Crush Questions

[jhall4]

Hey guys!

I purchased a corona style mill this weekend so I can begin crushing my own grain. I crushed a bit for some test batches this weekend, and was hoping you guys could offer some feedback on the quality of my crush. Based on what I've read I was pretty happy with this, but second opinions are always good!



I wasn't sure where to put this, but since I know the requirements for BIAB crush are at least slightly different than for traditional mashing/sparging, I thought it was appropriate to post here.

Anyway, thanks in advance for feedback!

 

[C-Rider]

Looks ok, but hard to tell in the pic. Since I use the one at the LHBS I run mine thru his twice. I get between75-80% eff.

I also squeeze/press the heck out of my grain bag and have found there is a lot of good liquid in there w/lots of sugar.

 

[duboman]

It looks pretty decent but a little course, even for traditional AG brewing. For BIAB you can go a lot finer as there is really no sparge to worry about getting stuck.

 

[jhall4]

Awesome, thanks. That was what I was wondering.

On my first attempt I was basically producing all flour so I dialed it back a bit and got this.

Sounds like I want to hit somewhere in the middle. I'll keep working at it!

 

[dobberson24]

It's not about what it looks like its a matter of how fine you can get it while still being able to lauter it.

 

[cyclonite]

You can go finer than that with BIAB - to the point where you get a fair amount of "flour" in there. This will also increase your efficiency a bit (85-88% or so without sparge, a little more with sparge - lower as the grain bill goes up).

I would also suggest looking into conditioning your grain - easy to do, just spray about 2-3 oz of water over the grain with a fine mister bottle while mixing it before you crush, let it sit for 10 minutes or so, then mill. Makes the husks elastic so they don't shred when milling - you end up with a fine crush and mostly whole husks.

 

[jhall4]

You can go finer than that with BIAB - to the point where you get a fair amount of "flour" in there. This will also increase your efficiency a bit (85-88% or so without sparge, a little more with sparge - lower as the grain bill goes up).

I would also suggest looking into conditioning your grain - easy to do, just spray about 2-3 oz of water over the grain with a fine mister bottle while mixing it before you crush, let it sit for 10 minutes or so, then mill. Makes the husks elastic so they don't shred when milling - you end up with a fine crush and mostly whole husks.

I've heard of conditioning... I'll try that out next time. That's what I'm looking for, though. Thank you!!