How bad of a crush is this?

[dsaavedra]

The sorted table spoon was what one tablespoon contained. The pile on the right were the whole grains that he pulled out from the crushed.......

This is correct, I simply scooped a tablespoons worth of grain from the bag of "crushed" grains and then sorted it. On the right is all of the uncrushed grains from that tablespoon.

 

[dsaavedra]

I just finished speaking with a customer service rep. I confirmed that @AQUILAS received his problem-crush from the same retailer as me and I informed them of this as well. They seem genuinely concerned about the issue. She said they inspected their mills while they were talking to me and they were unable to reproduce the issue. She sent me a return tag and asked that I send my second grainbill back to them for inspection so they can hopefully figure out what went wrong. They are going to send me replacement grains for that grainbill on Monday, and they refunded me the cost of the grains I used today, which was very kind of them... I did not expect that.

So all in all my brew day went about as good as it could and customer service made everything right. I just hope they can figure out what the problem was and that it didn't affect too many other orders!

 

[sudbuddy]

I've been buying grains from two LHBS. I tell them I want the grains crushed two times and I get the impression they don't want to do that. Each time I still get what looks like whole grains vs crushed so I guess they are not crushing the grains fine enough.

It's frustration for me because I brew BIAB and I have to driver 1+ hrs to get to the store. I am about to order a grain mill, not sure which one yet just to not have to deal with the LHBS. the guys are super nice but it's like you are asking them for something free when trying to get the grain crushed to my liking.

Matter of fact, will be picking up an order tomorrow. May ask then to double crush finer and see what happens.

Bummer. Are they using a sh!tty mill or something? Mine does 10 lbs in less than a minute so I've got zero problems double milling for people. Tell them to get their act together and get a Schmidling MaltMill with a flywheel motor

 

[Qhrumphf]

Bummer. Are they using a sh!tty mill or something? Mine does 10 lbs in less than a minute so I've got zero problems double milling for people. Tell them to get their act together and get a Schmidling MaltMill with a flywheel motor

Possible that some clown adjusted the gap and the staffer milling the grain was not experienced enough to know better. Some staffers at homebrew shops don't know what they're doing. Sad but true.

I will never, ever, ever trust a homebrew shop (or any homebrew supplier whatsoever) to mill my grain for me. If the local shop does it, who knows how consistent the crush will be. If the local shop's supplier does it, then who knows how fresh it is.

If you're only steeping a pound of specialty grains and won't get much extraction anyway, then store crush is fine. But for all-grain brewers, like I said already, zero excuse for not buying your own mill. You're only asking for problems if you don't.

 

[sudbuddy]

According to Brewer's Friend this gives me an overall efficiency of ~64% which is significantly lower than my last batch using this same system (and grains from my LHBS), which yielded me 79% efficiency.

So all in all I think I made the best of it but I am not a happy customer by any means. I am getting in contact with the retailer now.

Lesson learned? Support your LHBS because they really care about you. Heck, they probably even know you by name if you brew enough. To the online folks you are just another anonymous transaction. What's an extra $5-10 when you can go home happy and confident and not all "I'ma start a thread on HBTey?" Keep local brewers employed, shop at your LHBS.

Rant over. Sorry. Oktoberfests just came out and I'm, um, researching...

 

[sudbuddy]

Possible that some clown adjusted the gap and the staffer milling the grain was not experienced enough to know better. Some staffers at homebrew shops don't know what they're doing. Sad but true.

I will never, ever, ever trust a homebrew shop (or any homebrew supplier whatsoever) to mill my grain for me. If the local shop does it, who knows how consistent the crush will be. If the local shop's supplier does it, then who knows how fresh it is.

If you're only steeping a pound of specialty grains and won't get much extraction anyway, then store crush is fine. But for all-grain brewers, like I said already, zero excuse for not buying your own mill. You're only asking for problems if you don't.

You're absolutely right. You know me @Qhrumphf and I think you know I run a shop. I still tell people to buy a mill and do it their own damn selves. It doesn't save me much work, but then if people have low efficiency they only have themselves to blame. I can't speak for other shops, but I have a really, really good mill and I keep it tight. I still think that as a brewer you should try to have control over every aspect of your brew and part of that is crushing your grain to your exact specifications.

