How does my crushed grains look for a first time BIAB?

[pshankstar]

I am planning on my first BIAB on Wednesday!!! I have purchased a Corona mill and built my own "Ugly Junk Corona Mill". I have purchased a BIAB from Wilser here on the forum. So I am good to go!

I just ran a little bit of the grains through my mill and wanted to post a couple of pictures of the results to get some seasoned BIAB'ers opinion on how the crushed grains look. Does it look fine? Do I need to adjust it in or back it off some? I assume this looks good, but I have no clue. From what I have read you want a finer crush with BIAB than the typical 3 system All-Grain method.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks in advance! Cheers!




PS - I am posting this from the testing site (wordpress) to see if there are any issues. So please do not mind the funny things like the random backslashes.

 

[pshankstar]

**crickets** Does anyone who has a corona mill and does BIAB have any input on this? I don't mean to be a pain but if I need to make adjustments I would like to do it tomorrow and post another picture for input, before I brew on Wednesday.

I've read the threads on here about wanting a gap of a credit card thickness. I believe mines right about there.

Thanks in advance gents! Cheers!

 

[max384]

I don't BIAB. However, my crush is a bit finer than yours, and that is with a traditional mash and sparge where I have to worry about stuck sparges. With BIAB, you don't have that worry, so I'd say to slightly adjust your crush.

 

[pshankstar]

Cool thanks Max!

 

[Jimbodaman]

It will be just fine you will definitely make beer.

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

Yeah just a tad tighter is all you'll need. I had to go through a couple batches to figure out exactly how tight to get my corona mill, you are very close though.

 

[Citizen86]

With BIAB you can apparently crush it almost into flour. I am seeing it somewhat, but yeah looks like you can go further.

I mention it because I just did a Black IPA with an expected 70% efficiency (which is about what I had on my first BIAB batch), but forgot to have my LHBS double crush it. It was also a heavy grain bill, about 17 pounds total for 5 gallons, but I only got about 55% efficiency. Probably half had to do with the crush, the other half of it being inexperience with all grain + BIAB ��

 

[IslandLizard]

The credit card gap is for small knurled 2-roller mills, like Barley Crusher, Monster Mill etc. I'm sure it's a bit different for a Corona mill with the 2 grinder plates.

Judging by the pix, it looks good, yet you can mill quite a bit finer for BIAB. You don't have to rely on the grain bed for lautering, your bag is the filter. Your efficiency will go up with finer milled grist. Definitely pay attention to how small kernel grain comes out, like wheat and rye, and flaked goods (yes, mill them too!).

Your grist looks a little coarser than mine from a roller mill at 0.034"
I use a Monster Mill (MM2, 1.5" rollers) and have it set at .032-.034" (credit card) for Barley and 0.024-0.026" for wheat, rye, and flaked goods. So yes, I mill them separately. Lately I've been squeezing the gap a little more (.030" / .022") and like the results, faster conversion and even higher efficiency. I use a cooler mash tun with a CPVC manifold in the bottom.

 

[doug293cz]

**crickets** Does anyone who has a corona mill and does BIAB have any input on this? I don't mean to be a pain but if I need to make adjustments I would like to do it tomorrow and post another picture for input, before I brew on Wednesday.

I've read the threads on here about wanting a gap of a credit card thickness. I believe mines right about there.

Thanks in advance gents! Cheers!

The credit card thickness gap applies to roll mills, not "Corona" style mils. One of our members who BIAB's sets the plates so that they rub together when there is no grain in the mill.

Brew on

 

[wilserbrewer]

I clearly see what appears to be whole grain kernels in your grist....you want to grind to be certain that there are few to none whole kernels.

Jmo you should tighten your mill a bit.

 

[jtratcliff]

sets the plates so that they rub together when there is no grain in the mill.

This... My corona makes quite a racket when the hopper finally empties and the plates start rubbing together. I get a good bit of flour and no intact pieces of grain.

