Robobrew regrets?

[Fidelity101]

I'd really like to see a video of someone actually getting higher efficiency on this brewzilla 35L. Video the entire process so I can see what the heck I'm doing wrong.

 

[Wayne1]

The problem is your pre-milled malt.
You cannot expect to get better efficiency unless you mill the grains yourself, for your system.
Buy a Cereal Killer mill and your efficiency troubles will be lessened.

 

[Fidelity101]

Thank you. When it does finally arrive, what spacing would you recommend for the brewzilla 35L?

Do different grains need to be grinder at a different thickness?

 

[Fidelity101]

So I just watched this video and I noticed that he had time to talk a minute or so and the water was STILL above the grain line when pulling the grain basket. That's 100% not the case for me and the grain milling may very well have something to do with it. When I'm picking out the grain basket, the water goes from being 1" over the grain to not visible within a matter of seconds. If I were to use 2.5 gallons of sparge water while keeping the water 1/2-1" over the grains then the water would be pushed through in about a minute or two. Since people say that process should take 25 minutes or so, I really need to figure out what can be done to keep the water from flowing through the grain so quickly.

 

[Wayne1]

Mill tighter.

I used the same recipe to calibrate my mill to my system. I started at .035". Reduced it to .030" the second batch and improved the efficiency. I am currently at .028" using Rahr Standard 2 row. You may need to use a different gap with a different malt.

A lauter and sparge with a standard lauter tun can take longer. With an all in one, after recirculating for the entire mash, the lauter may be faster.

 

[Fidelity101]

Round 6 and I just don't think it's possible to improve efficiency. I've attached the recipe if anyone wants to look it over.

I've adjusted the water chemistry by testing my water and adding as necessary to get mash PH at 5.4PH as well as adding Epsom Salt, Gypsum and Calcium Chloride. I've milled the grains at 0.030" which is about as small as I can get before it becomes stuck. I mash in at 156F and then lower the temp to 152F even though I want the mash temperature to be 149F. Mash is a solid 60 minutes before I raise the mash out temperature to 172F and sparge with 172F water to reach just under 7 gallons pre-boil. This puts 5.5 gallons of wort into my fermenter so I'll have right around 4.75-5 gallons of finished beer in a week. The beer is always tasty and refreshing but I just can't get the efficiency into the 60's...this last batch was 56%.

If anyone has ideas, I'd love to hear them. I do know that the SG in the mash water after pulling out the grains is still about 1.040. I cant figure out a better way to pull the sugar out without adding more water, which would mean a longer boil time.

If anyone wants to give this recipe a shot (please use the brewzilla 35L for an accurate comparison) and let me know if you get better results than I did

Pre-Sparge SG: 1.058 (I mashed with only 5.25 gallons)
Pre-boil SG: 1.042 (I sparged in until I had 6.9 gallons of wort...approximately 2.5 gallons)
OG: 1.048

 

[Fidelity101]

Round 7. I have no idea what I did differently this time but my efficiency went up a lot.

My OG using the exact same ingredients was 1.055 and I transferred almost 6 gallons into the fermenter. Same steps as above with mash in at 156F and mash temp at 152F for 60 minutes before I started ramping the temperature up to 168F for mash out. I started with 6.1 gallons of water in the mash tun and added 1.9 gallons of sparge water. Grain crush size was 0.030". I got a mash efficiency of 67% according to Brewfather. Huge improvement from the high 50's I've gotten on the last 6 batches.

I also noticed my mash PH was 4.85 about 45 minutes into the mash. Since I want it to be around 5.2, I'm not going to use the 1oz of Phosphoric acid for round 8.

 

[Jag75]

Round 7. I have no idea what I did differently this time but my efficiency went up a lot.

My OG using the exact same ingredients was 1.055 and I transferred almost 6 gallons into the fermenter. Same steps as above with mash in at 156F and mash temp at 152F for 60 minutes before I started ramping the temperature up to 168F for mash out. I started with 6.1 gallons of water in the mash tun and added 1.9 gallons of sparge water. Grain crush size was 0.030". I got a mash efficiency of 67% according to Brewfather. Huge improvement from the high 50's I've gotten on the last 6 batches.

