rate my grind!

[optimatored]

I would appreciate y'alls input on some grain I just crushed.

Its american 6-row (have some left over) and I am trying to dial in my corona as best as possible... santa brought me a 10-gallon cooler plus a false bottom... once I get my grind in order I will be making a bavarian dunkel.

Thanks in advance.

 

[joshuafields]

That looks pretty good to me -- hard to tell from the picture, but it sort of looks like there are some uncracked berries there. Maybe it could be a little tighter.

 

[optimatored]

check out the close up I attached. perhaps that will help... thanks again!

 

[joshuafields]

I still see what looks like random uncracked malt here and there. If you see that when you sift through the grind with your hand, and there's not much flour in the grind, you could afford to go a little more fine. I don't see much flour in the picture.

I should also say, I'm by no means an expert, this is just based off my experience. Also, it depends on your mash tun setup and what kind of filtering/drainage system you have. Ours is copper pipe with downward facing slits every 1/4" or so, in the bottom of a square cooler. We haven't had any stuck sparge problems except when using large percentages of flaked adjuncts.

 

[optimatored]

I still see what looks like random uncracked malt here and there. If you see that when you sift through the grind with your hand, and there's not much flour in the grind, you could afford to go a little more fine. I don't see much flour in the picture.

I should also say, I'm by no means an expert, this is just based off my experience. Also, it depends on your mash tun setup and what kind of filtering/drainage system you have. Ours is copper pipe with downward facing slits every 1/4" or so, in the bottom of a square cooler. We haven't had any stuck sparge problems except when using large percentages of flaked adjuncts.

thanks for you input. i will close the gap slightly and see what happens... i am more worried about astringency than efficiency.

 

[impatient]

thanks for you input. i will close the gap slightly and see what happens... i am more worried about astringency than efficiency.

I hope you have not ran it thru yet. I think it looked fine. I get consistent 90% efficiency with grain crushed less than that. You definitely do not want powder in the grind.

All you need to do is crack open the hulls. You do not want to grind up the hull or the contents of the hull

 

[joshuafields]

My understanding is that you won't get any significant tannin extractions from the husks if the mash pH is under 5.8, and that a little flour is not a problem. This has been my experience. Also, have you looked at the 'Evaluating the Crush' wiki here?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Evaluating_the_Crush

 

[trailblazer]

well let me start by saying....

to much husk, to little grain, over powdered, looks like a low PH, old grain, bad technique

jk, that looks like a better grind then what i get at my local hbs. he goes through a barley crusher every three months so at the end of those three months my grain gets a horrible grind. good luck with the brew, cheers.

 

[trailblazer]

speaking of grain, i need to get a grain grinder of my own. what kind of mill did you get?

 

[impatient]

My understanding is that you won't get any significant tannin extractions from the husks if the mash pH is under 5.8, and that a little flour is not a problem. This has been my experience. Also, have you looked at the 'Evaluating the Crush' wiki here?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Evaluating_the_Crush

Tannin extraction is not the worry. A stuck sparge is. I don't care to read much.

I have been fly-sparging for over a year and run the crusher at the LHBS myself to get what I want. There is barely any dust in the bottom of a 10 to 13 lb bag of grain. Just sharing my experience.

Crush it to much and it will not run well and the husks will make it thru the grain bed easier preventing your running from clearing.

Have a good one.

 

[CFuggles]

looks solid. If you have a few uncracked buggers put it in a bag and crush them with your hands. The uncracked grains tend to migrate to the top or sides of the bag and you can squeeze them together. Just don't squeeze too hard and break the bag.

 

[joshuafields]

well let me start by saying....
to much husk, to little grain, over powdered, looks like a low PH, old grain, bad technique

Not sure I understand this -- where do you see powder, and how do you see a low pH?

 

[trailblazer]

i was just kidding, i dont know if you caught the second part of what i said?....

RE:
jk (just kidding), that looks like a better grind then what i get at my local hbs. he goes through a barley crusher every three months so at the end of those three months my grain gets a horrible grind. good luck with the brew, cheers.

 

[joshuafields]

Tannin extraction is not the worry. A stuck sparge is. I don't care to read much. There is barely any dust in the bottom of a 10 to 13 lb bag of grain. Just sharing my experience. Crush it to much and it will not run well and the husks will make it thru the grain bed easier preventing your running from clearing.

Again, your mash tun/sparge setup and parameters will play a role here. I've never had stuck sparge problems unless using large amounts of flaked adjuncts. I've also not had problems with runnings clearing. This will be different for each setup. Give the brew a shot, note pH, note efficiency, note sparge problems, taste the product and note astringency. Adjust next time accordingly.

 

[CharlosCarlies]

Looks pretty good to me.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I go considerably finer than that. I prefer a bit of flour in my grind. Of course, I'm using a 3-roller mill that keeps the husks quite intact. Yours appears adequate, but I'd tighten it just a bit.

 

[optimatored]

My understanding is that you won't get any significant tannin extractions from the husks if the mash pH is under 5.8, and that a little flour is not a problem. This has been my experience. Also, have you looked at the 'Evaluating the Crush' wiki here?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Evaluating_the_Crush

I will check this out.

 

[Houblon]

I this posted @ another forum re: malt conditioning.
---------
This is 5.5kg of MO treated with 250ml of water, stir well & let soak for 15min before grinding. As you can see the husk is in great shape while I have plenty of well cracked grain(flour).

clickable pics:





this is the grain after the mash. The grain looks to be uncrushed but trust me its a empty husk your looking @
clickable pics:

 

[optimatored]

the front plate on my corona has been the issue as it had a lot of play... but i think its good now after some tweeking.

most of the flour i spoke of was left in the bucket i crushed the grain into, and there really wasnt much... i use the buffer 5.2 product since I have no way of measuring pH, so for now I just trust it works!

 

[joshuafields]

Good luck! By the way, slightly off topic, but optimatored -- we have a group grain buy going on for the NYC/NJ/CT/LI area. Now that you are crushing your own grain you might want to consider this. Pick up will be in Brooklyn. Malt prices are in the neighborhood of 60 cents/lb, shipped. More info here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/perpetual-ny-nj-ct-bulk-grain-thread-139869/

Cheers!

 

[Mattbastard]

I like my grain exactly like that. It makes for decent efficiency with no stuck sparges. I hate stuck sparges. If your grain bed is so compacted that it's hard to break it up between sparges, it's too fine a crush IMO.