Got crushed by accident

I normally order uncrushed but I placed my order via smart phone and thus did not catch the right line on one of the kits I ordered from NB. I batch sparge and thus normally “crush” with a blender. As I am looking at a crushed delivery, should I go ahead and recrush with my blender or just run with it as is???

Barry

Just go with it as it is no need to recrush

Agree, no need to recrush. Just be aware that you are likely to see a change in extract efficiency and sparging speed when using a different crush.

Just check it first. sometimes the crush is not fine enough so it pays to check. 99.999% should be broken or cracked. if you see several, in a handfull, that are not broken/cracked then it wouldn’t hurt to run it through your blender…just don’t turn it into flour.

not the best pic, but these guys are broken/cracked. key is to check the “whole” ones for cracks. if they are, your golden, if not: blender them puppies.

cheers.

[quote=“StormyBrew”]Just check it first. sometimes the crush is not fine enough so it pays to check. 99.999% should be broken or cracked. if you see several, in a handfull, that are not broken/cracked then it wouldn’t hurt to run it through your blender…just don’t turn it into flour.

not the best pic, but these guys are broken/cracked. key is to check the “whole” ones for cracks. if they are, your golden, if not: blender them puppies.

cheers.[/quote]

Wow, I never considered running them through a blender. I’ve always put a certain amount at a time in a zip-lock bag and ran a 22 oz bottle over them. Quite a PITA, and a pain in the fore arms.

Paul

Blender? What are we crushing grain or making flour? There’s a reason you don’t want to start with too fine. We are making beer not bread.

Just a couple of quick pulses is all that is necessary and it’s an option for poorly crushed grain…no need to make flour but if you do, you’ll still make beer. :wink: .

:cheers:

I’ve never tried it but I suspect a blender won’t make flour from malted barley. To be honest, I have my doubts that a blender will even “crush” grains. I suspect it will move them around a lot and chop up a few and that’s about it. I’d stick w/ the rolling pin if you don’t have a crusher.

:cheers:

[quote=“edawgwv”]I’ve never tried it but I suspect a blender won’t make flour from malted barley.[/quote]It’s not a direct comparison, but I know from experience (making baby food) that a decent blender will turn dried millet, rolled oats, and other grains into coarse flour. But, that takes awhile, and somehow I doubt the crush is uniform until later in the process. Also, I’m not sure how moisture compares between the grains I’ve ground and malted grains for brewing, but that could probably have a significant effect…

Anyway, which is better:
Crush the grains using a good mill at the store 1 week before brew day
OR
Use a blender on brewday?

Also, the title of this thread is an awesome pun!

:cheers:

Anyway, which is better:
Crush the grains using a good mill at the store 1 week before brew day
OR
Use a blender on brewday?

Which is better? Crush grains week before.

:cheers:

Ummm. Beleive it or not a blender actually does a pretty decent job - I you use batch mashing. Check out dmtaylo2’s write up ( search for his name and blender). Takes a while at a cup at a time but I am still building a “real”'crusher.

On this one I just went ahead and ran it with NB’s crush job.

Good to hear, StormyBrew, cuz that’s what I did!

Cue opposing viewpoint :wink:

[quote=“ickyfoot”]Good to hear, StormyBrew, cuz that’s what I did!

Cue opposing viewpoint :wink: [/quote]

There’s no substitute for a proper mill-crush, but, pulse-blend is much much faster and waaaayyy easier than a rolling pin. I tried rolling pin years ago and it was a severe PITA…serious work.

:cheers: