barley crusher mill gap

[TANSTAAFB]

I have been messing with the settings on mine for the last several brews. Here are a couple of things I have learned...

Buy the feeler gauges. I got a mini set from Auto Zone that go up to .035 for about $3...stack for different settings.

Look into malt conditioning. I walked the stuck sparge ledge, occasionally falling over, and was considering buying rice hulls. Then on my last brew I remembered reading about conditioning, tried it, and holy batsh!t Robin, I couldn't believe the difference. I set the BC around .034-5, got a very fine crush, got 85%+ efficiency, and never even thought about sticking. It is awesome how the hulls come out almost whole while the grain is finely crushed.

Finally, different grain requires a different crush. My 2-row pale gets a larger crush (.038-9) than my Pilsner malt (.034-6).

Brew on my friends

 

[AussieBrewerInColorado]

Totally agree on malt conditioning!

 

[shmEk]

I would stick with the factory settings. I have yet to change mine

Got a Barley Crusher recently. Checked the gap today with a spark plug gapper since I am getting ready to use it for the first time. Factory settings were off, and so are the factory markings.

Gap on one side was .041+ and the other side was .035. After adjusting the .041 side to match the .035 side the setting bar is about 1/16 of an inch different. Setting them both straight on their markings at 12 O'clock would result in definite stratified crushing, but really it seems like it wouldn't matter since they were pretty close. Just thought I would report back that the gauges are helpful.

 

[Flomaster]

I just picked up a feeler gauge set from VatoZone was $6. 99 got one with a spark plug gap settings since it had feeler gauges that went up to. 026 I didn't think about stacking them.

My eff has been crap with my BC and I've conditioned my malt each time. I can't wait to see what my gap is set to.