I also noticed my mash PH was 4.85 about 45 minutes into the mash. Since I want it to be around 5.2, I'm not going to use the 1oz of Phosphoric acid for round 8.

Are you using a mash program ? If not you should look into one . I use Bru N Water and really like it . It has my mash ph on point .

 

[Fidelity101]

I used brewfather to create the recipe and set the water. It reported a PH of 5.39 but I used a full 1tsp LESS Gypsum (which shouldn't have made a difference). The PH at mash in was around 5.2 but towards the end it had dropped to 4.85.

I'm still scratching my head as to what caused the mash efficiency to improve so drastically. This is round 7 (67% efficiency) and 1-6 was around 56-58% efficiency. Hopefully I'll be able to figure it out and modify the recipe accordingly because the 58% efficiency was giving me great beer and the ABV was 5.3-5.6% which was perfect. This batch is going to be 6.4%. ABV which is still good but definitely on the high side.

 

[Jag75]

I used brewfather to create the recipe and set the water. It reported a PH of 5.39 but I used a full 1tsp LESS Gypsum (which shouldn't have made a difference). The PH at mash in was around 5.2 but towards the end it had dropped to 4.85.

I'm still scratching my head as to what caused the mash efficiency to improve so drastically. This is round 7 (67% efficiency) and 1-6 was around 56-58% efficiency. Hopefully I'll be able to figure it out and modify the recipe accordingly because the 58% efficiency was giving me great beer and the ABV was 5.3-5.6% which was perfect. This batch is going to be 6.4%. ABV which is still good but definitely on the high side.

It could be your crush . It also could be your process as well . Mixed the mash really good , had a nice sparge . You really should be getting higher efficiency then 67 though. Better efficiency saves you money .

 

[Fidelity101]

Improving the efficiency has been driving me crazy. I know it should be better but I'm just not getting the numbers and I'm getting pretty consistent with the process. I've watched the youtube reviews and brew days with the brewzilla 35L and 65L and I feel that I'm definitely putting more effort into it than they are. I'm adding a hand full of rice hulls to the grain to prevent it from getting stuck. After mashing in and stirring for 5-10 minutes and making sure the grain is completely mixed in, I let the mash sit for 20 minutes before starting the lautering. I'm letting the grain sit a full 60 minutes (more like 75 minutes). Water flow from the lauter is extremely slow. Mash in at 156F, let it drop to 152F with only the 500w element running to hold temp. Wait a full 60-75 minutes before bringing the water temperature up to 168-172F for mash out. Sparging with 172F water. Water chemistry is correct, grain crush is dialed in (0.030")...not sure what else I could be doing. I'm using a full 8 gallons of water and I usually put between 5.5-6 gallons into the fermenter. The liquid coming off the grains continues to drip in until I'm about 206F and then I remove the grains and feed them to my compost bin/chickens.

 

[jschein]

I used brewfather to create the recipe and set the water. It reported a PH of 5.39 but I used a full 1tsp LESS Gypsum (which shouldn't have made a difference). The PH at mash in was around 5.2 but towards the end it had dropped to 4.85.

I'm still scratching my head as to what caused the mash efficiency to improve so drastically. This is round 7 (67% efficiency) and 1-6 was around 56-58% efficiency. Hopefully I'll be able to figure it out and modify the recipe accordingly because the 58% efficiency was giving me great beer and the ABV was 5.3-5.6% which was perfect. This batch is going to be 6.4%. ABV which is still good but definitely on the high side.

