Second opinion on my crush

[ErieShores]

I purchased a Corona knock-off and I'm crushing my grains for the first time. I knew going in that an inconsistent crush is what I was in for. I've been tinkering with the plates for hours and I think I have it set to the best possible crush so far. Does this crush appear to be adequate? Thanks!


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

[jmccauli]

I'm fairly new to all grain, and I don't crush my own grain. Having said that...it looks like you have a bunch of completely whole grains in there. Maybe the husks are being really misleading, but I don't think so. Either way, looks too course to me.

 

[FarmerJoe]

Yea, it does look like too many husks left in one piece. Just inspect through your crush and see how many uncrushed pieces you got in there. You want the shell cracked and the white inner starch out and exposed. Tighten up your mill to the size of a credit card and try again. You will get some powder, but that's ok. On my knockoff I have it tightened almost all the way. I've only done one crush so far, but IMO it looked better than my lhbs' crush

 

[erikpete18]

Yeah, its hard to tell definitively, but unless some of those husks were just really well preserved, I'd say you still have some uncrushed grains. Do you condition your malt? If not, do a quick search for it, basically all it involves is spreading your grain out on a flat surface and spritzing a little bit of water on it, then letting it soak in for about 15 min. It makes the husks less likely to shred, which means you can crush a little tighter and not have to worry as much about shredded husks. My crush improved dramatically when I started conditioning, although I wasn't using a corona mill.

 

[wyzazz]

Go tighter, wait until you feel your sphincter pucker because you're scared, that's how tight your crush should be.

 

[paraordnance]

that is a bad crush I tell you, I can see 20-30% uncrushed grains in there, your efficency will suffer. I use Porkert mill similar to Corona and I can do much better with 1 minute adjustment

 

[ErieShores]

Go tighter, wait until you feel your sphincter pucker because you're scared, that's how tight your crush should be.

Thanks to all who responded. I tightened her up to the point where I only saw a few left uncrushed here or there.
Side note: the sphincter thing was funny!

 

[wyzazz]

Thanks to all who responded. I tightened her up to the point where I only saw a few left uncrushed here or there.
Side note: the sphincter thing was funny!

Glad to be of service.

 

[samc]

Do a search for conditioning grain (mix with 2% by weight of H20 and let it dry a bit) if you are unfamiliar with it and give it a shot. Then you can tighten up your mill and really do a job on the grain. That way you get a lot of whole husks with the grain removed.

 

[tasq]

Do a search for conditioning grain (mix with 2% by weight of H20 and let it dry a bit) if you are unfamiliar with it and give it a shot. Then you can tighten up your mill and really do a job on the grain. That way you get a lot of whole husks with the grain removed.

Exactly. Here ya go. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Malt_Conditioning

 

[AussieBrewerInColorado]

Exactly. Here ya go. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Malt_Conditioning

Can attest to that, Tasq turned me onto conditioning the malt, won't go back.

 

[ErieShores]

BeerSmith Estimated pre boil gravity: 1.035
My pre boil gravity: 1.026

Thankfully, I had a pound of DME in the basement for starters. I really have to look into that malt conditioning technique...

 

[Csuho]

I have a cornoa knockoff and I did the adjusting that every1 reccomended in the ulgy junk post and tightened down the plates to the width of a credit cards numbers. I have used it for 2 batches now and I have gotten 80% and 85% brewhouse on the past 2 batches with no off flavors in the batches. The plates are a little outta whack but I got from the long ugly junk post that it doesn't matter that much.

 

[SimBrew]

Do you have rust problem in the mill when conditioning grain?
Is there enough water to rust the mill roller?
I have a barley crusher and I read to not let water touch the roller cause they will rust.

 

[BobBailey]

When you say, "Corona knockoff", do you mean a Victoria mill? That's what I use and am very happy with.

As for your crush, it definitely is not adequate. I look for the majority of the husks to be at least broken in half and a very noticeable amount of flour with the kernels broken into bits that resemble grits.

I average a little better than 75% efficiency with this crush.

Bob

 

[TANSTAAFB]

Do a search for conditioning grain (mix with 2% by weight of H20 and let it dry a bit) if you are unfamiliar with it and give it a shot. Then you can tighten up your mill and really do a job on the grain. That way you get a lot of whole husks with the grain removed.

Exactly. Here ya go. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Malt_Conditioning

Do you have rust problem in the mill when conditioning grain?
Is there enough water to rust the mill roller?
I have a barley crusher and I read to not let water touch the roller cause they will rust.

OP, you need to crank it down til your scared then crank it down some more Check out the my ugly junk thread; this link takes you to version 2.0, but the whole thing is a pretty good read and you will be sold on your mill long before you are finished.

I will never crush another batch of grain without conditioning first, ever!!! I use a Barley Crusher and was getting 80-85% efficiency but always walking the stuck sparge ledge, sometimes falling off. Last brew I conditioned and got my 85% but was never even close to stuck. The hulls are almost all intact. And you don't have to spread the malt out, just mix all your grains in a bucket, mist and stir, mist and stir until you have used about 100ml for 10-11 pounds of grain. I shook it up every 25ml or so just for good measure and the difference in my crush was dramatic...it looked fluffy

There is not enough moisture to rust your mill. If the grain is wet, you did it wrong! It just rehydrates the husk a little, making it leathery instead of brittle.

 

[riromero]

+1 on conditioning. Personally, my grist has alot of flour even, but I sparge with a braid and haven't had any problems with a very, very fine crush.