Decent crush?

Hi everyone,

Long time lurker, first time poster. First, thank you all. This forum has been invaluable in my homebrewing adventure. I haven't posted before because every time i had a question a quick search always brought up the answer.

I started about 6 months ago with extract batches and just started getting into all grain. I got low efficiency and figured part of the problem would be the crush. So i got myself a Monster Mill. I figure I was eventually going to get one anyway and I see it as an investment.

Can anyone take a look and see if the crush is good? The first picture is at the original setting and the second is adjusted just a bit tighter.

Thanks

2nd one looks fine to me.

Yup. Second one looks like mine. Finer than some but as long as it doesn't clog your lauter, it's the better choice.

Start with the second one and each batch go a touch smaller until things start slowing down and then call it good.

Mind sharing your gap settings for the 2 pictures?

Another thing to consider, maybe - you want to try to keep the hulls intact, if they start getting shredded up, it could impact your lauter. Also, if you end up with too much powder, this will start to clog you up, like was said previously. If you're doing BIAB, though, probably less of a problem.

I don't see anything wrong with the first crush, really, some schools of thought say that you really just want to be able to break each grain into three parts - if it does that, you should be ok. Your sparge technique will affect you a lot more, I think.

Thanks for the replies. The first pic was set at .045 (I think that's the setting they're shipped at) and the second pic is at .040. I'll be brewing this weekend with the .040 gap, fly sparging, and see how that goes.

I see nothing wrong in the first crush - it's actually a bit finer than my lhbs which used a MM3-2.0. I typically get right around 72-74%. The second pic should be fine as well, as is the first.

Varmintman said:

Start with the second one and each batch go a touch smaller until things start slowing down and then call it good.

Click to expand...

+1 on this advice. My barley mill is now at .034 and never a stuck bed. the 80-85 eff. I get now is 10-12 points higher than the factory setting of .040. A good grind and knowing your system is a good start for all grain brewing. cheers

Quick update and another question:

Just finished today's brew. I went with the second one (.040 in gap) and got much better results. 82% mash efficiency and 75% total efficiency. Last time with premilled grains i got 64% mash eff. and 58% total eff. Thanks for the advice again.

Now for the bad news. RIGHT after I finished milling the grains my drill decided to crap out. I was using this one: www.harborfreight.com/1-2-half-inch-heavy-duty-spade-handle-drill-93632.html which I've read people having success with. I have a MM 3 2.0. Is there another drill that anyone has had success with? I'm not really interested in attaching a motor, just want to use a drill.