In the pdf your mash temp is set to 149 and post boil at 6.41 gallon. this will cause a difference in your results

 

[Fidelity101]

Correct. Setting the mash temp to 149F causes the top of the mash tank to be in the 140-142F range so I've since kicked it up a bit to account for the delta. The post boil of 6.41 gallons has been reduced to 6 gallons (when boiling hot so the cool volume is always a bit less) because I'm not hitting the efficiency and therefor I figured I needed to cut water to make up for the loss of sugars during the conversion. The recipe calls for an OG of 1.070 and I've been routinely hitting 1.046-1.048 although this latest round I was 1.055-1.057. (Refractometer showed 1.057 but the TILT shows 1.055)

 

[Jag75]

I think the robobrew is very similar to the Grainfather that I use . I'm not sure what kind of crush .30 gives you . Do you have a pump that circulates your mash ? Heres what my process is . I use the Grainfather app which is 100% on the money when it comes to water amounts.

My pre boil amount is 1 gallon more then my batch amount . I'm not sure what my crush is because my LHBS does it for me and it's always great . I mash in and mix the grains really well to ensure no dough balls . Then I add the top screen , making sure not to compact it too much. Turn on the pump and recirculate and hold that temp for 60min.

After mash complete I lift up the basket and ramp temp up to boiling temp. I push the top screen down a bit to compact the grain bed so it doesnt channel. It takes me about 45 min to sparge . Once I'm done sparging it's almost to boiling temp .

This process has me in the 80's effeceincy wise 99% of the time

 

[Fidelity101]

Thanks Jag. I'm sure it's something painfully obvious that I'm missing but I'm just not able to figure it out yet. I would really like someone to take this recipe and make a batch and report results. With the brewzilla 35L, at least with mine, I'm getting about 8-10F delta between the reported temp on the bottom and the measured temperature on top. I'm sure this has something to do with efficiency which is why I've started sparging for 75 minutes and raising the temperature from 149F to 152F during the mash. That's helped a little. Crushing the grain at 0.030" has provided an improvement over whatever the LHBS was crushing at but it also required that I add rice hulls to prevent a stuck mash. Mashing out vs not mashing out has provided no noticeable change in efficiency but I'm still mashing out just to keep things consistent. I'm going to step down from 13 pounds of grain to 12 pounds on the next batch and maybe even 11 on the following batch if I can manage to kick up efficiency.

I'm also doing the iodine test to make sure I've fully converted all starch to sugar. After about 45-50 minutes, the starch test shows I'm fully converted. SG measurements taken from the mash provide very similar results from 45 minutes into mash all the way to 75 minutes so I'm not sure the extra time is required. I'm fairly confident it has something to do with the sparging step that is really not provided the sugars it should be. This round (round 7) was actually the first time I was able to get sparge water on top of the grain while the grain was still under water. All previous attempts had the water draining through the grain so fast that water would immediately drop below the grain top level when lifting the basket. I'm confident that this is what's improved the efficiency on this round but I'm still far from the mid 70's I should be getting.

If I ever win the lotto, I'm going to buy one of those 3 tank systems and try this exact same recipe.

 

[Jag75]

Thanks Jag. I'm sure it's something painfully obvious that I'm missing but I'm just not able to figure it out yet. I would really like someone to take this recipe and make a batch and report results. With the brewzilla 35L, at least with mine, I'm getting about 8-10F delta between the reported temp on the bottom and the measured temperature on top. I'm sure this has something to do with efficiency which is why I've started sparging for 75 minutes and raising the temperature from 149F to 152F during the mash. That's helped a little. Crushing the grain at 0.030" has provided an improvement over whatever the LHBS was crushing at but it also required that I add rice hulls to prevent a stuck mash. Mashing out vs not mashing out has provided no noticeable change in efficiency but I'm still mashing out just to keep things consistent. I'm going to step down from 13 pounds of grain to 12 pounds on the next batch and maybe even 11 on the following batch if I can manage to kick up efficiency.

