Grain crush?

[user 4295]

Anyone have any photos of what properly crushed barley looks like? My new Barley Crusher, at the factory specs, seems to really be pulverizing it. I will post a photo later and maybe someone can tell me if it looks right. Thanks!

 

[Evan!]

I'd be curious too. Got my barley crusher a few weeks ago but haven't used it yet.

 

[casebrew]

Can you really crush too fine? Or is it a myth?

By the time I've mashed, there doesn't seem to be anything but liquid and hulls. No sludgy flour to stick a sparge. I've tried a tablespoon of waste grains after sparging, nothing but hulls.

Isn't mashing supposed to dissolve everything? Doesn't it?

 

[Yooper]

Brewpastor posted a picture a while back of a good crush- http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c37/Brewpastor/crushed-malt-1.jpg

This is what would give you the best efficiency.

 

[user 4295]

Thanks Lorena! Wow, I guess I was wrong. That looks even more finely milled than mine. What do you think, go with the factory setting?

 

[Blender]

I have a Barley Crusher. I think there is a picture in the gallery. I moved the rollers to .035 and think I get a bitt better efficiency.

https://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=1559&c=1&userid=2699

 

[Bigfoot99]

I thought the crush was too fine the first time I used mine too. In fact, I ended backing it off a bit (don't remember what the setting was on my feeler gauge, it might have been only .002) until I had a crush that didn't look pulverized and the husks looked intact. Efficiency has been around 75%-80% after backing out the gap; no stuck mash or slow sparge. After several batches, I might put it back at the factory settings just to see what I get. Regardless, I wouldn't worry about it. Give it a trial run and see what happens.

 

[user 4295]

Thanks for the replies guys (and gal). I'm going to go with the factory setting to establish a base line and then adjust from there, if necessary.

 

[Desert_Sky]

my gap is set just a tad bigger than a credit card, but smaller than the thickness of a CD

sorry for being so technical, but I cant seem to find my feeler gauges to give an exact width