Rocks In Grain

[Kenny the plumber]

Just took 2.5 kgs out of my Weyerman pilsener bag and found 9 rocks
Will these pose a threat to my new mash master grain mill?
Or will it just chew em up?

 

[peas_and_corn]

Rocks are bad for mills. They shouldn't be in there.

 

[WitWonder]

How big are we talking?? I've never paid a huge amount of attention but the cranky hasn't missed a beat

 

[Kenny the plumber]

They are about 3 to 5 mm I was alarmed that I easly found 9 in 2.5 kgs of grain. Farmer must have had harvester to low lol.

 

[mika]

I'm amazed that rocks make it to the bag, given all the screens the malt goes thru on it's way to get there.
This is why people have a drive that can 'slip' and provide mill/motor protection, no mill will like 'crunching' them up.

 

[Tony]

I have notices the ocasional "crunch" noise when using german malts but no damage yet. Im talking amybe once every 2 bags.

I would take tha malt back to where you bought it and complain. It should not have rocks in it.

cheers

 

[white.grant]

I've lost a couple of coffee grinders to small stones, they're invisible until they hit the blade, similarly many foreign objects can be undetectable from the grains when they are screened. This is just one of the ways in which the mechanisation of agricultural processes fails us.

cheers

grant

 

[Hutch]

I'm dissappointed to hear you've had rocks in Wey Pils. I would have thought the premium price equated to a premium product.
Powels Pils seems to be littered with all sorts of non-grain matter (which still passes through the mill without any issue), though I'm still yet to come across any rocks in that.

 

[Bribie G]

Reminds me (I love Indian cooking) of the days when, if using lentils, you had to sort through the whole lot a grain at a time and ended up with a collection of rocks, bugs, cat fur balls, seeds of other species etc.

May indicate that centuries old peasant techniques are still being used, but hardly appropriate for 2009.

 

[katzke]

Sounds like they are not cleaning the grain well. That or they are selling a second grade product to the home brew shops. I can not see a micro brewer hand checking grain for rocks. Those rocks will play hell with a mill.

The company we buy wheat and flour from triple cleans it to make sure there are no rocks in the grain. I have seen their flour mill and it sounds like a jet engine and I am sure is very expensive to replace the blades in if a rock were to get in it. Not to mention they run the thing 24-7 to keep up with their flour needs.

 

[Alex T]

Hi,

You will get rocks in malt - it is unavoidable. Even after all the cleaning the little guys get in there. I remember going to New Belgium a couple of years ago and they showed me all around their now very large brewery. The brewer told me - "you'll be suprised what you find in your malt".

In our new brewhouse we have a malt cleaning plant, which has a destoner - amazing what does come out....... (yes, lots of rocks!)

I would avoid getting into your mill if you see them, but otherwise I wouldn't let a rock or two stop me from homebrewing - get into it! (sometimes ignorance is bliss)

Cheers,

Alex

 

[dr K]

which has a destoner - amazing

That is , like, sick man, stop playing with my mind..aaarrgghhh

Seriousl, yes, any foreign matter the same size as grain of barley (which BTW is the unit on which the inch is based) will make it through, assuming it does not break up during the malting process. Probably a bit of rat droppings there as well.
Coffee beans are far bigger.

K

 

[Andreas]

They are about 3 to 5 mm I was alarmed that I easly found 9 in 2.5 kgs of grain. Farmer must have had harvester to low lol.

Hello Kenny,
I am Andreas from Weyermann. Thanks for using our products. We do our best by using efficient cleaning equipement and accurate control of raw-, intermediate and finished products to avoid rocks in malts. Unfortunately ist is not possible to avoid that a minimum number of rocks in kernel size may remain in malt - a natural product.
For further questions please do not hesitate to ask!
Cheers from Bamberg - Germany.
Andreas Richter

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Just send the rocks/gravel to Pumpy,,,

He will know what to do with them.. :lol:

 

[Fents]

Hello Kenny,
I am Andreas from Weyermann. Thanks for using our products. We do our best by using efficient cleaning equipement and accurate control of raw-, intermediate and finished products to avoid rocks in malts. Unfortunately ist is not possible to avoid that a minimum number of rocks in kernel size may remain in malt - a natural product.
For further questions please do not hesitate to ask!
Cheers from Bamberg - Germany.
Andreas Richter

wow just wow. did someone e-mail weyermann a link to this thread? pretty good to see malt manufactuers hanging around here in our tiny little homebrew world.