I'm also doing the iodine test to make sure I've fully converted all starch to sugar. After about 45-50 minutes, the starch test shows I'm fully converted. SG measurements taken from the mash provide very similar results from 45 minutes into mash all the way to 75 minutes so I'm not sure the extra time is required. I'm fairly confident it has something to do with the sparging step that is really not provided the sugars it should be. This round (round 7) was actually the first time I was able to get sparge water on top of the grain while the grain was still under water. All previous attempts had the water draining through the grain so fast that water would immediately drop below the grain top level when lifting the basket. I'm confident that this is what's improved the efficiency on this round but I'm still far from the mid 70's I should be getting.

If I ever win the lotto, I'm going to buy one of those 3 tank systems and try this exact same recipe.

I punched in the recipe and a 6 gallon batch came out to 6.4 abv (OG 59)and a 5 gallon batch comes out to 7.5 abv (OG 70) . This is at 80% efficiency.

Does your system have a pump ? Does it have a top screen ? You may try stirring 3 times during your mash.

 

[kappy]

One thing that keeps coming to my mind is the possibility of sparge water leaking through the gap in the segmented recirculation pipe down the middle, instead of travelling through the whole grain bed. Perhaps someone with a better knowledge of hydrodynamics would know if this would actually happen. I’ve heard reports of people removing the recirc pipe and plugging the hole in the screen, and getting better efficiency. Could that be a factor?
-James

 

[Jag75]

One thing that keeps coming to my mind is the possibility of sparge water leaking through the gap in the segmented recirculation pipe down the middle, instead of travelling through the whole grain bed. Perhaps someone with a better knowledge of hydrodynamics would know if this would actually happen. I’ve heard reports of people removing the recirc pipe and plugging the hole in the screen, and getting better efficiency. Could that be a factor?
-James

Your sparge water shouldnt be as high as the recirc pipe . If the water level goes above that then yeah it will go down the pipe and hurt your efficiency.

 

[RePete]

I haven’t been trying to calculate efficiency. But I have the Robobrew profile set in the Beersmith app. It says 72%. I usually hit OG, sometimes higher. Yesterday I brew a SNPA recipe. The target OG was 1.054 and I hit 1.058. So I think it’s doing ok. But I nearly had a stuck sparge. The draining was very slow.

One thing you are doing differently is mashing with more water initially. I start with 4 gallons. Then sparge with 4-5. I try to fill to about 6.5 gallons to boil. It’s hard to tell how much water is in the kettle, since the basket is in the way. Sometimes I over or under shoot. I don’t try to measure how much I’m adding, just watch to see how full is the kettle.

 

[kappy]

I just mean the crack underneath the telescoping part of the recirc pipe. It’s not sealed from top to bottom, so even if your sparge water isn’t entering through the top, it may be seeping through in the middle. Or that’s my theory...
-James

Your sparge water shouldnt be as high as the recirc pipe . If the water level goes above that then yeah it will go down the pipe and hurt your efficiency.

 

[Fidelity101]

I did try to mash in with 4 gallons of water and 13 pounds of grain but that didn't go well. I ended up adding another 1.25 gallons (5.25 total) in order to get all the grain wet. It was also a huge PITA to get the water to circulate so I went back to 6.09 gallons in the mash tun.

That makes sense that halfway down that mash pipe, we're loosing liquid that didn't have a chance to push to the bottom. I'd be curious to see just how much liquid works it's way out that way.

I think efficiency can really be dropped if/when you constantly stir vs. allowing the grain bed to set. I noticed on this latest round that the grain bed dropped a good 3" from start to finish.

I also noticed in the instructions that we're suppose to push the pipe as far down as possible so the metal fitting at the top sits flush with the top metal cover. I've never actually tried that as I leave the malt pipe in the locked position (where the indent is on the lower pipe) so to kappy's point, I wonder if that opening is causing liquid to flow through the pipe vs. the grain.

 

[Jag75]

I wonder if your malt pipe is different then the pipe on the Gf. Mixing your grain during mash wont negatively effect your efficiency. In the sparge it will because your allowing water to go right through . There are little tabs on the Gf top screen that I try and keep the water level at . If your pouring water ontop and its draining almost as fast as you pour it that's a problem.