 

[sudbuddy]

Having a shop is nice too, I get to listen to The Specials and Op Ivy, etc. all day and nobody can tell me to listen to crappy Mumford's or DMB to keep my paycheck. Plus, if a customer recognizes the band playing I give them an automatic 10% off, AAAAND they usually bring me beer. Life is good

 

[Qhrumphf]

Having a shop is nice too, I get to listen to The Specials and Op Ivy, etc. all day and nobody can tell me to listen to crappy Mumford's or DMB to keep my paycheck. Plus, if a customer recognizes the band playing I give them an automatic 10% off, AAAAND they usually bring me beer. Life is good

Hah. I recall walking into my local shop (said Falls Church shop) a few years ago and they were playing DK one day (it was either "Kill the Poor" or "Holiday In Cambodia", don't remember which), and getting in a conversation with the owner about it. I dont' remember them playing music at all since they expanded and took over the neighboring storefront too, or maybe I haven't noticed it, but I still remember that. It was funny.

 

[sudbuddy]

Hah. I recall walking into my local shop (said Falls Church shop) a few years ago and they were playing DK one day (it was either "Kill the Poor" or "Holiday In Cambodia", don't remember which), and getting in a conversation with the owner about it. I dont' remember them playing music at all since they expanded and took over the neighboring storefront too, or maybe I haven't noticed it, but I still remember that. It was funny.

Nice! We've got a customer named Dan Morey (you would know him, he came up with the Morey algorithm for SRM that Beersmith, Brewer's Friend, et. al use) and he has an encyclopedic knowledge of all things punk rock. He can literally quote the last line of ANY Bad Brains or Black Flag song on command and can list entire catalogs of EPs in order from pretty much any pre-1985 punk band. I am constantly in awe of this and keep trying to stump him. It cannot be done.

 

[brew703]

Bummer. Are they using a sh!tty mill or something? Mine does 10 lbs in less than a minute so I've got zero problems double milling for people. Tell them to get their act together and get a Schmidling MaltMill with a flywheel motor

It doesnt look like a ****ty mill. It's pretty big and electric. I asked for double crush but I still get whole grains. I'll take a picture tomorrow and post to view.
The guys are really nice, however I dont think their mill is set to get a good crush. I even tell them i am a BIAB brewer.

Oh well, I'll be requesting a mill and a new burner for Christmas. My current burner takes forever to heat 2.75 gallons to a boil. No way it will be able to handle boiling 5 gallons.

 

[sudbuddy]

It doesnt look like a ****ty mill. It's pretty big and electric. I asked for double crush but I still get whole grains. I'll take a picture tomorrow and post to view.
The guys are really nice, however I dont think their mill is set to get a good crush. I even tell them i am a BIAB brewer.

Oh well, I'll be requesting a mill and a new burner for Christmas. My current burner takes forever to heat 2.75 gallons to a boil. No way it will be able to handle boiling 5 gallons.

Their gap is too wide. You are deep in Bayou Classic country, should be pretty easy to get a good burner.

Incidentally, wrestling, then eating a 6-8' long un-tethered, un-muzzled gator is on my bucket list. If you can make this happen, I might be able to hook you up with a nice burner. :rockin::rockin:

 

[brew703]

Their gap is too wide. You are deep in Bayou Classic country, should be pretty easy to get a good burner.

Incidentally, wrestling, then eating a 6-8' long un-tethered, un-muzzled gator is on my bucket list. If you can make this happen, I might be able to hook you up with a nice burner. :rockin::rockin:

Never wrestled any gators but ate quite a few over the years. Some good and some down right BAD. If you're ever in the area, look me up. Summer time is good for gators.

They can be a nuisance when fishing. The chase your corks and scare the fish away but they are fun to hook on a fishing line and fight.

There are tons of Bayou Classic burners down here. I have one but it's too small.

 

[govner1]

I just received this grain in the mail from a very popular online retailer. I ordered it milled but it appears that at least 50% of the grains are completely intact. I think this is a pretty terrible crush but I'm still pretty new to all grain so I don't have a lot to go on. Either way, I plan on contacting the retailer when they are open tomorrow to discuss this with them... I am not happy about it.



So, just how bad is this?



1/2 cup just for scale:

1 tablespoon:

Same tablespoon, sorted:

Way too many "old maids"! Definitely need to reduce your milk gap.

 

[wilserbrewer]

.



Oh well, I'll be requesting a new burner for Christmas. My current burner takes forever to heat 2.75 gallons to a boil. No way it will be able to handle boiling 5 gallons.

I've never heard of a burner that can't quickly boil 2 3/4 gallons, is it working correctly?

 

[brew703]

I've never heard of a burner that can't quickly boil 2 3/4 gallons, is it working correctly?

It's a banjo type burner on an outdoor stove. It's the BTU's and it's low pressure. I just need a dedicated burner, like the KAB4.
I also have a jet burner that I use for seafood boils but dont really want to use that for brewing.

 

[dsaavedra]

So I got my replacement grains today. They are still not crushed properly (although they are slightly better than the grains in the OP) AND they forgot to include the half pound of crystal malt that was included in my grainbill.

Good effort on trying to make things right but they failed. I won't be doing business with them any more.