How tight is your grain mill set?

So I just bought a grain mill in hopes of getting a better and more consistent efficiency. My question is how tight is your mill set and what is your average efficiency? Are you milling once or twice? Any info is appreciated

0.038" (38 mil) and I double crush. Works great with mash efficiency in the 80s.

Mine is set at .032 on a 2-roller mill with 1 1/2 inch rollers, 6 inches long, milled one time. I have a SS false bottom, and a direct fire mash tun, which I recirculate while ramping up to mash out temp. I get anywhere from 79 to 88% conversion.

Thank you. Are you guys using a feeler gauge to set the gap?

bradg89 said:

Thank you. Are you guys using a feeler gauge to set the gap?

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I don't have a mill, but one tip I heard recently is that all credit cards are 0.030 inches thick.

Feeler gage set up at .033". Single crush, BIAB.

Effficiencies from 72% with max grain bill to 90% on a light grain bill (1.050 OG).

I have mine set between .038-.040 and have had great luck....

.035" here. BIAB and single crush gets me low 80's.

I have a corona style, and mine actually has a bit of friction.. meaning, if i still had the handle on it (I have a drill) it would be a bit of tension.. just a little/in order to turn the handle. It is not metal on metal grinding, but you get the point. If I back it off a bit, the grain is not crushed. I am getting 80-85% efficiency now w/fine grind and BIAB.

bradg89 said:

Thank you. Are you guys using a feeler gauge to set the gap?

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Yep, $6 at Pep Boys. I don't use it for spark plugs though

Thank you everyone. I picked up a feeler gauge at the auto parts store and set my barley crusher to .032". I ran my grain through twice and it looks pretty fine. I'll be brewing today so I'll report back with my efficiency.

I believe Barley Crushers are factory set at .038". Those who BIAB can set theirs finer since they don't have to worry about anything sticking.

I'm back with results... 2 weeksago I did 5 gallon batch with 21lbs of grain and got an efficiency of 66%. Today with my new grain mill set at .033" with a double crush I did a 5 gallon batch with 20lbs and got an efficiency of 78%.

Hit 1.093 on my double black IPA!

bradg89 said:

I'm back with results... 2 weeksago I did 5 gallon batch with 21lbs of grain and got an efficiency of 66%. Today with my new grain mill set at .083" with a double crush I did a 5 gallon batch with 20lbs and got an efficiency of 78%.

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.083 or .033? .083 seems a bit wide to me...

My Barley Crusher is set at 38 mil and I double crush. I did a 43% wheat beer today, I batch sparge and had 79.2% efficiency for the mash and 82.9% brewhouse efficiency.

Black Island Brewer said:

.083 or .033? .083 seems a bit wide to me...

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My mistake. It was .033"

Anyone have pictures of their crush? Would like to compare mine to yours!

Any of you folks with 80% or better efficiencies ALSO conditioning your grain in advance? Or are you just milling it dry, as-is?

I just did my second all grain batch yesterday with a measured mash efficiency of 69.4%. My grain mill is set at .038, so today I ran my grains through two times and this is what it looks like. I am preparing to do a red ale.


UPDATE: 4/23/14, measured mash efficiency on the red ale is 83.5% and tastes great. That's an efficiency I can live with!

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mine is the thickness of a credit card. i was in too big of a rush to actually measure it and did have my wallet handy. i run it through twice for each batch.

Tooblue02 here is my crush

Factory setting on my 3 roller Monster Mill is .039". Seems perfect.


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bradg89 said:

Tooblue02 here is my crush

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Wow! I will be setting mine tighter. Not brewing again until the end of the month though...


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Did my Red Ale, and went from 69.4% to 82.0% today gotta love a jump like that!! PS: Only change was running the grains through the mill twice.


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Wow...I am still sitting at the low 70's efficiency. I need to either tighten up my .037 or double crush. Or figure out a million other things.

sablesurfer said:

Wow...I am still sitting at the low 70's efficiency. I need to either tighten up my .037 or double crush. Or figure out a million other things.

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The double crush is quick and cheap so that's where I'd suggest you start. It's probably where you will quit too because you're quite likely to be pleased with your efficiency with that. :rockin:

Mine is set to .039" and on my first AG batch I calculated a brew house efficiency of ~85%. Unconditioned grain once through the mill. Might have been a fluke, we will see this weekend on my next batch. Here's the crush I had:

Thought I'd post a side by side picture of my crush

What grain mill are you using?

tylerperkins said:

What grain mill are you using?

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I'm using a barley crusher

MollyHatchet said:

Did my Red Ale, and went from 69.4% to 82.0% today gotta love a jump like that!! PS: Only change was running the grains through the mill twice.


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After reading all the posts, and in other threads, I decided to tighten my mill further. I tightened it to .034, and brewed an IPA, my efficiency went to 93.3%. I do use a 1/2 lb of rice hulls in each batch, and once I vorlof I can drain it with the valve wide open. However, I did notice when I brewed a stout my efficiency went down, but I suspect that is a water chemistry issue, (my next quest).
PS: My mill was at .039, factory setting originally. I still run the grain through the mill twice.


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Cereal Killer @ .032