 

[RePete]

I did try to mash in with 4 gallons of water and 13 pounds of grain but that didn't go well. I ended up adding another 1.25 gallons (5.25 total) in order to get all the grain wet. It was also a huge PITA to get the water to circulate so I went back to 6.09 gallons in the mash tun.

That makes sense that halfway down that mash pipe, we're loosing liquid that didn't have a chance to push to the bottom. I'd be curious to see just how much liquid works it's way out that way.

I think efficiency can really be dropped if/when you constantly stir vs. allowing the grain bed to set. I noticed on this latest round that the grain bed dropped a good 3" from start to finish.

I also noticed in the instructions that we're suppose to push the pipe as far down as possible so the metal fitting at the top sits flush with the top metal cover. I've never actually tried that as I leave the malt pipe in the locked position (where the indent is on the lower pipe) so to kappy's point, I wonder if that opening is causing liquid to flow through the pipe vs. the grain.

Most of my batches are at least close to that much grain. Yesterday’s was 11lbs., and 4 gallons seems to be plenty most of the time. I’ve done a few that are more like 15-16 lbs, and have had to add more for those. So, I don’t know...

There is no indentation on the lower pipe of mine. It’s smooth. I push it down as they say in the instructions. The pipe is there to not let the pump remove too much liquid from the heating elements, and scorch the wort if the basket doesn't draining. So you don’t want it too high. Then I close the valve on the recirculation arm so the pump is moving just enough liquid to cover the mash, but not so much that it is flowing down the pipe.

 

[rjhoff]

I’ve been brewing on the Robobrew for 35+ batches over 2.5 years and achieving efficiency has been my biggest challenge but I’ve been able to reach 72%+. I believe the tall / narrow aspect of the malt pipe leads to circulation problems. Here is a list of things I’ve done along the way in the mash:

1) Use the neoprene jacket
2) Monitor mash-in temp and take steps if its not close to target (more an issue in the winter as my basement temp is low 60s); don’t start the mash timer until you’re at temp.
3) Set your Mash temperature for 2 degrees higher than target mash temp, this seems to keep me at target once I’ve achieved the temp After mash-in.
4) Always recirculate using the pump. I adjust flow and cycle pump on/off so that I never use the overflow. I’ve added a silicon tube to the overflow so I can do 16 lb grain bills.
5) If you have poor recirculation then stir the mash say every 15 mins. I rarely use the top screen.
6) I re-gapped my mill to .038” from .039” factory setting and have learned to do two pass on grain from a local maltster who’s requires .034“ or less.

My sparge is simple, I have 4 gallons in the HLT but only use what’s needed to get my pre-boil volume, using a silicon sight tube off my dump valve and preset at start of brew day.

I finally am more consistent, since I’m doing 5) and 6)...

 

[user 272106]

I'm 12 brews in on mine. The neoprene jacket is a must if you don't have it. I now double-crush the hell out of my grain similar to what BIAB people do and I've yet to have a stuck mash despite being warned I'd have problems.

Regarding circulation, a couple of my first brews I had it recirculating too fast and caused channeling, resulting in poor sparges and bad efficiency.

I always use the top screen and try to keep the re-circulation to a minimum but just enough so there's a small layer of liquid on top of the grain. Usually do a 90 minute mash with a good stir at 45 in case I did a poor job mashing in, but don't touch it after that. During sparge, I replace the overflow piece and with the rubber cap back over the malt pipe so no sparge water goes directly through.

Generally speaking, I've gotten better efficiency with thinner mashes and using lactic acid to adjust PH lower (I aim for 5.3). I don't measure gravity before sparging. I just care to get ~7.2 gallons pre-boil and if I don't hit my numbers, so be it. Generally hitting 80% mash eff. on my normal 12-lb grain bills now according to beersmith. Once I go 13+ lbs. in this thing though, efficiency starts to tank.

