5 gallon batches. Before this time I was brewing with extracts. Unfortunately, I had a poor outcome with the bavarian hefeweizen, yielding an OG of 1.008 with a taste of hoppy water and little to no sugar content. I'm not going to bother fermenting it. I am not sure what went wrong with this brew. I used the correct amount of water based on the calculator (9.5lbsx0.125+6.5gal=7.69gal), kept the temp at 152 for a 60 minute single infusion and ended up with slightly over 5 gallons after the boil. My previous brews with extracts occasionally came with some grains and they were much more flaky than the grain in this batch, but the bag said it was crushed so I didn't question it until I had the poor outcome. I'm hoping the grain is the issue as I have no idea what I did wrong. This is what the grain looks like (after going through the mash and boil):

wilcolandzaat 2021-02-21 20:51:53 UTC #2

Does not looked crushed to me at all. Best thing next time buy a grain mill and grains. So you are in control of the crush of your grain. The grains once done crushing. Need to look. Coarse. If you run your hand true it. It leaves with crushed powder on your hand

brew_cat 2021-02-21 20:53:05 UTC #3

That grain is not crushed. I would call them and let them know the package was miss marked. They should replace it

squeegeethree 2021-02-21 23:12:55 UTC #4

Not crushed! I just got a Northern Brewer all grain kit that wasn't crushed either. I was just about to post about it. So glad to have some validation. I'm a little pissed because I dumped it in my kettle before I noticed.
hey @admins some body is asleep at the mill.

squeegeethree 2021-02-21 23:19:52 UTC #5

I threw my bag in the garbage in disgust. Fortunately you can still make out the crush ID

sneezles61 2021-02-21 23:35:13 UTC #6

Yup... not crushed...
Sneezles61

loopie_beer 2021-02-22 00:48:13 UTC #7

It happens. I once ordered a 50lb bag UNCRUSHED and it came crushed... they sent me a brand new one.

hd4mark 2021-02-22 11:49:08 UTC #8

Grain mills are not cheap but sure are nice to have. Well worth the investment if you plan to brew a decent amount of all grain batches. I like having it crushed fresh the same day as brewing also.

squeegeethree 2021-02-22 11:52:38 UTC #9

I'm not letting NB off of the hook for this. They F'ed up and you should complain.
If you have a rolling pin you can lay the grains out in a thin layer and crush them with the rolling pin.

hd4mark 2021-02-22 12:06:42 UTC #10

If you don't have a rolling pin you can use a heavy bottle like a wine bottle. Don't lean too hard on it of course. Neither is ideal but better than nothing.

brew_cat 2021-02-22 12:48:17 UTC #11

Are you suggesting drying them and crushing them to rebrew. I was thinking dry them and roast them to make crystal malt. Then use them with some fresh malt. Using lemons for lemonade if you will

nb_cs_tj 2021-02-22 22:05:29 UTC #12

Thanks for the great chatter here. This grain does not look to be crushed. Please contact Customer Service at brewmaster@northernbrewer.com whenever there is trouble with an order. I hope it is not often, but we will make any mistake right as quickly as we can.
We will share this thread with our operations/grain room teams too. Thanks all, Todd J

DZDOLLAZ 2021-02-23 16:57:55 UTC #13

Thanks for all the help everyone! I've contacted customer service and hope to hear back from them soon.