Is there a crush evaluation standard?

I have read many threads on these forums with brewers attempting to troubleshoot AG effeciency issues and their crush. Has anybody considered developing a simple, do it yourself test to put objective numbers against the crush for comparison purposes? I'm thinking a simple aparatus that could be built in the basement and would function like ASTM C136-06 using something like a tennis ball can. Perhaps 4 stages or so?

If you are milling your own grains, take an old credit card and run it through, I have found I get the best crush when the mill is set to the width of the card, can't measure that small but I know it's a tad tighter than factory setting. With this setting I can usually get a consistent 77% efficiency on my batches.

I would think that mega breweries monitor their crush by a more sophisticated means than grabbbing a handful and saying, meh...looks good, lets mash.

I don't have a great desire to give some grist to our soils testing lab here on the project to get a seive analysis done.

I think I know what you are getting at, some sort of crush measurement. You would need some sort of system that could parse the different size chunks of grain and husks and determine what percentage of each makes up your sample.

There are a lot of variables that make up a good crush, and not everyone's system works optimally with the same crush. But, like Justice Potter Stewart said about pornography, I know it when I see it.

william_shakes_beer said:

I'm thinking a simple aparatus that could be built in the basement and would function like ASTM C136-06 using something like a tennis ball can. Perhaps 4 stages or so?

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That would be very cool...something that sorts by particle size?
% flour
% crushed endosperm/germ
% shredded husk
% whole husk

TyTanium said:

That would be very cool...something that sorts by particle size?
% flour
% crushed endosperm/germ
% shredded husk
% whole husk

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Yeah. I was thinking an outer sleeve of PVC, 18 " long, and 4 sections of PVC maybe 4" long that fit snugly inside. Each inner PVC has a progressively finer screen with the bottom section solid. Put in 4oz dry grain on top, shake horizontally for 30 seconds and then weigh the contents of each screen. The trick is to get the screen sizes correct. At least we won't be just comparing photos any more. Anyone have any idea how the factory brewers do it?

You can't come up with a "standardized" crush becasue the crush that works for you will depend on your methods and equipment. Everybody is different, so a crush that works for one person won't necessarily work for another.

duboman said:

If you are milling your own grains, take an old credit card and run it through, I have found I get the best crush when the mill is set to the width of the card, can't measure that small but I know it's a tad tighter than factory setting. With this setting I can usually get a consistent 77% efficiency on my batches.

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If you want a number, my credit card measures .030 inches thick

Denny said:

You can't come up with a "standardized" crush becasue the crush that works for you will depend on your methods and equipment. Everybody is different, so a crush that works for one person won't necessarily work for another.

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Not looking for a end of the conversation, but a beginning. It's more meaningful to say "10% screen 1, 30% screen 2, 50% screen 3, 10% screen 4 than say " I ran it through twice" I'm suggesting a method to pin down a variable, same as the numbers we put on fermentation temps and carbonation volumes.

Pretty certain there are formal standards for "sieve analysis of crushed malt" by the various. Brewing bodies

And a nice write up with pictures is in this newsletter
http://homebrewers.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/CABA_2006-1.pdf

stux said:

Pretty certain there are formal standards for "sieve analysis of crushed malt" by the various. Brewing bodies

And a nice write up with pictures is in this newsletter
http://homebrewers.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/CABA_2006-1.pdf

Click to expand...

That's just what I was looking for. Thanks. Now to make me a seive set.