RIMS Brewers Please sound off...Mill Settings

[schematix]

I've used the stock barley crusher setting as long as I've had it. Never had lower than 85% efficiency (10G gott with false bottom). These days i'm getting 92-93% in my 15G boiler maker with blichmann louver false bottom and RIMS rocket. It takes a little fiddling with the pump flow valve but it works great when the flow rate is just right (about 2 qt/min for me).

 

[jleiii]

My Barley Crusher is set to 0.36". I've tried tighter mill gaps but have run into stuck recirculations when I go below 0.30" or so. I mash in a round cooler with a basic stainless steel false bottom and recirculate with a Steelhead pump through a BrewHardware.com RIMS tube. I run the pump the entire time I'm mashing. Efficiency for this system has been between 75% to 85%, and the wort that comes out looks fantastic:

(that's from a 100% pils grain bill for a Belgian Golden Strong I brewed last weekend)

That's pretty much exactly what I've got, but a Chugger pump. I got 75% on the last 2 brews, but still trying to dial things in. The mill is .045, and I'll try .040 for a couple brews and see how it goes.

 

[cuda6pak]

To bump an old thread - What mills are you guys using specifically for your RIMS/HERMS setups?

I've been using a plain cereal killer with the 1.25" rollers and am deciding on either the MM2-Pro with the 2.0" rollers or a MM3-Pro w/2" rollers. I think either one will be a good upgrade and not shred the husks as much - but is the 3 roller mill worth it in the long run for keeping husks intact better for faster recirculating flow or will a MM2-Pro accomplish basically the same thing?

 

[blizz81]

To bump an old thread - What mills are you guys using specifically for your RIMS/HERMS setups?

I've been using a plain cereal killer with the 1.25" rollers and am deciding on either the MM2-Pro with the 2.0" rollers or a MM3-Pro w/2" rollers. I think either one will be a good upgrade and not shred the husks as much - but is the 3 roller mill worth it in the long run for keeping husks intact better for faster recirculating flow or will a MM2-Pro accomplish basically the same thing?

I guess I can't speak for the 2-roller vs. 3-roller, but if you want your husks intact, just condition your grain first.

 

[augiedoggy]

I'm very interested in what others are seeing, too.
I have very recently started using a RIMS system, and got terrible efficiency the first few brews. I don't know what my mill setting is off hand, but it's a Millars Mill and set at 1.5 on scale of 4, with 1 being as close as it gets. It's running around 150rpm, and I get large hull pcs.
I held a big brew day recently and one of the other brewers, whom is in the process of opening a micro brewery, looked at my crush and said it looked good.
I use a ~300 mesh screen in a solid sided basket, and have to stir up the mash several times in the first 10 min to get it to not compact badly. I'm guessing the problem is that the grain swells at the start and gets too tight. Once I stir a few times it's good to go for the rest of the hour mash. That last brew came in around 75% mash efficiency. I'm hoping I can dial it in better as I use it more.

The 300 micron screen is way too fine... thats what I use for my hop basket... I could see it compacting and plugging myself... I use a 3 stage false bottom... first a course bottom screen then a bazooka tube and a stainless mesh sleeve inside that... I've yet to have a stuck sparge.

whats your wattage on your rims element ? length of the element?
Edit I just saw this is a pretty old thread someone resurrected...

 

[jleiii]

The 300 micron screen is way too fine... thats what I use for my hop basket... I could see it compacting and plugging myself... I use a 3 stage false bottom... first a course bottom screen then a bazooka tube and a stainless mesh sleeve inside that... I've yet to have a stuck sparge.

whats your wattage on your rims element ? length of the element?
Edit I just saw this is a pretty old thread someone resurrected...

Yeah, pretty old. I've moved on to a 10 gallon cooler for the mash tun with a false bottom from brewhardware.com. The RIMS tube is also from there, the 18" one, but the element is a standard 4500 fold back with food grade silicon to seal the bare steel body. My control has a low/high switch for 120/240 so I can do rapid heatup, or maintain. Brewhardware.com has fantastic all SS elements now, made to order for them so they fit the RIMS and other things they sell.

I did have fair success with the mash basket, and I do use the same screen in my hop basket. It will filter the trub as well, but clogs all too fast.