whats your mill gap setting (barley crusher)

[killian]

I'm thinking about adjusting my gap setting and I thought it would be interesting to see how every one else is milling.

 

[KopyKat]

.032 and still double crush rye.

 

[drunkatuw]

.032 for me as well. Used to be at .025 and still never had a stuck sparge.

 

[Lil' Sparky]

The factory gap works great. Sure you can get a little better efficiency if you tighten it up, but I don't want to take a chance w/ stuck mashes, since I recirculate.

 

[Edcculus]

Factory for now. Haven't had the urge to mess with it. I'm thinking about tightening it just a bit.

 

[humann_brewing]

I get stuck sparges with the factory setting already, I don't want to go smaller than that.

 

[McKBrew]

I haven't messed with the factory setting yet. 75% eff makes me smile.

 

[dstar26t]

Mine is at the factory setting (.039") but I had to set it there myself since the setting it came with wasn't uniform across the rollers. 88% efficiency.

 

[BeerPressure]

factory setting getting 80% eff.

 

[JMD87]

Mine came from the factory around .034 and I'm getting a great crush, maybe borderline too much flour but never had a stuck sparge: Batch sparge SS Braid. No wheat beers though. 85%+ Efficiency. I highly suggest setting to .32-.35

 

[Brewmasters Warehouse]

We use the factory setting of .039" at the store and have gotten tons of compliments about our crush and efficency gains people have gotten with our crushed grains.

Of course if you wanted a lower gap setting we will set it to whatever someone wants, but the stuck mash/sparge is just a risk some people do not want to take.

Ed

 

[Tonedef131]

I use a monster mill and I still voted...heh, you'll never know which one to remove my vote from and your barley crusher only numbers will be forever skewed!

 

[The Pol]

I have mine down to .035"

I recirculate.

Have not had a stuck mash

I can lauter with the valve on the MLT wide open actually... not that I DO that.

 

[Evets]

I change it depending on the "plumpness" of the grain I'm using, but usually I keep it around .037

 

[BrewBrain]

Guess I shouldn't have voted since I haven't officially used mine yet:fro:

That said, I did a test/cleaning crush at factory setting and couldn't believe how horrible my LHBS crushed grains looked in comparison

I had no idea what I was missing. Can't wait to see what it all means to my numbers this weekend.

 

[DanVader]

.032 80% efficiency with braided stainless, batch sparge. Factory setting was very uneven.

 

[Coastarine]

I voted don't fear the flour, I have mine set pretty tight (about 2 o'clock) but I do condition my malt, which keeps the husk in-tact and gives me a super nice easy runoff.

 

[Brew-boy]

.035 gap for me with the BC and avg 85% efficiency.

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

Because I thought the crush looked too floury...I loosened it to ~.050" at first and my eff was about the same as with LHBS crushed grains (~76%-77%). Then set it back to the factory setting and eff went up to ~83%-84%...then set it to about .035"-.036" and malt conditioning and my eff went up to 89%-90%. Conversion eff was ~98%-99% so I stopped there.

The rollers on mine are not exactly even at the same knob setting on each side but that's easily adjusted for.

 

[p4ck37p1mp]

.03 and I get 90+% all the time. Never a stuck sparge.

 

[mmb]

.030 and that's checked with feelers this time around.

I use a false bottom and rice hulls but have only had stuck sparges on beer with large amounts of flaked product.

*shrug*

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

FWIW, you can Kaiser's Efficiency Spreadsheet to determine your conversion efficiency. If your conversion efficiency is up near 99% or so then you shouldn't need to tighten your gap anymore because you shouldn't see any improvement by doing so...you're already as close to 100% as you can expect to get. Any further efficiency improvements would need to be made elsewhere (such as the lauter/sparge). That was why I stopped @ .035"-.036"...my conversion efficiency was @ ~99%.

 

[Saccharomyces]

2:00 setting on the knobs, my crush looks like flour and rice hulls. My efficiency is up to 89% with double batch sparge, and I fly sparged an Imperial Stout last weekend for 88% to kettle, OG 1.100. :rockin:

I have a manifold, obviously if you use a braid such a fine crush WILL cause a stuck sparge. (My 5 gallon second mash tun is useless without setting the crush back to the default)

 

[Sudz]

I used .039 from the factory and got my first stuck sparge and 90% when I was expecting 75%. Found out that the RPM you use will "significantly" effect the outcome.

I just used my household electric drill and held the trigger down. This was about 1000 RPM. The folks I bought the mill from said it works best at 300 because the higher speed tears the grain instead of crushing it. I did notice my grind was much finer than that from my LHBS who also uses .039.

Next time I'll set up for 300RPM and still hope for %75. Hitting 90% was a real pain to work around and my stuck sparge no fun either.

 

[TommyBoy]

I get about 71% with .039". I am resetting it to .035" tonight for a batch this weekend and am looking forward to seeing what the outcome will be.

 

[The Pol]

I get 82% and a VERY fast runoff with a .038" gap. I run my mill nice and slow, keeping those husks intact.

 

[SourHopHead]

I get between 70-75% at .039. Might tighten it up, but haven't decided yet.

 

[lamarguy]

At 0.025", I get ~80% brewhouse efficiency from a single batch sparge for 1.000 - 1.070 gravity beers. Before I started wet milling the grain, I had it set to 0.035" and was getting ~75% brewhouse efficiency.

So, for those of you looking to go a bit tighter, trying wet milling your grain. Wet milling helps avoid the potential to make flour, dust, and add wort color due to overly crushed husks.

 

[Homercidal]

I built my own crusher and the original .036" setting I started with seemed a bit course, so I went down a bit. Not really sure where I am at. I get a decent amount of whiteish flour and some bits. Hasn't stuck yet, so I'm sticking with it.

Darn it, forgot to measure my efficiency last night!!

 

[Araxi]

.034 78-80 %