Barley crusher setting

[Aschecte]

I have a barley crusher I purchased from Northern brewer which is great except I find the crush is way to fine. I get great efficiancy with the factory crush but my vorlauf is painfull like really painfull. I can't clear my runnings except at the slowest of a trickle. I am using a 10 gallon cooler with a false bottom and I always use rice hulls just as an added precaution. i have narrowed it down to the crush. What adjustments have others made ? I am picking up a set of feeler gauges to accurately adjust the settings. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[runningweird]

Try conditioning your malt. It really works well. Keps he husks intact for the most part. Look in the wiki.

 

[Aschecte]

Billybroas suggests a .38 mm crush what does anyone else think ?

Sent from my iPhone using HB Talk

 

[Smashing]

Factory setting is supposed to be .039 - I never verified this. I used mine for the first time a couple of weeks ago and I hit my projected numbers on the nose. The grind was coarser than what I got through Midwest. I ran my Midwest leftovers through it and it def ground finer. Will probably close the gap a bit and maybe even try conditioning the grain this time.

 

[jdd12364]

I've been running mine at .039 for the past two years & I get a nice grist , I would start at .039 & go from there .

 

[Malticulous]

I use .030. I hate my false bottom, vorlauf a gallon. I use a PEX pipe with 1/8 holes now and one quart is more than enough.

 

[Aschecte]

I use .030. I hate my false bottom, vorlauf a gallon. I use a PEX pipe with 1/8 holes now and one quart is more than enough.

This is what I'm not sure about. I have a 12 inch false bottom in my 10 gallon igloo cooler which takes up the entire bottom of the cooler and I checked that it is laying flat. the holes in the false bottom I would say are appx the same diameter as a pencil point ( pretty small ). I assumed it was my crush being too fine and passing under or around the grain hull and coming through my false bottom. How can I prove or disprove this ? or maybe i have a pain in the as* false bottom as well.

 

[Rev2010]

This is what I'm not sure about. I have a 12 inch false bottom in my 10 gallon igloo cooler which takes up the entire bottom of the cooler and I checked that it is laying flat. the holes in the false bottom I would say are appx the same diameter as a pencil point ( pretty small ). I assumed it was my crush being too fine and passing under or around the grain hull and coming through my false bottom. How can I prove or disprove this ? or maybe i have a pain in the as* false bottom as well.

I'm using a bazooka screen, this one:

Mash/Boil Screen : Northern Brewer

in my 10 gallon MLT and it works awesome, you have to fold the end (crimp it) a bit though to fit it in the MLT. I'm also using a Barley Crusher at the factory setting and no issues sparging so far. I started off with a false bottom and had an instant stuck sparge on the first use. That's when I returned it and went with the screen, saved me money and is working perfectly.


Rev.

 

[calebawilson]

throw some rice hulls in there

 

[Aschecte]

here's a little update . I bought a set of feeler gauges tonight to adjust the mill and come to find out it is set finer than advertised. According to Northern brewer it is supposed to be set at .043mm and I think the guys and girls at barley crusher read it backwards as mine is set to .034 which is a pretty fine crush. I'm going to up it to .038 as Billybroas suggested and see if this helps the problem at all.

 

[samc]

Just so nobody gets confused, you've said mm instead of inches. .043mm is tiny.

 

[Aschecte]

Just so nobody gets confused, you've said mm instead of inches. .043mm is tiny.

I apologize it is .043 inches or 1.0922mm. thanks for pointing that out !!!