Wow - Efficiency improved with new crush

EdWort · Feb 17, 2007

I'm brewing a batch of Haus Pale today and my Barley Crusher is no longer a virgin. I just put 7 gallons on to boil and the OG is 1.028 at 143 degrees which is 1.045 corrected. The best preboil OG for this batch was 1.040 when grains were crushed at AHBS.

8# Pale
2# Vienna
1/2# Crystal 10L

Any take on the efficiency? I'm going to have to recalculate the grain bill if I reproduce this again as it will be a bit too heavy for a session beer.

Wadago Barley Crusher!

sause · Feb 17, 2007

BeerSmith says 83% in to the boiler. Nice Job man, I couldn't find my hydrometer on my last batch when I crushed with my crankandstein. If it was anything like yours I will be happy.

EdWort · Feb 17, 2007

Cool. My finished O.G. in the fermenter is 1.053, a bit large for the beer, but it should be interesting how it turns out.

It's going to be about 5.6% if it finishes out at 1.011 like the previous batches. Yeah baby! :mug:

The Pol · Feb 17, 2007

Congrats that is awesome! Dont ya love it when you have excess sugars (alcohol) ???

The Pol

EdWort · Feb 17, 2007

The Pol said:
Congrats that is awesome! Dont ya love it when you have excess sugars (alcohol) ???

Yeah! Results from crushing your own. Pretty cool!:rockin:

The Pol · Feb 17, 2007

I hope to get a crusher sometime soon, I am starting to be the resident AG instructor at my church, so I need to upgrade. What sort of mill do you have?!

The Pol

EdWort · Feb 17, 2007

SWMBO gave me a Barley Crusher with the 15 lb. hopper for Christmas. I am a lucky man!

david_42 · Feb 17, 2007

I need to get a crusher. The LHBS has two crushers and they freak if you forget and run dark grains through the "pure" crusher.

[Doesn't help you need to be 6'6" to pour the grains in it!]

delboy · Feb 17, 2007

EdWort said:
Cool. My finished O.G. in the fermenter is 1.053, a bit large for the beer, but it should be interesting how it turns out.

It's going to be about 5.6% if it finishes out at 1.011 like the previous batches. Yeah baby!

Hi Ed
I tried copying your Haus brew for one of my first AGs (done on tuesday night). With being a newbie and living in the UK (imperal measures) i over compensated with the conversions to take into account low newbie efficencies.
Anyway i must have had a bit of beginners luck with the efficency because i hit the same high SG 1052-1053, this morning it had hit 1010. So much for the session house beer, on the plus side i sneaked a sample at 4days old and it tastes like i could drink a gallon :rockin: (for those from the uk it was like badger champion ale without the elderflowers and not so sweet).
Already looking forward to supping this :ban:

.

EdWort · Feb 17, 2007

delboy said:
Hi Ed
I tried copying your Haus brew for one of my first AGs (done on tuesday night). With being a newbie and living in the UK (imperal measures) i over compensated with the conversions to take into account low newbie efficencies.
Anyway i must have had a bit of beginners luck with the efficency because i hit the same high SG 1052-1053, this morning it had hit 1010. So much for the session house beer, on the plus side i sneaked a sample at 4days old and it tastes like i could drink a gallon :rockin: (for those from the uk it was like badger champion ale without the elderflowers and not so sweet).
Already looking forward to supping this .

Congrats! It's a tasty brew! Just have patience with it. Mine aged on gas for over a month before it was moved to my kegerator.

EdWort · Feb 17, 2007

david_42 said:
[Doesn't help you need to be 6'6" to pour the grains in it!]

Yeah, I know. I'm 6'4" and I had a fun time with it on a 5 gallon bucket on the counter. It worked great with a drill. Knocked that 10.5 lbs. out in no time.

knipknup · Feb 18, 2007

Ed, did you leave your crusher at the factory gap setting? I used mine last week for the first time and felt my crush was a little too fine. I had bits of grain in my wort even to the end of the sparge. I recirc'd the first few quarts and it cleared a bunch but still bits. I was considering increasing the gap a bit.

