whats your mill gap setting (barley crusher)

[TommyBoy]

Made a batch this weekend. I was at 71% with factory settings. I am now at 75.5% with .035.

I had about 35% wheat and had no problem with a stuck sparge but had a lot of kernels make it through the FB. Maybe a cup worth. Thought I would take a couple pitchers of wort from the valve first to prevent grain from getting in my HERMS ring but it still occurred. No big deal though but I won't be tightening up the gap any more.

I ended up with 8 gallons in the BK so I boiled for 90 minutes this time. I still had 2-3 gallons in the MT that I didn't need and left in there until cleanup. When I drained the MT later the runnings had me think about doing a fly/batch sparge. Maybe fly sparge for most of the time but leave the last bit of sparge water in for the first 30 minutes of my 90 minute boil and then open up the valve and drain it one last time at 60 minutes. It is mashed out so there would be no more conversion while sitting the the MLT. Anyone every sparge this way?

 

[TommyBoy]

This poll gives no option for .035" or .034"...

 

[Ice9]

Factory settings, double batch sparge, 75-80%.

 

[TacoGuthrie]

i went to a friends house and used his barley crusher that he's had for months but never used (?!). When I went to adjust it we just eyeballed it and checked the resulting crush. How do you know the exact setting for these things? I couldn't find any #s?

 

[Droot]

Interesting. I use the factory setting I have no idea what it is.

OK, I just checked. About 38 on the adjustable end and 41 on the drive end.

I turn it tighter for wheat because some will go through whole. I send all the crush through twice at factory setting. Last batch seemed to come out 83% which was surprising to me, but i had a slow sparge, stopped stirred the whole thing and started over. If I didn't it would have taken an hour and a half just to sparge an 11.5 gallon oatmeal stout. 45 minutes for the first 3.5 gallons, 30 minutes for the rest after I stirred and started over.

David
Born again brewer

 

[TommyBoy]

i went to a friends house and used his barley crusher that he's had for months but never used (?!). When I went to adjust it we just eyeballed it and checked the resulting crush. How do you know the exact setting for these things? I couldn't find any #s?

Get feeler gages from the auto store for about $5. I confirmed my factory .039" setting with the .020 and .019" together. You should just barely be able to press the gages between the rollers.

 

[TacoGuthrie]

Thanks tommyboy! Here I thought there was a gauge right on the crushed and wAs confused when I couldn't find anything.

 

[killian]

This poll gives no option for .035" or .034"...

HA!HA!HA! hay what a jip

 

[TacoGuthrie]

Get feeler gages from the auto store for about $5. I confirmed my factory .039" setting with the .020 and .019" together. You should just barely be able to press the gages between the rollers.

So just as a mini update...

I borrowed my friends Barley Crusher and picked up a set of these gauges.

Turns out we were crushing at around .046. I just adjusted them to .039 and I'm gonna mill some grain! Hopefully this will hlep my efficiency which has yet to surpass 60% on a couple PMs.

Thanks for that post.

 

[BeerPressure]

Had to get the feelers out and adjust the rollers today. The two row wasnt crushing like it normally did. Can grain get tougher to crush if it sits around in a basement?

 

[TacoGuthrie]

I just realized that my friends Barley Crusher isn't actually a Barley Crusher. Its a grain mill from morebeer: Pro-Series Ultimate Grain Mill | MoreBeer

I'm assuming the appropriate gap is the same for these? .039?

 

[Malticulous]

I never adjusted mine and get ~87% efficiency double batch sparging. If I let it run off too fast with the first runnings it will stick.

 

[sawbossFogg]

My crusher reads 0 at 3 o'clock, .053 at 12 o'clock and .106 at nine o'clock. So, its kind of annoying. I've been eye balling it thinner as I go. The feelers seem like the ticket. Scary, though as I try to crush slowly powered by a dewalt drill, this time the drill got very hot and overworked. Didn't imagine a drill this powerful would get beat down by a little barley and wheat crushing, hmm?

 

[jimlin]

I had to adjust it as it arrived a bit off (wider at one end).

.038 is what I've used for my first few brews with it. I still hand crank as I've been too cheap to by the low-speed drill ($$ has gone into a Blichmann burner and the mill). I'm getting about 70% efficiency. Prior to that, using my lhbs's mill, I was getting similar. Sometimes closer to 75%. But then they had issues with their mill, and I found the crush very inconsistent, hence my purchase.

Thinking about tightening it to .036 and seeing what happens.

I use a stainless water line braid in my rectangular cooler/tun and batch sparge.

 

[beersk]

I had to adjust it as it arrived a bit off (wider at one end).

.038 is what I've used for my first few brews with it. I still hand crank as I've been too cheap to by the low-speed drill ($$ has gone into a Blichmann burner and the mill). I'm getting about 70% efficiency. Prior to that, using my lhbs's mill, I was getting similar. Sometimes closer to 75%. But then they had issues with their mill, and I found the crush very inconsistent, hence my purchase.

Thinking about tightening it to .036 and seeing what happens.

I use a stainless water line braid in my rectangular cooler/tun and batch sparge.

You can got a lot tighter with a braid. I crush at .032 and it works great.

 

[snowtires]

I set mine to .039 and it was way too fine, too forever to sparge I'm using a braid as well (batch sparg) I'm using Gambrinus malts and they must be more plump. I am going to try .041 for my next brew. efficiency was 85%

 

[hophop]

I run a .033" gap on my MM3 with a false bottom. I got 84% efficiency this morning.

 

[unionrdr]

I've been using my Barley Crusher mill at the notched factory setting of .039". My efficiency with sparging has been some 72% to 85%. And I do pb/pm biab in the same 5 gallon SS kettle I started with & a paint strainer bag,course weave nylon. By the way,I've used grains from Crisp,Breisse,Weyerman's,& other usual companies in it so far.

 

[snowtires]

I just set mine to .043 and crushed my grains for a brew today. The crush looks great so we will see what the efficiency says.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[jwalker1140]

I was getting ~72% at the 0.39 factory setting doing batch sparges with a SS braid. I tightened to 0.35 and my efficiency improved to 78% and 81%, but I also had a stuck sparge each time. I've loosened it to 0.37 so hopefully I'll get ~75% and fast runoffs. I'll know in a couple weeks.

 

[Clonefan94]

Factory setting here as well.

 

[Qhrumphf]

I'm working at about 0.034-0.036. Only feeler gauges I could find at the time had .030 and .040, with no in between, and I never bothered getting a different set (although I certainly should). So I set it about half way in between the two.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Whats the finest crush those of you who recirculate are using?

My drill is a high torq single speed (500 rpm). My old home made crusher with that drill could crush extremely fine with little to no husk shredding (and 85-93% eff). I'm finding that I can't crush less than .040 without shredding with the BM.

 

[snowtires]

Yo Denny. Gambrinus grains are fat suckers this year compared to other barley. I'm set around .42 I believe with 85%

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Yo Denny. Gambrinus grains are fat suckers this year compared to other barley. I'm set around .42 I believe with 85%

I thought the looked rather plump.

I seem to get shredded husks even at .050" at 500 RPM. Maybe the teeth are still to sharp?