Testing new grain mill / Dry and conditioned malt

[The_Bishop]

My Cereal Killer showed up a day or two ago. Yesterday I picked up a couple of pounds of 2-row to run through it for 'experimental' purposes.

Set the gap at .035", ran 3 cups through:

After looking at a few threads on malt conditioning, decided to give it a whirl. Put 3 cups of grain in a mixing bowl, lightly misted it with water, tossed it, repeat until the dry straw feeling was gone. I used very little water. Let it sit for a minute or two, then milled it:

I can't believe how much more intact the husks are. The same 3 cups of grain produced a much 'fluffier' grist.

So, what's the consensus on my crush, both dry and conditioned? Is the dry crush a little too shredded? FWIW, both samples were hand cranked.

 

[JLP]

The question would come down to what was the difference in your efficiency, and also did you have an easier time during your sparge with conditioned malt? I realize that you would have to brew to get this answer.

 

[fearwig]

Do you get stuck sparges? If not the hulls are an aesthetic concern (and/or equipment pissing contest meets LHBS sales thing), intact or not is irrelevant, tannin extraction is really a factor of temp and pH.

My only concern would be how well the endosperm is crushed and exposed with each method, which is going to determine stuff like conversion rate and efficiency, the things that really matter. I don't think most people notice a big difference there.

 

[The_Bishop]

Well, with the first brew I did using my own grain mill, I hit 70% brewhouse efficiency. Prior to this I had been in the 65-67% range.

My system is very similar to the Brutus 2.0. Two vessel (Kettle & 10 Gallon cooler/mash tun) recirculation setup. With this grist I have no problems sparging or recirculating.

Next brew I do (Which won't be for a while; I'm nearly swimming in beer) I plan to tighten it up a bit. With conditioned malt, the husks stay so intact that I should be able to eke out a bit more efficiency with a tighter crush.

 

[fearwig]

If you want to bring that closer to 80%, my suggestion is to tighten it whatever you think is "too tight", and then scale it back as you encounter issues. Of course how afraid you are of stuck sparge all depends on your lautering setup, I just think people spend a lot of time obsessing about hull size when they don't have to. I would have to do 60%+ wheat to stick my $10 SS mesh, and I run mine through a fully tightened corona.

 

[The_Bishop]

As stated above, my setup is very much like a Brutus 2.0. Two vessel, conventional mash in a 10 gallon cooler with a false bottom, then a 15 minute mashout/recirculation between the kettle and mash tun before draining into the kettle. Last brew had no problem whatsoever in recirculation, so I'll tighten it up a bit next brew.