Knurling on a Mashmaster Mini Mill

[dicko]

Hi Brissy Brew,

What would be your recommendations on the gap setting for a nominal crush on the two fluted roller model. ?

 

[mckenry]

Frank is going to post me a new roller, which means I'll have one fluted, one knurled roller. Ive seen a few on here have that too and am happy to read they are happy with its performance in this configuration. For those that have replaced a roller, how hard was it? Cant get a visual right now. When do you realise that it needs to be sanded? The email I have says "if its a tight fit" I dont want to bother him with more and more questions so I'm asking here. What / which part is a tight fit, if at all? Can you tell before you have 30 parts of a mill on your bench?

 

[Crusty]

Frank is going to post me a new roller, which means I'll have one fluted, one knurled roller. Ive seen a few on here have that too and am happy to read they are happy with its performance in this configuration. For those that have replaced a roller, how hard was it? Cant get a visual right now. When do you realise that it needs to be sanded? The email I have says "if its a tight fit" I dont want to bother him with more and more questions so I'm asking here. What / which part is a tight fit, if at all? Can you tell before you have 30 parts of a mill on your bench?

It couldn't be simpler buddy.
I just unscrewed the two adjustment locking pins, 2 bolts on either side to allow the end to pop out. Slide off the gap adjustment knobs. The rollers just slipped out from the other end. The shaft on my new roller wouldn't allow the adjustment knob to seat fully so you just sandpaper the little round copper olive inside your adjustment knob until it seats all the way home. It takes a while so grab a beer. It took me about an hour but by God, the mill is a grain eating machine now.

 

[mckenry]

It couldn't be simpler buddy.
I just unscrewed the two adjustment locking pins, 2 bolts on either side to allow the end to pop out. Slide off the gap adjustment knobs. The rollers just slipped out from the other end. The shaft on my new roller wouldn't allow the adjustment knob to seat fully so you just sandpaper the little round copper olive inside your adjustment knob until it seats all the way home. It takes a while so grab a beer. It took me about an hour but by God, the mill is a grain eating machine now.

Perfect reply.

 

[Mr B]

Or sand the roller ends - this is what I did, not sure how you did the bush but it must have worked.

 

[Rocker1986]

Yeah I sanded the roller ends too, stuck it in a wood lathe and spun it around in that to do it quicker though. Took about 5 minutes to get them to fit nicely.

 

[Liam_snorkel]

I used grinding paste, worked a treat.

 

[Bridges]

Hi Brissy Brew,

What would be your recommendations on the gap setting for a nominal crush on the two fluted roller model. ?

Yeah this too. I've just finished dodging up my new mill, I think I have some choc malt that's a bit old I'll throw through for it's maiden run, currently set to the width of a metric standard myki card spose its as good as anywhere to start.

 

[dicko]

Yeah this too. I've just finished dodging up my new mill, I think I have some choc malt that's a bit old I'll throw through for it's maiden run, currently set to the width of a metric standard myki card spose its as good as anywhere to start.

20160228_165333.jpg

yes, if I am reading between the lines of a previous post there is no correlation between the gap on knurled compare to fluted rollers.

BrissyBrew where are you....????

 

[Bridges]

I run a 20Litre BM and have the dual fluted rollers on my new mill. Is anyone else running similar, so I can work out a starting point for the gap? Cheers!

 

[dicko]

I run a 20Litre BM and have the dual fluted rollers on my new mill. Is anyone else running similar, so I can work out a starting point for the gap? Cheers!

I have closed mine down to 1mm and my mate is getting 77% to 78% MASH EFFICIENCY in his BM 20
I did a brew at around 1.1mm and got 77% on my BM.
I am interested to see if we get an increase with the fluted rollers.
When I finally brew again I will report back.
I would appreciate BrissyBrews thoughts on this..

