Rate My Crush (MM2-2.0, factory gap)

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thadius856

thadius856

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Rate my crush, please? :)

Conditioned with 6 oz of water in a 31# grain bill. Soak time was 10 minutes. Milled on a Monster Mills MM2-2.0 with the factory gap, two passes, at approximately 200 RPM. You're looking at 78.4% 2-row, 11.4% MO, 6.8% C15, 3.4% C40. 72.3% efficiency at 1.059 pre-boil in the BK. Final runnings were 1.039.

First pass; mostly crushed, but not separated from husks really.



Second pass; looks good to me -- was windy, so a tiny bit of flour blew off.



Should I bother tightening it with these numbers?
 
I get the 2nd pic with not so much tearing with a single pass with a gap of.038 (JSP Malt mill) running 120 rpm. Last batch an Old English Strong, 37# of Pale Ale malt 2# choc conditioned with 12 oz. stirrer for 2min rest for 5min repeated twice more ended with an 83% (per Beersmith) I found that lower rpm gets a better crush without tearing.
 
I estimated 200 RPM. It's probably less, but I have no real way to know without clocking it. I use this low-speed, high-torque drill, about 5 clicks out from the slowest setting it offers. Manual says 0-550 RPM. I can't imagine I have it anywhere near half speed.

http://www.harborfreight.com/1-2-half-inch-heavy-duty-spade-handle-drill-93632.html

I'll try slower next batch. Question stands. Do I need to crank down the gap?
 
Well, whipped out the feeler gauges. 0.061" right, 0.054" left. :eek: Had a few while putting the hopper together, so I'm almost sure I did that when bolting the two together. Not the factory's fault.

Crank it down to 0.040" both sides. Malt is conditioning now for a test.
 
Update:

The 31# grist from the OP came out at 75.7% mash efficiency (at 1.070 OG).

After tightening the mill down and conditioning twice as hard (now 3 oz H2O per 11# grist), the next batch was 80.8% mash efficiency (at 1.067 OG).

Considering cranking down to .035 since I'm still seeing some grains get through the first pass intact.
 
Cranked down to 0.037". Conditioned at 3.5 oz per 11#. You're looking at:

Code: 
Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
13 lbs 10.2 oz        Brewer's Malt, 2-Row, Premium (Great Wes Grain         1        76.1 %        
3 lbs 6.5 oz          Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)                    Grain         2        19.0 %        
14.1 oz               Crystal 15, 2-Row, (Great Western) (15.0 Grain         3        4.9 %

Currently mashing. Will report back on efficiency.



 
My crushes in one pass look like this one. Certainly no intact grains, most shredded, many are cracked in half like I see there. I do get some flour for sure.

Can't find my feeler or I'd tell you the gap. I'm guessing ~ 0.030. I do like it floury. I've been lucky, I never get stuck sparges, and I don't use hulls.

I batch sparge.

thadius856 said:
Rate my crush, please? :)


Should I bother tightening it with these numbers?
Click to expand...
 
Well, found the reason for the poor efficiency. Went to dump grain in the mill today (the first batch since this last one posted) and the gap looked awfully big. Gauaged it out.

0.44" on the right edge of the hopper, 0.071" on the left side of the hopper. :eek: No idea how it drifted that much in one crush. Now I'm surprised I got as good of efficiency as I did.

Going to gap it back to 0.037", tighten it down like crazy, and re-check the gap after both passes.
 
Gapped back down to 0.037". Ran the first pass through. Boy was it hard to get the roller started at first. Plenty of torque. Almost dumped the hopper not paying attention.

Half way through the first pass, it felt easy again. We were all the way back past 0.055" after only 15# of grain. WTF?!

Tried flipping the roller onto the other half of the cam. Perhaps it was only supposed to prevent cam-out in one direction and I had it backwards. Looking back, that doesn't make sense. On the opposite side of the cam, the roller rides against the hopper and refuses to spin freely. Clearly not working as intended. Flipped it back to the other side of the cam.

Turns out, the hand tight is not sufficient on the thumb screws. Ironic, eh? Gave them an extra 1/8th turn or so past hand tight using a pair of pliers and the gap held for the next pass.

The high-torque, low-speed drill got hotter. It put more stress on my wrist. There's a very visible difference in the crush. Again, sorry for the blur.





My only concern is that I have a bit more tearing than expected. The grain sat for about 20 minutes before I got the gap set correctly and it stayed, allowing it to un-condition it seems.
 
Much better on the numbers now. 78.2% mash eff on a pre-boil gravity of 1.059. Probably could have been better, but I forgot to check the 'Adjust Temperature for Equipment Temperature" box on BeerSmith and came in 6 degrees low (144F). Two sparges this time, equal size.

Code: 
BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Bell's Two Hearted Clone - 2013.04.20
Brewer: Thadius Miller
Asst Brewer: 
Style: American IPA
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0) 

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 12.37 gal
Post Boil Volume: 11.02 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 10.50 gal   
Bottling Volume: 10.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.073 SG
Estimated Color: 6.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 51.8 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 80.8 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
19 lbs 15.8 oz        Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)           Grain         1        75.7 %        
4 lbs 3.6 oz          Vienna Malt (Great Western) (3.5 SRM)    Grain         2        16.0 %        
16.0 oz               Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)             Grain         3        3.8 %         
9.6 oz                Crystal 15, 2-Row, (Great Western) (15.0 Grain         4        2.3 %         
9.6 oz                Crystal 30, 2-Row, (Great Western) (30.0 Grain         5        2.3 %         
1.68 oz               Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min     Hop           6        26.9 IBUs     
2.10 oz               Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min     Hop           7        16.7 IBUs     
1.00 tsp              Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins)              Fining        8        -             
2.10 oz               Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min      Hop           9        6.7 IBUs      
2.10 oz               Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 1.0 min      Hop           10       1.5 IBUs      
1.9 pkg               Safale American  (DCL/Fermentis #US-05)  Yeast         11       -             
1.91 oz               Centennial [9.45 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days   Hop           12       0.0 IBUs      


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 26 lbs 6.5 oz
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time     
Mash In           Add 33.51 qt of water at 167.0 F        150.0 F       60 min        

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (1.04gal, 6.25gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
------


Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Took me a good 25 minutes to gather up enough hot water (1 gal of 181F) to get me back to 149.5F. Extended the mash to 85 minutes to compensate, but then my sparges ended up short .25 gal each. Of course, I then overshot pre-boil volume by .4 gal. Final runnings 1.029, so there were plenty of sugars left in the tun.

Also expecting the next batch to get a full two proper passes, which this one did not, to help mash eff tip north of 80%.

Thanks for the help all!
 
Thanks for the update....
I have read others with the thumb screws loosing up on them too. I have been luck I guess with mine. However, I have also noticed more grain tearing than I expected too. Not sure on the cause or if it's really a big concern as I haven't had stuck sparges and my efficiency stays 75-80%.

Robert
 
AFAIK, other than stuck sparges, torn husks were only a concern because they'd be more likely to provide astringency if your pH was off.

I haven't noticed any excess tannins in my brews yet, so I'm not going to worry about it.
 

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