Best gap for new mill?

All,

I was very disappointed with my last batch, and the consensus was that I needed to get my own mill so I did. I haven't put it together yet, but I bought a Monster Mill MM-2. I've seen others on here talk about gap. What's the best gap setting that I can use, or is that another trial and error thing?

Thanks!

I have mine set at .038 and I run everything through twice. Takes no time at all thanks to my drill.

Mine is set at .036. With electric drill it will power through the grain and I am generally in upper 70/low 80 for efficiency (sometimes even higher) with fly sparging.



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Love my MM2. I set it at what the instructions recommended. Was 38 or 36 thousands and can't recall which.


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Thanks everyone I'm putting it together tomorrow and hopefully brewing next weekend.

Oh, do I need a special bit for my drill? I was thinking I would mill the grain I to a bucket I could pick up at Home Depot. Would that work ok?


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Congrats with you MM-2. I love that mill.
For batch sparging I use the following gaps and get 80% or better mash efficiency:

A regular credit card sets it at .034" when just snug.

When milling really small grain kernels, like wheat or rye, .028" works better for those. American Express' junk mail includes the correct gap sizer.

No need for a special bit. Chuck the drill right onto the shaft of the MM2. You can crush the grain into a brew bucket. They work great for that. A 5G bucket will hold most large grain bills.

My cordless drill can't handle the torque required and will whimp out. I have to use my corded dewalt. If I get a decent Harbor Freight coupon I'm buying their low speed high torque drill.


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I have a 18v cordless dewalt drill with 1/2" chuck. It doesn't mind milling grain. In fact that is an easier job than I often put it through when I am working with steel. It does not like putting 1" holes through 1" thick steel!!!

Awesome! Thanks everyone! It's raining today so that means I can't garden with my wife. Today is a perfect day to put this thing together!


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Love my MM2!!!
It comes default at 0.040 and I used that setting for my first batch and got 78%
Adjusted to 0.038 and get 82-85% consistently.


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sandyeggoxj said:

I have a 18v cordless dewalt drill with 1/2" chuck. It doesn't mind milling grain. In fact that is an easier job than I often put it through when I am working with steel. It does not like putting 1" holes through 1" thick steel!!!

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I used the same before getting the high torque, low speed drill from Harbor Freight. It worked fine, but twice I toppled and spilled grain from the hopper due to battery weight. Just when it seems balanced, over it goes.

I recently got a MM2 (1.5 inch rollers). I started with a gap in the high .03 range.... but I thought it was excessive - powder/flour. Got over 90% efficiency.... but, slowed down sparge guite a bit.
I have been backing it off into the high .04/low .05 range. I like the crush better, way less powder/flour. Husks intact. Still getting low 80% efficiency which is about what I like.
Something you have to play around a bit with your system and find what is best for you.

kenpotf said:

Awesome! Thanks everyone! It's raining today so that means I can't garden with my wife. Today is a perfect day to put this thing together!


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Click to expand...

You'll want to brew too.

I was a little disappointed in the quality (or layout) of the fiberboard base. I noticed it starts to warp that narrow side when tightening the mill frame to it. I believe it would be best to have a heavy duty full-sized backup plate on the other side of that board. Large washers may help prevent it somewhat, but a rectangular steel plate matching the frame above would make it so much better. That's my only quibble with the MM design.

Run a pound of old, disposable or cheap grain trough the mill a few times to clean it before you run production. I used rice actually, and it came out gray.

Braufessor said:

I recently got a MM2 (1.5 inch rollers). I started with a gap in the high .03 range.... but I thought it was excessive - powder/flour. Got over 90% efficiency.... but, slowed down sparge guite a bit.
I have been backing it off into the high .04/low .05 range. I like the crush better, way less powder/flour. Husks intact. Still getting low 80% efficiency which is about what I like.
Something you have to play around a bit with your system and find what is best for you.

Click to expand...

My apologies in advance for what could be perceived as jacking into this thread, but I think it is helpful in answering the OP (and other interested parties as well).

Since I have been using my MM2 set at 0.038 for the last 10 or so batches, I also have noticed a lot of flour and demolished husks, but I was getting mid to high 80% efficiency with only occasional slow sparge that could be cleared with stirring or gently blowing air into the hose to clear the clog.

I had been going with the "if it aint broke, dont fix it" philosophy, but the above quote got me thinking...

If I dial the gap back to the default 0.040", to gain the intact husks, will my efficiency drop, or is it entirely in the realm of possibility to keep the efficiency up there while making the sparges run a little more smoothly?

Or do I just remain true to the gap I have now?

My guess is that your efficiency will drop a bit - but I found it did not drop a lot. And, I just felt it was a more uniform crush, seemed to sparge better, less recirculating to clear wort, less husk material/flour getting into boil kettle, etc.
I have seen concern about "tannins" in this regard too - but, tannin extraction is generally a product of temperature and pH from what I have read. Although, I wonder if you have some slight temp./pH issues if a fine crush would not potentially make that worse??

** Also, +1 on running grain through the mill to clean - I took 3lbs of 2 row and ran it through several times to clean out metal finings, dust, etc.

I've been using my mill for about a year now, I had got a CrankandStein 3D so it's a little different from your MM2, but a mill is a mill. Get it adjusted the way you think it should be and run it, watch your efficiency, make good notes and you'll soon get it dialed in and working well.

One thing that seems to have helped my crush is to condition the grain before crushing. I use 1oz water per pound of grain the night before crushing, it seems to work better for me if it sets 8-12 hours from conditioning to crushing. One time I conditioned 10-20 minutes before crushing and had problems with the rollers gumming up, so now I do it the night before. I put the grain bill in a bucket, just the whole grains not any flaked grain, take hand sprayer and wet it down, stirring the grain as I go trying to get it all wet.

I have found that this softens the husks a little and helps to keep the husk intact, but allow the kernel to crush. Keeping the husks mostly intact helps prevent the dreaded stuck sparge. If you don't condition, try it and see if you like it. I usually get 80-85% efficiency on my brews. I've not had a stuck sparge yet.

The other thing I did that seemed to help with milling was to run a motor to power the mill and get the driven roller speed in the 100-200 RPM range. A nice consistent speed gives me nice consistent results.