Wash grains before milling

That's a really silly newbie question, but funnily enough I could not find any threads addressing it. So do you guys wash your malt grains before crushing them? Just in case the husk was less than perfectly clean when sold from the HBS.

no, thats gonna make a huge mess if you mill them wet.

washing, no. but getting them damp to condition them is another story. using 300 ml water sprayed in a fine mist and stirred over 11# of grains does WONDERS for getting a great crush without shredding the husks.

Never. And I have never heard of doing it.

You would be in for a lot of work as you would have to then dry them without using much, if any, heat because you would not want to toast the grains. I could see this process taking days. Then you would need to mill the grains.

What are your concerns? dirt? bacteria? viruses? I buy all my base grains in bulk, and some adjuncts. Except for the occasional twig in the bags the grains always seem clean. besides whatever you drain from the MLT to the boil kettle is gonna be boiled for at least 60 minutes effectively killing any bacteria, viruses, or nasties.

qmax said:

That's a really silly newbie question, but funnily enough I could not find any threads addressing it. So do you guys wash your malt grains before crushing them? Just in case the husk was less than perfectly clean when sold from the HBS.

Click to expand...

1.) The grain is "cleaned" by the combine in the field. (A fanning type clean; mostly removes stones and straw.)
2.) The grain is "cleaned" by a large fanning mill either at the farm or at the maltster or both. (Also separates kernels not classified as plump in addition to stones, straw, weed seeds, etc...)
3.) The first step in malting is "cleaning" the grains by washing them in water.

Your need to wash your grains is unjustified as it won't do any good and will only leave you with a big mess. It will not remove mold, bacteria, fungi or viruses. It will not make the grain "less dusty", in fact it may make the grain more dusty and multiply the mold and fungi already on the grain.

If you've never dealt with grain before, grain is very dirty even when it's clean. It's just the nature of grain. Some grains are naturally "cleaner" than others, but most are very dusty and dirty due to the dry plant matter.

If need be you can wear a mask or a respirator to prevent breathing the dust while milling and dough in.

Today's farmers and maltsters are held to high standards. Grain is screened before being accepted for malting.

You can be assured that what you paid for is about as good as it gets.... Now if you want to malt your own, then yes, you will wash your raw barley as the first step.... which is really rather a fun task, IMHO.

BTW, most fanning or cleaning mills aren't 100%, in fact you may find some small pieces of straw or grass while milling, doughing in, mashing or sparging. These are really harmless and you can remove them if you wish. While milling you may find some less than plump kernels which make it through the mill, you can either adjust your gap, or don't worry about it, especially if there aren't very many of them. In fact, if you malt your own, you will have many less than plump kernels unless you sieve your grain first.

It may alarm you that no agricultural/food product is clean....all have standards for how much "foreign matter" they can contain: that includes mouse/rat droppings, bodies of mouse/rats themselves, stones, sticks, dirt, leaves, twigs, bugs (alive and dead), bacteria, virus, parasites,etc., etc.

a straight piped 12v71 2 stroke will scare bacteria off 500 bushels of barley (when its wearing its box)