Can you pick the crush that looks best (poll)

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Which is the best crush?

  • Setting 5

  • Setting 4

  • Setting 3

  • Stick with your LHBS


Results are only viewable after voting.

johnodon

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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?
Setting5.jpg



Setting 4
Notes: Probably about 5% of the husks are uncrushed.
Setting4.jpg



Setting 3
Notes: 10% or more of the husks are uncrushed.
Setting3.jpg
 
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.
 
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...
 
I'd say condition the grain first to prevent shredded husks and try six.
 
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.
 
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?
 
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: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/using-pasta-maker-mill-grain-75784/

John
 
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
 
In my limited experience playing with a pasta roller, i found that running the grain through twice provided a thorough uniform crush. Maybe I overcrush, but I think "5" could use a little more effort, but you may find that a tighter setting, may not pull the grain as quickly as you would like (painfully slow). The rollers on the pasta maill are so small that I think it is difficult to get a "perfect" crush once through the mill.

Can I vote twice for setting "5" indicating a double pass through the mill?

JMO and YMMV:mug:
 
Setting 5 probably.

The real answer depends on your setup, your sparge methodology, and your efficiency and what kind of numbers you are willing to accept. If it works, makes great beer, and is consistent, then you're golden.
 
Just modified my pasta maker to crush grain also. My settings must be different though. The machines look alike. I have 0-7 as settings also. I ran 8 pounds of 2-row through twice once at #1 setting and once at #2 setting and it looks about like your #5. I've found that with these machines you must score the rollers or you will not be able to get any crush at all. Small dia. rollers have a more severe angle of contact and a whole grain just tumbles between them rather than going through them. I may even run my dremmel across them again. With the caramel and chocolate malts, I use a light setting so I don't turn them into pure flour. There are convenient screws that attatch the baseplate to the machine, attach them to a bucket lid, place on bucket and you're ready to go.
 
Good eye CrAzY... they are the same pics. So between the two I would choose #5 also.

CRUD! I didn't even realize I did that. Setting 3 pic is fixed. I don't think it will matter though. You can see in that pic that there is a lot a grain that didn't get crushed.

It seems like #5 is running away but a lot pf people would like to see #6 and some malt conditioning. Since conditioning seems to be so popular, I will post a new poll (all malt conditioned) of #4, #5, #6 and #7.

I would like to thank everyone for their input...I really learned a lot. Honestly, I had never even heard of conditioning until it was mentioned here.

John
 
Just modified my pasta maker to crush grain also. My settings must be different though. The machines look alike. I have 0-7 as settings also. I ran 8 pounds of 2-row through twice once at #1 setting and once at #2 setting and it looks about like your #5. I've found that with these machines you must score the rollers or you will not be able to get any crush at all. Small dia. rollers have a more severe angle of contact and a whole grain just tumbles between them rather than going through them. I may even run my dremmel across them again. With the caramel and chocolate malts, I use a light setting so I don't turn them into pure flour. There are convenient screws that attatch the baseplate to the machine, attach them to a bucket lid, place on bucket and you're ready to go.

The one I have actually has settings 1 - 9...but 8 and 9 do not have stops. :S So, it is really 1 - 7 (7 being the tightest).

I have knurled my rollers using a 1/4 titanium drill bit. Here is a pic (little blurry). FYI...that is setting 7 in that pic.

IMG_1761.jpg


John
 
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