Also, the o-ring seems to be a waste. I ran 10# through and the o-ring was all mushed up and had moved to the center of the rollers - all stretched out and twisted. I am considering just cutting it off.

Any suggestions or opinions would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

EdWort · Feb 25, 2007

knipknup said:
Ed, did you leave your crusher at the factory gap setting? I used mine last week for the first time and felt my crush was a little too fine. I had bits of grain in my wort even to the end of the sparge. I recirc'd the first few quarts and it cleared a bunch but still bits. I was considering increasing the gap a bit.

Mine was way to fine from the factory setting. I went through a couple pounds of grain to find what I liked. If you look close at the knobs, there is a line on them and on the housing. The come from the factory lined up. Mine is widened by a couple millimeters.

I just put another batch of Haus Pale Ale on to boil. 7 gallons again at 1.045, so I nailed it again. It has to be the crush for my improved efficiency. This will make the second batch that will come in a wee bit heavy. I'll have to modify the recipe to account for 83% efficiency so I can get the ABV back down to a Session Beer range.

knipknup · Feb 25, 2007

Yeah, I did two batches at the factory setting and had floaties in my wort.

On my last batch, I widened the gap just a tad bit, setting the marks on the knobs at 11 and 1 o'clock. This gave me a perfect crush, no grain bits in the wort and about the same efficiency, maybe better, I didn't do the calculations.

The bummer was that one of the set screws that you have to loosen to adjust the gap just twisted off when I barely touched it with the screwdriver. Then I had to wrench it pretty hard to get the gap adjusted. Oh well.

EdWort · Feb 26, 2007

knipknup said:
On my last batch, I widened the gap just a tad bit, setting the marks on the knobs at 11 and 1 o'clock. This gave me a perfect crush, no grain bits in the wort and about the same efficiency, maybe better, I didn't do the calculations.

That's where I have mine set as well. Now one other variable I forgot about is I'm using Buffer 5.2 from Star. That could have an impact on my increased efficiency.

vtfan99 · Feb 26, 2007

knipknup said:
...
Also, the o-ring seems to be a waste. I ran 10# through and the o-ring was all mushed up and had moved to the center of the rollers - all stretched out and twisted. I am considering just cutting it off....

I'm with you on the O-ring. Mine actually ripped off on the second usage. I know a friend whose O-ring broke as well. I can't say that I noticed any difference in performance.

I too am starting to think my crush is a little fine. My last mash actually "stuck" and the few before that threatened to do so. Those of you with a Barley Crusher....do you have feeler gauges to give an accurate measurement of your roller distances? I'm brewing again this Sat and thought I might experiment with this aspect.

Thanks

knipknup · Feb 26, 2007

EdWort said:
Buffer 5.2 from Star.

Hmm? This probably is contributing a bit. However, if it is truly only zeroing the mash to 5.2 pH, seems it would be worthless for a mash that is already 5.2.

I wonder:

1 - is it doing anything else?
2 - is it a tablet or a bag of powder?

knipknup · Feb 26, 2007

vtfan99 said:
I'm with you on the O-ring. Mine actually ripped off on the second usage. I know a friend whose O-ring broke as well. I can't say that I noticed any difference in performance.

I too am starting to think my crush is a little fine. My last mash actually "stuck" and the few before that threatened to do so. Those of you with a Barley Crusher....do you have feeler gauges to give an accurate measurement of your roller distances? I'm brewing again this Sat and thought I might experiment with this aspect.

Thanks

I only have the gap thing for measuring spark plugs. I can try this, but I think the gap is bigger. Stay tuned...

EdWort · Feb 26, 2007

knipknup said:
Hmm? This probably is contributing a bit. However, if it is truly only zeroing the mash to 5.2 pH, seems it would be worthless for a mash that is already 5.2.

I wonder:

1 - is it doing anything else?
2 - is it a tablet or a bag of powder?

It's a powder. 1 Tbs. for 5 gallons. My pH is 7 for my water

Wow - Efficiency improved with new crush

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