Does the grain crusher need adjustment often?

[Saunassa]

Did my first full homebrew.
The crush set at northern brewer worked for their 2-row and for the specialty grains in a hefeweisen kit I did last week ago but would not work for the Viking Malting grains. Theirs were all larger both pale malt, pilsner malt and specialty grains and I had to open the rollers what felt like huge to get them to flow and crush.
Is this common when changing malts?
I have the Northern Brewer Hullwrecker which looks just like the Cereal killer. probably rebadged for Northern

 

[kh54s10]

I'm new to roller mills. mine is the Cereal Killer. I had a Corona style mill for years previously. I buy all sorts of grains from many different maltsters. The only size difference I have seen is between grains, like the difference between barley and rye. Rye is smaller and harder so you might have to tighten the mill for rye.

For just barley malt I would not think you would have to readjust. But when I did my first grind on the CK, I hadn't tightened one side well enough and it slipped. Being uneven side to side it stopped. I had to empty the hopper, readjust then start over. I have since tightened the gap a little more.

But, keep the gap as tight as you can and get a good crush that doesn't result in a stuck sparge. It may be that you do need to adjust, I haven't so far. Look to see that all the grain husks are cracked, and that you haven't got it so tight that you end up with flour.

 

[Dland]

I messed with adjustment for first few grinds with my roller mill(barely crusher) but once I got it where I wanted have not adjusted for dozens of batches.

I've used Viking, as well as other larger grained malts, and it worked at same adjustment, also rye, wheat malts etc.

Make sure rollers are completely parallel. Not sure "tight as will not make stuck mashes" would be my guideline. Think mine is between .035 and .040, I get quite good extraction, but then again I fly sparge.

 

[kh54s10]

I messed with adjustment for first few grinds with my roller mill(barely crusher) but once I got it where I wanted have not adjusted for dozens of batches.

I've used Viking, as well as other larger grained malts, and it worked at same adjustment, also rye, wheat malts etc.

Make sure rollers are completely parallel. Not sure "tight as will not make stuck mashes" would be my guideline. Think mine is between .035 and .040, I get quite good extraction, but then again I fly sparge.

That is why I also had this in my reply: " Look to see that all the grain husks are cracked, and that you haven't got it so tight that you end up with flour."

 

[Saunassa]

it cracked all and broke them up into pieces but left the husks fairly well intact ended up with some smaller pieces with a small amount toward the finer side but not flour. I will have to check that they are completely parallel as i never even thought of that.

 

[bracconiere]

i never have to adjust my mill, and i think it's set somewhere around .028....

i've heard the saying 'crush till you're scared'....i fly sparge with a bazooka tube, works fine. i get a lot of flour, but still sparge like a champ.

i have a Schindling(SP?) Malt Mill

 

[Saunassa]

I do BIAB and seems to work well, hit all my numbers yesterday so was pleased. I did what i think is called a batch sparge where i put the drained bag in a 5 gallon bucket, added in a gallon of hot water, stirred it around, let sit 10 minutes, pulled, drained a few minutes and dumped the sweet goodness into the kettle.

 

[kh54s10]

I do BIAB and seems to work well, hit all my numbers yesterday so was pleased. I did what i think is called a batch sparge where i put the drained bag in a 5 gallon bucket, added in a gallon of hot water, let sit 10 minutes, pulled, drained a few minutes and dumped the sweet goodness into the kettle.

Guess that you could call it a batch sparge, but more accurately it is a dunk sparge. Batch sparge is usually in a mash tun. Drain, add sparge water, stir well, vorlauf and drain again.

 

[Saunassa]

Dunk sparge, I like that. Watcha doing honey? I'm a dunk spargin dear!

 

[Dexlor]

I BIAB and recently started sparging. The increase in efficiency was surprising. The first time my OG was .010 higher than expected. The second batch was .020 higher.