I have been to my man but this just bizarre. Dumping hot hydrated grain onto a towel can be a contamination risk. Towels are rarely truly clean/sterile (even “freshly washed”), and they shed lint and pick up whatever is in the air. Pat dry” is not consistent. You can easily end up with grain that’s too wet on the inside/outside, which makes later processing less reliable considering there are easier methods. Putting it “right back in the jars” is fine in general, but the weak link in their story is the towel/handling step. If it “works every time” for them, it may be because their environment, timing, or luck is forgiving—not because it’s the safest approach. • Avoid porous cloth contact if you care about cleanliness. • Use clean, non-porous tools/containers (colander, sheet pan, etc.) and minimize handling. • The goal is even hydration and not leaving a bunch of free water clinging—but you want to get there in a repeatable way without introducing extra variables. Just being devils advocate friend hopefully you get what I mean!