Bought Barley Crusher, mad dough balls

[Skiffy]

Right to the question ... first time using Barley Crusher (left at factory setting, I think .039") and I got tons of thick dough balls, which has never happened before when using the mill and pre crushed 2 row from the LHBS. What does this indicate, if anything? Not worried, just curious. I'll update whether my efficiency changed at all when the mash is done.

 

[RM-MN]

It indicates that you need to use a whisk or a mash paddle (depending on the size of the batch) and stir more vigorously. Doughballs form more readily if the grains are milled more finely. Your LHBS may have the gap set pretty wide so the grains are barely cracked. That way nobody complains about a stuck sparge and since the efficiency goes down with poorer crushes, the LHBS sells more grain to make up for that. They win both ways.

 

[Skiffy]

That makes sense. I got decent efficiency before and didn't have any control anyway so I never took notice of the crush. Although this didn't seem that fine, and I know people go even finer, it probably is more crushed than the pre crushed bags of 2row from the LHBS.

Wisk is a good idea. Was literally within arms reach. Should have been able to come up with that myself!

Btw pre boil gravity was supposed to be 1.036 and I just measured it to be 1.045. Looks like I'm gonna have to rework my system in beersmith

Thanks.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I have a hunch that the longer the time between dumping the grain in the strike water and stirring, the more dough balls are formed. I dump all my grain in the strike water and stir IMMEDIATELY! Allowed to sit for any time breeds dough balls.

 

[j1n]

I have a hunch that the longer the time between dumping the grain in the strike water and stirring, the more dough balls are formed. I dump all my grain in the strike water and stir IMMEDIATELY! Allowed to sit for any time breeds dough balls.

What? Dumping it all in there at once IS how you get dough balls. If you are constantly siring and moving the water while the crushed grains hit the water it wont have a chance to form a dough ball. i just make a whirlpool with the mash paddle in my right hand and use my left to pour the grains in as fast as i can without making a dough ball. never have dough ball issues ever.

 

[doug293cz]

What? Dumping it all in there at once IS how you get dough balls. If you are constantly siring and moving the water while the crushed grains hit the water it wont have a chance to form a dough ball. i just make a whirlpool with the mash paddle in my right hand and use my left to pour the grains in as fast as i can without making a dough ball. never have dough ball issues ever.

It's tough to whirlpool when doing BIAB. The bag tends to get wound up, so different techniques are required.

Brew on

 

[Skiffy]

I do BIAB and typically pour about 1/4 of the grains in at a time and stir in between. This time the grains rolled up into nice little hockey pucks

 

[wilserbrewer]

At my batch size, with 15-16 lbs of grain and my heavy corona mill attached to the grain bucket, I'm not dumping with one hand and stirring and whirl-pooling with the other, no patience for that anyhow.....dump it all in and stir it up pronto seems to work for me

No issues with dough balls....ymmv

 

[BreezyBrew]

I have a Barley Crusher and I only get dough balls when using Maris Otter grain.

 

[RM-MN]

That makes sense. I got decent efficiency before and didn't have any control anyway so I never took notice of the crush. Although this didn't seem that fine, and I know people go even finer, it probably is more crushed than the pre crushed bags of 2row from the LHBS.

Wisk is a good idea. Was literally within arms reach. Should have been able to come up with that myself!

Btw pre boil gravity was supposed to be 1.036 and I just measured it to be 1.045. Looks like I'm gonna have to rework my system in beersmith

Thanks.

It took me more than 2 years of brewing to come up with that. You aren't doing too badly.

Yes, you need to rework your efficiency in Beersmith. That's the problem with having your own mill, the efficiency usually goes way up. I made a couple 7% beers before I believed that my efficiency was that much higher than the recipe was made for.

 

[Skiffy]

It took me more than 2 years of brewing to come up with that. You aren't doing too badly.

Yes, you need to rework your efficiency in Beersmith. That's the problem with having your own mill, the efficiency usually goes way up. I made a couple 7% beers before I believed that my efficiency was that much higher than the recipe was made for.

Sometimes its hard to take a step back and thing of the best tool for the job.

I realized I actually undershot my efficiency in BeerSmith because I forgot it uses total efficiency and not mash efficiency. I removed my "losses from trub and chiller" (since I pour my entire contents of the kettle into the fermenter) and kept my total efficiency the same, which effectively reduced my mash efficiency beyond what I normally get. I guess I have an Imperial Kolsch now?

If anybody knows since I'm still a little hazy on the subject, if my only reported "losses" after the mash are boil off and temp shrinkage, is my total efficiency the same as my mash efficiency?

 

[logdrum]

You could also try malt conditioning: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/malt-conditioning-wow-rocks-144752/