 

[pshankstar]

Great thank you all very much!!! I'll tighten it a little more today and give it another go. I'll post another pic later today when I do that. [emoji2]

 

[RM-MN]

Great thank you all very much!!! I'll tighten it a little more today and give it another go. I'll post another pic later today when I do that. [emoji2]

You don't need any gap when doing BIAB because the plates have ridges. Those ridges keep you from milling to flour but will make it just fine for BIAB. Tighten that mill!

 

[Johow]

I usually have my LHBS mill the grain in their roller mill then I run it thru my corona like grinder again before brew day. Leave nothing that looks like a grain intact. Quite a bit of flour.

 

[pshankstar]

Thanks for all the input everyone!! I will tighten it down and post pictures tomorrow. Today was too busy with work and family stuff later on so I never got to it. But tomorrow I'll be brewing so I'll snap a picture and update then.

Take care everyone and thanks again!!

 

[pshankstar]

I did my first BIAB attempt on a small 3 gallon recipe!!! As promised below is a pic of my crushed grains. I feel I did really well. Beersmith said my OG should be 1.066 and my OG was 1.065!! [emoji4][emoji106]

I did tighten down the plates pretty good!

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1457580361.586341.jpg

 

[wilserbrewer]

Hard to tell from your pic as the husks or whole grain fluffs to the top. If you take a handful you can examine it closely.

I think I crush finer fwiw, and I think some here crush a fair bit finer than me???

 

[jtratcliff]

tighten 'til you're scared.... then tighten some more! :rockin:

 

[pshankstar]

It did seem like a lot of flour but when I placed it into a bowl it seemed like the husks and whole grains that made it through made it to the top. Maybe I'll give it another good crank on my next BIAB.

 

[theseeker4]

It did seem like a lot of flour but when I placed it into a bowl it seemed like the husks and whole grains that made it through made it to the top. Maybe I'll give it another good crank on my next BIAB.

What was your efficiency? Really, that is the whole point of a very fine crush in BIAB, so if you get really good efficiency now, no real need to mess with it more.

 

[pshankstar]

Well the recipe & beersmith said the OG should be 1.066. When it was done and I checked my hydrometer it was right around 1.065 before I pitched the yeast.

I'm assuming my efficiency was pretty darn good but I haven't figured out how to calculate my efficiency yet. It's on my list to research and figure out. But I thought the gist of it is how close you are to hitting the OG.

Here is a pic of my hydrometer reading.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1457877812.475016.jpg

 

[TexasWine]

Well the recipe & beersmith said the OG should be 1.066. When it was done and I checked my hydrometer it was right around 1.065 before I pitched the yeast.

I'm assuming my efficiency was pretty darn good but I haven't figured out how to calculate my efficiency yet. It's on my list to research and figure out. But I thought the gist of it is how close you are to hitting the OG.

Here is a pic of my hydrometer reading.

View attachment 344074

Great job! Now combine those gravity readings with some volume measurements and you'll be all ready to calc your efficiency.

 

[RM-MN]

What was your efficiency? Really, that is the whole point of a very fine crush in BIAB, so if you get really good efficiency now, no real need to mess with it more.

I think that efficiency is only half the reason for the fine crush. The other half is flavor extraction. Finer particles will give up the compounds that we define as flavor faster and easier.

 

[pshankstar]

Great job! Now combine those gravity readings with some volume measurements and you'll be all ready to calc your efficiency.

With that data I collected and reading some on how to figure out the efficiency with it, I believe I came out around 81%. I assume that is pretty good for a first attempt. I'm still working out the bugs in my system, i.e. equipment setup and using beer smith. Or should I say learning my system (first BIAB attempt).

Beer smith called for a FG of 1.066. My final gravity reading came in at 1.065. I was aiming for a small 3 gallon batch. My final volume was around 3.5 gallons (in my keggle), but I only put about 2.8 gallons into the fermenter to makes sure I had some room for the yeast (krausen).

Now I just need to figure out if I need to make any changes to the beer smith software for efficiency. I left all that the defaults for now, but I did make my equipment profile, which I read was a very important part.

Thanks guys!