Wow the crush DOES make a difference

I did my first AG brews this weekend.
Saturday I did 10 gallons of Edwort's pale ale and all went well, got 79% ef.
Then Sunday I did the Stone IPA clone and only got 66% ef.

At first I was like "What the hell?" But then I remembered something.
Friday night when I was getting and crushing the grains at my LHBS I had crushed all the 16# of 2-row for the APA and was well into the 2-row for the IPA when I just happend to see that the lock-nut for the mill's addjustment had worked it's self lose. I looked the the grains and I could see a lot of uncrushed grain, then looked down at that 20 some pounds I had already done (with a hand crank corrona mill) and thought that there is no way I'm going to go back thru and recrush all that.
I readjusted the mill and cranked on.

Now I see what a difference this makes.. I will be ordering my own mill some time this week.

Two words: Barley Crusher.

I've had a drop in efficiency (74-75% vs. 70%) compared to store crush with my Barley Crusher, but I haven't tried adjusting it. I don't really care all that much as long as I know the expected result, and being able to keep a stock of grain and crush at home is a lot more convenient.

Evan! said:

Two words: Barley Crusher.

Click to expand...

Yeah that's what I want. But seeing how I got 79% with a $20 mill, it make it hard to drop that extra $100+ on the other one.

FSR402 said:

Yeah that's what I want. But seeing how I got 79% with a $20 mill, it make it hard to drop that extra $100+ on the other one.

Click to expand...

I got 80% on my last batch with my $20 Corona-style mill too. I have also been consistently in the high 70's now. I still want a Barley Crusher, but I agree that it is hard to drop that much cash when you have something that works fine.

The BC definitely is easier to adjust, though.

FSR402 said:

Yeah that's what I want. But seeing how I got 79% with a $20 mill, it make it hard to drop that extra $100+ on the other one.

Click to expand...

Speed and a more consistent crush is what I've heard you'll gain by spending the extra money. If you're doing large batches it may save you quite a bit of time. As far as the consistent crush matters? Probably not as tons of people use 'em and get similar results.

dblvsn said:

Speed and a more consistent crush is what I've heard you'll gain by spending the extra money. If you're doing large batches it may save you quite a bit of time. As far as the consistent crush matters? Probably not as tons of people use 'em and get similar results.

Click to expand...

I don't think speed has anything to do with it. For 40 cents and my electric drill, I motorized my mill and I can grind 10 lbs of grain in a couple/few minutes.

Consistency is a bigger issue - I know that my Corona-style mill doesn't give a consistent crush - lots of grains are just barely cracked. To compensate, I crush a little finer at the cost of lautering. I haven't actually had a stuck sparge yet, but I suspect I would if I was using a manifold or false bottom instead of a SS braid. The other downside is that by grinding more finely, I shred the husks a bit more. Since I batch sparge, I haven't worried about tannin extraction, but it would be more of a concern for fly spargers, I think. However, I also know that there are some fly spargers using Corona mills here and getting efficiencies in the high 70's or low 80's, so it must work for them.

If you believe that you will be brewing for quite some time in the future then the purchase of a mill makes sense and you will not be disappointed. My mill was well worth the effort and inconsistentcy of my prior efforts.

I love my Crankandstein - fantastic crush with no problems