Where to measure mill gap?

[pkpdogg]

I'm finallly getting around to adjusting my JSP Maltmill gap setting and am wondering where I should be measuring the gap. It is adjustable on one end of a roller, so it tapers toward the other. If I wanted to set it to 0.032", should I measure at the middle of the rollers? Or at the edge where they're the closest to one another?

I'm worried because I had a stuck lauter AND sparge last time that drove me nuts. The settings were definitely too tight and I'd hate to repeat that again.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Just guessing here as i have never adjusted aJSP mill. I would think that the adjustement could be made at both ends of the roller to keep both rollers parallel.

In reality, the actual gap measurement doesn't mean that much, if your crush is too fine, and you are a having lautering problems, loosen it a bit where the crush is more favorable.

A visual inspection of the crushed grain, is IMO worth more than what a feeler gauge tells you regarding the mills gap.

 

[pkpdogg]

Yeah, unfortunately, it's fixed on one end. I'll just have to play with it for a bit and see what happens. My arms are not looking forward to cranking through 28lbs of grain. =D Thanks for taking the time to respond.

 

[JPicasso]

I think you're better off just trial and error-ing it into the right size. Pick a spot to measure from, either the adjustable end, or the middle, and stick to it. Figure out what gap you currently have, and adjust out .002 or .004 from that and see how the crush does.

.032 is going to be different on your mill than on someone else's. What you need to know is the current gap, and how the crush looks after you adjust it.

 

[bull8042]

Not knowing what the measurement is on the fixed end, I would tighten the adjustable end down just until you aren't getting any whole kernels through. Then grind a good sized handful and see what it looks like. I run my BC at around 0.038" and haven't had any stuck sparges but still get around 82 - 84% efficiency.
That is about the gap I would shoot for.

 

[The Pol]

This is the problem with a mill that is adjustable on one end... you really have no gap "setting". The grain gets milled differently based on what end of the rollers is passes through.

Id go with the least common denominator, and first adjust the adjustable end to the point that you are getting scared. Then run feelers across the rollers to see where you are at in the middle and such.

Basically, your smallest gap is controlling, so measure there and you KNOW that the gap in the other areas will be no smaller, and it will be as small as you can get it, based on the adjustable end being at its rational limit.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I am glad this came up.

I'd have never assumed that an adjustable mill has a fixed end on the adjustable roller. Seems like bad design to me.

I haven't thought about replacing my non-adjustable but now I know to look if I ever do.

 

[pkpdogg]

Thanks for the help, everyone. I basically backed off one end to the point where the rollers were parallel (just eyeballed it). I checked the gap with a credit card (supposed to be 0.030"), and it fit tighly enough to just grab the card and easily roll it into the gap. The crush looked a tad on the coarse side, but I didn't want to push it on this go-around, so I left it at this setting.

It helped considerably. Not only did it not tire my arms out during the milling, but I had no stuck lauter/sparge, achieved a 65% efficiency, and hit my target OG. I'm going to consider that a successful brew day for my 2nd AG batch.

 

[The Pol]

I am glad this came up.

I'd have never assumed that an adjustable mill has a fixed end on the adjustable roller. Seems like bad design to me.

I haven't thought about replacing my non-adjustable but now I know to look if I ever do.

Well, this is NOT how most mills are built. The Schmidling Malt Mill is though. Most mills have an adjustable roller, that is adjustable on BOTH ends. So dont write off an adjustable mill because of this one.