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Grain Mill

112 bytes added, 15:44, 27 April 2008
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[[image:Crusher.jpg|right|thumb|Barley Crusher]]
Grain mills are used to crush grains in preparation for brewing. Crushed grains are susceptible to oxidization, so brewers prefer to crush grains within a few days of brewing. Crushing grains is a very important step in the brewing process, as the crush of the grains determines the efficiency of the [[Mashing|mashing]] process. Efficiency is the percentage of fermentables in the grain (by weight) that are absorbed into the wort during the mashing process.
Finely crushed grains result in higher mashing efficiency, but form a poor grain bed that can easily become "stuck", halting the water flowing through the mash tun during the [[Sparging|sparging]] process. This condition is called a "stuck mash". Coarsely crushed grains allow for free flowing of sparge water, but produce lower efficiency.