The one issue I do have is a slow leak somewhere (I think in the pump). When liquid is below 80f, it leaks somewhere in the bottom. This happens when I first put my water in and then again once wort is fully cooled. During mash and at end of boil when I turn it on, it doesn't leak. Its like a gasket or something is expanding and shrinking causing a problem.

Also, can't throw pellet hops directly in. Plugs the pump every time. Hop socks for me.

 

[rjhoff]

I’m tracking with that although not sure I reach 80% too often, maybe range 72-75% - most of my beers are 13-16 lb grain though. I have no issues with leaks. I always use a hop spider...

 

[RePete]

I’m tracking with that although not sure I reach 80% too often, maybe range 72-75% - most of my beers are 13-16 lb grain though. I have no issues with leaks. I always use a hop spider...

What is the heaviest grain bill you have done? I've done 16lbs, and thought that might be about the limit. Haven't tried extending the center pipe with tubing though. I have plans to brew a Russian Imperial Stout, and the grain bill is around 20lbs total. I may need to scale down the recipe for 4 gallons instead of 5.

 

[rjhoff]

What is the heaviest grain bill you have done? I've done 16lbs, and thought that might be about the limit. Haven't tried extending the center pipe with tubing though. I have plans to brew a Russian Imperial Stout, and the grain bill is around 20lbs total. I may need to scale down the recipe for 4 gallons instead of 5.

I've done up to 16.5 lbs but am most comfortable at 16. I tried a 4 gallon yield once, now I sub DME for some of the base malt on my highest gravity recipes. I just brewed a Barleywine with 16 lb grain and 2 lb DME plus I've done a hop slam clone with similar ratio. Besides extending the center tube I also duct tape the mash handle holes. I hate to let grain float into the kettle! I'm still debating the imperial stout, will probably try one after I do a lower gravity oatmeal stout.

 

[RePete]

Yeah. I may go the DME route. Or, I still have my old cooler mash tun. I’ve just been using it to hold sparge water. But I could mash in that and then drain into the Robobrew to boil.

At any rate, this is one of the limitations of the unit. It’s difficult to do big beers. At least 5 gallon batches.

 

[rjhoff]

Yeah. I may go the DME route. Or, I still have my old cooler mash tun. I’ve just been using it to hold sparge water. But I could mash in that and then drain into the Robobrew to boil.

At any rate, this is one of the limitations of the unit. It’s difficult to do big beers. At least 5 gallon batches.

Yeah, hence the 65L version (came long after I bought my unit). I'm pleased with the DME on the hop slam clone, will do it again for sure. My barleywine is still aging...

 

[Fidelity101]

I switched things up a bit and made a batch of Soulless Hop IPA from Morebeer. OG was suppose to be 1.060-1.065 and I hit 1.064 with the Brewzilla 35L. My efficiency’s are finally where they should be and the only changes I made were:
1.) Stir the grain in really well and add it slowly. Once you stop stirring it, leave it alone! Stirring the mash again (like 20 minutes into the mash) seems to loosen the grain bed and lows efficiency.
2.) Start lautering 20 minutes after mash in. This gives the grain bed a chance to settle. The grain bed will drop several inches so I push the pipe down before I start lautering.

Small changes I know, and I’m sure some will disagree with me, but these two simple changes have improved my efficiency from 58% to 75% and they’re litterally the only two things I’ve done differently between the last 8 batches.

 

[rjhoff]

Also consider that you changed your grain bill - different grain bills can change efficiencies. Not saying you're wrong, but it can be a factor in my experience.

Recirculation is a key indicator for me as I can tell at the start of mash if I’m going to have a problem as it’s impacted by grain bill makeup and total weight. I turn the pump on and restrict the flow valve so there’s no overflow. Sometimes I have to cycle the pump off/on if the recirculation is really poor - that’s when I stir the mash, but only every 15 mins. Given the geometry of the mash pipe, I believe the mash compacts quickly, so I don’t stir for the last 15 minutes of mash and during the 20 minute mash-out before lifting the pipe.

