First time with Barley Crusher and BIAB

[iamwhatiseem]

... should have done it a long time ago, finally bought a Barley Crusher.
So perusing through the forums... this seems like what I should do.

1) Condition the grain by spritzing with a little water and mixing it up abut 15 minutes before crushing.
2) Set the gap a little tighter than factory setting.
3) Run through twice?

Cheers

 

[RM-MN]

1. Conditioning the grain will soften and toughen the grain husks so they stay more intact, thus helping establish a good filter for draining the mash and sparge. It isn't necessary for BIAB as the bag forms the filter area. It won't hurt either if you feel like spending the time.
2. The crush of the grain determines the mash efficiency and the conversion speed. Tighter is better. A poorer crush can be somewhat overcome by mashing longer but there are limits.
3. If the crusher isn't tight enough, running the grain through a second time may crush it finer. I think there is a limit to how tight it can be and still get the grain to feed through right. See number 2.

 

[LittleRiver]

Use a feeler gauge to set your mill gap, .025" works really well for me. No need to condition the grain with BIAB.

 

[Cato1507]

I set my BC to a credit card thickness. I get a nice crush even on wheat kernels. I just crush once thru and my numbers hit close enough in Beer Smith. I've tried a double crush but ended up with more flour than i cared for.
You'll enjoy having a grain mill and being able to store and have grain on hand.

 

[BongoYodeler]

I do BIAB and have my gap set to .022. I've never water conditioned the grains and always get a nice crush and never have issues meeting my numbers. YMMV.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

The crusher arrived, very surprised to see NB sent no instructions with it whatsoever. It is fairly self explanatory, but would have been good to have a simple slip that shows you how to adjust the rollers instead of going to youtube to find out myself.