Milling grain

[jdauria]

Brewing this weekend, 2nd AG, first using Barley Crusher. I picked up some extra grain for practice. My mill is set at .035. Does the grain in pic look properly crushed? It's Caraaroma.

2nd question, will cordless drill work on the BC or do you need a power one? Used cordless but it seemed to just skip spinning the axel some.

Thanks!

 

[DakotaRules]

Your crush looks little fine for me, I would back it out to .039 (factory) and condition your malt before milling. It'll be fine. Your looking for cracked grains and whole hulls not powder.

I use both a cordless and corded drill. Just make sure to tighten the chuck and it shouldn't skip.

 

[Golddiggie]

I use a DeWalt 18v cordless drill to power my BC... I set it to the lowest speed range (has three different ranges, so the one for screws) and then running it at about half speed. This gives me about 250rpm to the shaft. I've found that going slower than the suggested max rpm on the BC yields a better crush. I can still go through 3-4 pounds per minute (maybe a bit more) this way.

Depending on your drill, I would work to get it spinning in the 200-300 rpm range for milling grain. I've not [yet] conditioned my malt, but I do plan on trying it at some point. I do use the default setting of .039" on my BC. Of course, I've checked it with feeler gauges to make sure it's even.

BTW, welcome to milling your grain on brew day. Something really satisfying (IMO) about having that level of control over the grist. I can't imagine ever having someone else mill my grain for me. I did have that done one time since getting my BC (the local HBS) and my efficiency suffered greatly.

 

[shanecb]

I just have mine at the factory setting, as well. Definitely gives a good crush.

 

[jdauria]

Thanks! I'll back it to factory and try to get drill set right. I was planning on conditioning the malt, might as well go for the gusto first time milling!

 

[Golddiggie]

You can always try changing the gap later, after a few batches have been milled by it, IF you don't like the results you're getting.

 

[erikhild59]

I've seen many references to "conditioning the grain" before the crush. Please explain.thx

 

[DakotaRules]

Ill post my video shortly!

 

[carrotmalt]

I've seen many references to "conditioning the grain" before the crush. Please explain.thx

malt conditioning wiki

 

[CBK]

Here you go this should answer your question.

 

[CBK]

malt conditioning wiki

Sorry guess I was not fast enough.

 

[stevedasleeve]

Practice grain for crushing is pretty funny - I have to say my least favorite part of brewing is crushing the grain!

FWIW on my Barley Crusher I had good efficiency and no problems with the rollers sticking when I had is set to the factory width. After I started futzing around with a narrower width for what I hoped would be better efficiency I started having problem with stuck rollers and stuck mashes. Eventially I took the thing apart to clean it and put it back together at the factory width and my efficiency went back up and my stuck mashes went away and my rollers behaved mostly well.

Oh and use a drill - so much faster and easier.

YMMV and FWIW etc.

Steve

 

[DakotaRules]

[ame]http://youtu.be/FmunSFczAKg[/ame]

 

[erikhild59]

Interesting idea. May give it a shot. Thanks for educatin'

 

[shanecb]

I don't think I'd even want better efficiency than what I get at the factory setting. I typically hit about 85% for an all barley beer, and somewhat lower for a wheat beer (70-75%). It's consistent, and good enough for me.