As noted before, I’m crushing at .038 which seems to work ok for me except on smaller grains like rye (still churning on that solution). I’m not too comfortable lowering that by too much more as it slows recirculation. Early on I was adding rice hulls to all my batches, but I’ve since stopped and now am adding only to recipes that have really bad recirculation.

For me this has been a long process and ongoing. I brewed a new DIPA recipe over the weekend And came up 2 points shy on my pre-boil SG plus I had an extra 1/2 gallon of wort, so I added 10 mins to my boil (SWAG), kind of made sense - ended up right at target OG. My mash efficiency sucked though. Never ends...

Also dial in your pre boil volume. For me, Beersmith calculates my pre-boil and I’m learning that I need to hit that number spot on: too little and I don’t fill my keg, too much and my pre boil SG drops. That’s what I use a sight tube to set that level as you can’t see your volume with the RB setup.

 

[RePete]

Also dial in your pre boil volume. For me, Beersmith calculates my pre-boil and I’m learning that I need to hit that number spot on: too little and I don’t fill my keg, too much and my pre boil SG drops. That’s what I use a sight tube to set that level as you can’t see your volume with the RB setup.

What are you using for a sight tube?

 

[rjhoff]

It's pretty crude but it works. Silicon tubing, it's a pain to describe, so I took a picture. There's a ring marked near the top of the tube - I put the pre-boil volume in the Robobrew and adjust the ring to the pre-boil level. Then I adjust the water for mash-in and heat it up.

 

[RePete]

Thanks. May have to try that.

 

[Oldpaddy]

Hi guys, I did my first brew last week and I almost had a stuck sparge in my 35L. It took a long time for it to drain. I wonder if I milled my grain too fine. I set the mill a hair under .5. I used a credit card to set the gap so the card was held, but the roller would still move with it. Think it was still too fine of a mill, should I make it a little courser?
Thanks

 

[rjhoff]

Is that .5mm?, that would be .020”?? I’m using .038”, thinking about lowering to .037. Some people go as low as .030 but I’m not buying into that (yet).

EDIT: buy a feeler guage set, I got a nice new one at Harbor Freight for like $2

 

[RePete]

Hi guys, I did my first brew last week and I almost had a stuck sparge in my 35L. It took a long time for it to drain. I wonder if I milled my grain too fine. I set the mill a hair under .5. I used a credit card to set the gap so the card was held, but the roller would still move with it. Think it was still too fine of a mill, should I make it a little courser?
Thanks

My mill has markings at .050 and .025. I tried one batch set with a credit card, and had a stuck large. I have set it half way between those recently, but think I will back it off some more. It will drain, but is dreadfully slow. Personally, I think people are too concerned about efficiency. I would rather just add a little more grain, and enjoy the process. We aren’t doing this to make a living. This is a hobby after all...

 

[Oldpaddy]

My mill has markings at .050 and .025. I tried one batch set with a credit card, and had a stuck large. I have set it half way between those recently, but think I will back it off some more. It will drain, but is dreadfully slow. Personally, I think people are too concerned about efficiency. I would rather just add a little more grain, and enjoy the process. We aren’t doing this to make a living. This is a hobby after all...

I have the evil twin mill and it goes .05 to .025. I tried to get the cereal killer, but getting what you want seems to be a thing of the past. I actually wanted to get the anvil foundry, but once again, getting what you want appears to be a relic of a simpler time.
I was having fun until the almost stuck splarge. Being my first time it's never fun not knowing exactly what you're doing and having problems. Then I had too much wort and had to boil it down an extra hour. I'm not really sure why I had extra wort, I followed the directions that came with the Austin kit. Oh well.
Next brew I'll try a courser mill setting and see what happens.
Despite my pissing and moaning, I can't wait to try my ale and for the next brew!

 

[rjhoff]

I started a new thread, Robobrew/Brewzilla discussion, for no other reason than I have no regrets