 

[Chridech]

I have closed mine down to 1mm and my mate is getting 77% to 78% MASH EFFICIENCY in his BM 20
I did a brew at around 1.1mm and got 77% on my BM.
I am interested to see if we get an increase with the fluted rollers.
When I finally brew again I will report back.
I would appreciate BrissyBrews thoughts on this..

I have milled once with my new mill with the (double) fluted rollers. I received some advice from Frank (see post #220 in this thread) regarding crush size and he recommended a 0.6mm gap (as a start) which seemed a tad fine for my set-up (Grandfather - prone to stuck fly sparges with fine grist) so I started at 1.3mm. It came out a little coarse with a noticeable number of intact barley grains, so i put it through again at 1mm. It looked pretty good (freed up the husks, grains cracked) so I went with it. There was a little more flour than I have noted with previous shop milled grists, but i didn't have too much trouble with the sparge. My fly sparges have been almost instant with previous shop grain crushes, but at 1mm gap the sparge took about 15 minutes which is not too bad. 5.6kg of grain giving pre-boil gravity of 1054 for 28L. Brewsmith calculated mash efficiency of 86%. It was a cool mash (63C) after a protein rest as I'm aiming for a dry finish for my Saison. However if i've got it right (i'm a newb) the temperature of the mash will affect fermentability but have little impact on mash efficiency. My mash pH was a tad low (4.9) and I'm not sure what impact that will have.

So I'm pretty happy with a mill gap of 1mm for the Grainfather, and will use this again next time. Don't know a lot about the BM but I suspect 1mm is going to be in the ballpark. Also don't know what a second pass through the mill does for grain that is already partially cracked?

 

[dicko]

I have milled once with my new mill with the (double) fluted rollers. I received some advice from Frank (see post #220 in this thread) regarding crush size and he recommended a 0.6mm gap (as a start) which seemed a tad fine for my set-up (Grandfather - prone to stuck fly sparges with fine grist) so I started at 1.3mm. It came out a little coarse with a noticeable number of intact barley grains, so i put it through again at 1mm. It looked pretty good (freed up the husks, grains cracked) so I went with it. There was a little more flour than I have noted with previous shop milled grists, but i didn't have too much trouble with the sparge. My fly sparges have been almost instant with previous shop grain crushes, but at 1mm gap the sparge took about 15 minutes which is not too bad. 5.6kg of grain giving pre-boil gravity of 1054 for 28L. Brewsmith calculated mash efficiency of 86%. It was a cool mash (63C) after a protein rest as I'm aiming for a dry finish for my Saison. However if i've got it right (i'm a newb) the temperature of the mash will affect fermentability but have little impact on mash efficiency. My mash pH was a tad low (4.9) and I'm not sure what impact that will have.

So I'm pretty happy with a mill gap of 1mm for the Grainfather, and will use this again next time. Don't know a lot about the BM but I suspect 1mm is going to be in the ballpark. Also don't know what a second pass through the mill does for grain that is already partially cracked?

Thank you for your input and comments.

I crush grain for other brewers as well as myself and at the moment I have only done it for myself with a BM and one other with a BM.

With a setting of close to 1mm we are achieving approximately the same Mash Efficiency that we were getting with the 1.2mm on the knurled set up.

When I am personally ready to do another brew for myself I will close it down to 0.9mm and give it a try.
I would not do this for others in case it causes wort fountains or drops efficiency.

At 1.0mm there is very little flour and all husks are still in tact, indicating that we must be pretty close.
My first brew was at 1.2 with the new rollers and I still got very close to my original mash efficiency.

I consider that one only result is not an accurate assessment as I used to vary around 1 to 2 percent with the knurled rollers depending on the type of grain...eg wheat, oats etc etc.

As long as all the brewers with two flutes and the others with a combination continue to report then it gives us all a good chance of getting the gap very close for our individual requirements.

