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johnodon · 10-18-2010, 03:20 PM

I have finished my Clay Roller/Pasta machine converted to barley crusher. The one that I bought has 7 different thickness settings. The pics below are of settings 5, 4 and 3. Can you vote/comment which looks best to you. Also looking for suggestions like "maybe do 2 passes on setting 4" or "let's see what setting 6 looks like".

Setting 5
Notes: No uncrushed husks. Everything has been opened. However, is the crush too fine?

Setting 4
Notes: Probably about 5% of the husks are uncrushed.

Setting 3
Notes: 10% or more of the husks are uncrushed.

**azscoob** · 10-18-2010, 03:46 PM

I think setting 5 is best of the ones you posted however I think you can tighten it up a bit more, I condition my malt and run my mill quite tight, I get nice unshredded husks, and a crush that looks like mostly flour, this gets me an average 87% eff and I have not had a stuck sparge to date, in fact my vorlauf clears up faster than before I started conditioning, possibly due to the intact husks creating a fantastic filter media.

johnodon · 10-18-2010, 03:48 PM

I always assumed "too floury" was a bad thing. Am I wrong?

Thanks!

nealf · 10-18-2010, 04:04 PM

I would vote for setting 6 or setting 7.

bentonre · 10-18-2010, 04:07 PM

I would say look at setting 6 or 7 as well. Go finer unless you start to have problems with stuck sparges or it just looks really, really too fine.
I fully believe in tightening down the gap as far as you are comfortable, then go one more turn/click...

riromero · 10-18-2010, 04:14 PM

I'd say condition the grain first to prevent shredded husks and try six.

KayaBrew · 10-18-2010, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnodon

I always assumed "too floury" was a bad thing. Am I wrong?

Thanks!

It's not too floury until you get stuck sparges. Even then, you can mix in some rice hulls to keep things loose and flowing.

Edcculus · 10-18-2010, 04:36 PM

5 looks best to me. I'd go even finer, like everyone else said. If the husks remain in tact, then you really can't go too fine. In tact husks act as the filter bed so your mash doesn't turn into a gigantic dough ball. Obviously you don't want pure flour. Those white bits are pretty much all starch. The more they are broken up, the more access the enzymes have to all of the starch, thus increasing your sugar extraction per pound of grain (aka mash efficiency).

Just out of curiosity, how did you go about modifying the pasta roller? Did you knurl the rollers?

johnodon · 10-18-2010, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edcculus

5 looks best to me. I'd go even finer, like everyone else said. If the husks remain in tact, then you really can't go too fine. In tact husks act as the filter bed so your mash doesn't turn into a gigantic dough ball. Obviously you don't want pure flour. Those white bits are pretty much all starch. The more they are broken up, the more access the enzymes have to all of the starch, thus increasing your sugar extraction per pound of grain (aka mash efficiency).

Just out of curiosity, how did you go about modifying the pasta roller? Did you knurl the rollers?

I just set the gap to the tightest and used a 1/4 titanium drill bit and let it walk up and down the rollers (not in between them). If you keep enough pressure, it will actually turn teh rollers. Took all of about 10 minutes.

There is a whole thread about converting the pasta machine here: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/using-pasta-maker-mill-grain-75784/

John

shroomzofdoom · 10-18-2010, 05:06 PM

When I malt condition I get virtually no husk damage. I would try conditioning and use setting #5; if no conditioning then I would vote for #4