My first AG crush

Finally got moving on making a hopper/base for my Crankenstein and I want everyone's opinion on my crush. IMO I think I can go a bit finer but let me know what you think! I'll post pics of the hopper/base when they're done.

I would go a bit finer..at least if you want more than 60% efficiency....just my 2 cents...

That looks about like the crush I get from my HBS, but my efficiency is rarely higher than 65-70%

I crush finner than that to get 75% regurlarly, but I have a corona type and shred my husk a little.

Yeah, I'm going to have to dial it in a bit. right now it's at 2-credit-card width but that seems too wide for my setup. It looks very similar to my morebeer orders, so I figured I should go a bit finer. I appreciate all your opinions.

D2T said:

Yeah, I'm going to have to dial it in a bit. right now it's at 2-credit-card width but that seems too wide for my setup. It looks very similar to my morebeer orders, so I figured I should go a bit finer. I appreciate all your opinions.

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I think you would be a better off with a credit card + business card width.

HarvInSTL said:

I think you would be a better off with a credit card + business card width.

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I would raise it another hair from the dog nextdoor.

Here is a pic of my crush with the Barley Crusher at it's factory setting of .040". I didn't think it looked fine enough, but I went with it and got 70% efficiency. With a feeler gauge ( I recommend you get one) I set the gap to .037" and boosted my efficiency into the low 80's. I'm more than happy with that. Any finer may get me a stuck sparge and/or tannin extraction from shredded husks.

johnsma22 said:

Here is a pic of my crush with the Barley Crusher at it's factory setting of .040". I didn't think it looked fine enough, but I went with it and got 70% efficiency. With a feeler gauge ( I recommend you get one) I set the gap to .037" and boosted my efficiency into the low 80's. I'm more than happy with that. Any finer may get me a stuck sparge and/or tannin extraction from shredded husks.

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Our Barley Crusher at factory setting easily gets us into the 75-80% efficiency range, and our crush looks very much like the photo above.

Made a few adjustments and now I'm wondering if it's too fine I think I'll brew a batch with this crush to test out, but a stuck sparge wouldn't surprise me.

Not an intact grain in the bowl, and the hulls aren't really shredded too much. Just worries me cause it's finer than I've ever mashed with before.

D2T said:

Made a few adjustments and now I'm wondering if it's too fine I think I'll brew a batch with this crush to test out, but a stuck sparge wouldn't surprise me.

Not an intact grain in the bowl, and the hulls aren't really shredded too much. Just worries me cause it's finer than I've ever mashed with before.

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This looks very much like the crush I just did yesterday with my Crank...nowehere near a stuck sparge, and 90% efficiency.

To adjust the crush, buy two drill bits that are the same....and stick them between the rollers. No need for a gauge.

1/16" = 0.0625
3/64" = 0.047
1/32 = 0.031

Cheers.

Bike N Brew said:

This looks very much like the crush I just did yesterday with my Crank...nowehere near a stuck sparge, and 90% efficiency.

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Well that makes me feel better

Axegod said:

To adjust the crush, buy two drill bits that are the same....and stick them between the rollers. No need for a gauge.

1/16" = 0.0625
3/64" = 0.047
1/32 = 0.031

Cheers.

Click to expand...

Good tip, thanks bud.

Ok, some pics of my crankenstein now
I also have a 5 gallon water cooler jug that sits on the top (no pics)



inside (and blurry...)




a slide to stop grain flow that I made out of leftover plastic from the bottom of the water jug. This way I can get it up to speed before starting the flow. Credit to whoever it was on HBT that posted the idea originally!



All in all, not bad for a guy that's never taken wood shop I think..