 

[Jack of all biers]

Anyone consider posting a You-tube video of the fluted mill in action? Or better still a comparison of grains crush with fluted rollers v knurled rollers. Those of us considering the new mill would be interested in seeing it first hand and I haven't found a good video of the knurled mill in action let alone the fluted.

 

[nosco]

I just put my new roller in very quickly. The fluted roller went in really easily, snug as and no sanding required. It did get a bit of oily metal out of it and a bit of actual metal filling came out too which is a bit of a worry as its not even 12 months old. The adjustment knobs come out really easily now but it should be fine. It will make it easier to get a bit of lube in there. Cant wait to try it out on Friday! If I get a chance ill post a vid. I might have a vid of the old rollers and some pics of the old results.

 

[nosco]

Yeah this too. I've just finished dodging up my new mill, I think I have some choc malt that's a bit old I'll throw through for it's maiden run, currently set to the width of a metric standard myki card spose its as good as anywhere to start.

20160228_165333.jpg

Nice hopper Bridges! Howd ya make it? Some kind of down pipe/rainwater filter bits?

 

[Smokomark]

Thank you for your input and comments.
I crush grain for other brewers as well as myself and at the moment I have only done it for myself with a BM and one other with a BM.
With a setting of close to 1mm we are achieving approximately the same Mash Efficiency that we were getting with the 1.2mm on the knurled set up.
When I am personally ready to do another brew for myself I will close it down to 0.9mm and give it a try.
I would not do this for others in case it causes wort fountains or drops efficiency.
At 1.0mm there is very little flour and all husks are still in tact, indicating that we must be pretty close.
My first brew was at 1.2 with the new rollers and I still got very close to my original mash efficiency.
I consider that one only result is not an accurate assessment as I used to vary around 1 to 2 percent with the knurled rollers depending on the type of grain...eg wheat, oats etc etc.
As long as all the brewers with two flutes and the others with a combination continue to report then it gives us all a good chance of getting the gap very close for our individual requirements.

I've settled on 0.9mm gap with 2 fluted rollers. I find I get the best crush with the mill just ticking over. It's a bit slower but less flour produced. Even going slow it still mills in a quarter of the time compared to the knurled rollers.
This is fine in my brau clone, my grainfather and my 3v system. Very happy with the efficiency on all three systems.

Smoko

 

[dicko]

Thanks Smoko

That gives me a bit of confidence.
I will report back on results with the BM as I hope to brew on Sunday time permitting.

 

[Bridges]

Nice hopper Bridges! Howd ya make it? Some kind of down pipe/rainwater filter bits?

Exactly!
Went to the green shed. Didn't get a sausage got these or something similar
Hopper; http://www.bunnings.com.au/rain-harvesting-rain-head-leaf-catcha-dual-fit_p4760081
Adaptor thing; http://www.bunnings.com.au/holman-100-x-50-x-90mm-pvc-stormwater-downpipe-adaptor_p4770382
The bit I fixed to the ply (which I carved out an angled slot in) and attached to the mill; http://www.bunnings.com.au/icon-pvc-square-downpipe-pop-for-metal-gutter_p4775627

Thanks Smoko for your input, I'll dig out the feeler gauges and set to 0.9mm too for a brew sometime in the next week.

 

[Jack of all biers]

Exactly!
Went to the green shed. Didn't get a sausage got these or something similar
Hopper; http://www.bunnings.com.au/rain-harvesting-rain-head-leaf-catcha-dual-fit_p4760081
Adaptor thing; http://www.bunnings.com.au/holman-100-x-50-x-90mm-pvc-stormwater-downpipe-adaptor_p4770382
The bit I fixed to the ply (which I carved out an angled slot in) and attached to the mill; http://www.bunnings.com.au/icon-pvc-square-downpipe-pop-for-metal-gutter_p4775627

Thanks Smoko for your input, I'll dig out the feeler gauges and set to 0.9mm too for a brew sometime in the next week.

Legen........ wait for it...........dary.