Magical Mill Setting

[lefty2446]

Well the story goes I brewed yesterday and I think I may have had my mill set too fine. I was crushing rye and barley. And the resulting grist I think was too fine.

I always check my grist to make sure that all of the grains have been squashed to release the kernel?

Anyway my sparge was slow. Lost 7 points.

What do you do?

If your crushing 2 different grains do you run through the barley then re adjust for the smaller grain or run the whole lot through at the same setting?

 

[t2000kw]

If your crushing 2 different grains do you run through the barley then re adjust for the smaller grain or run the whole lot through at the same setting?

I've only crushed malted wheat with barley and never made any adjustments, but rye might be another matter.

It would not hurt to crush your barley first and then the rye, after making the needed adjustment to get a decent crush on the rye.

 

[Screwtop]

Well the story goes I brewed yesterday and I think I may have had my mill set too fine. I was crushing rye and barley. And the resulting grist I think was too fine.

I always check my grist to make sure that all of the grains have been squashed to release the kernel?

Anyway my sparge was slow. Lost 7 points.

What do you do?

If your crushing 2 different grains do you run through the barley then re adjust for the smaller grain or run the whole lot through at the same setting?

3 Roller mill, gap 40thou, never been changed in 3 and a half years and over 80 brews. Only ever mill once no matter what grains.

Let's see what others do!

Cheers,

Screwy

 

[browndog]

Same here, when I built my mill ( the second time after the coathanger affair) it took a couple of brews to get the setting just right, it has not been touched in over 100 brews. Last time I milled some rye for a roggenbier I made the mistake of running the rye though twice and ended up with the stuck sparge from hell.


cheers

Browndog

 

[TidalPete]

3 Roller mill, gap 40thou, never been changed in 3 and a half years and over 80 brews. Only ever mill once no matter what grains.

Let's see what others do!

Cheers,

Screwy

+1

Same mill (Cranker), same setting but 103 brews. Ran the wheat through twice once with no noticable difference.
I remember the coat hanger.

TP

 

[BoilerBoy]

The rye would be the reason for the slow sparge, as for the loss of 7 gravity points this consistently happens to me when using Rye, I usually average 80% eff batch sparging, but with rye its often 72%.

I made an American Rye IPA yesterday and decided to crush the Rye separately and at a much smaller gap setting(0.5mm) as it got me wondering whether it was being crushed effectively due to it appearing smaller than the other grains and also elongated in shape (skinny).
I got 79% and the sparge was no more slower than normal when using rye, I use a really fat braided hose which probably helps.

cheers,
BB

 

[Sammus]

dont measure i just crush it so i can lauter ok. Get 80+ efficiency and can batch or fly till my hearts content.

And its strange that you lost efficiency on a slow sparge, back when I was setting up my mill and had a few super slow sparges, my effieciency went up considerably.

 

[warra48]

I use about 1 to 1.1 mil on my MillMaster. The gap variation depends on where the rollers are when I measure it. Obviously, they're not perfectly round, but a tolerance of .1 mil is pretty good in my book. Never adjust it now I have it set where I want it.

Any Wheat I run through seperately first, then add it back to the rest of the bill, and run it all through again.
Without Wheat I only ever mill once.

Batch sparge, with a mashout. I drain slowly, and don't get a stuck sparge, even with 50% wheat (no rice gulls). It can take me up to 1 hours to drain and sparge, but I just go away and do other things. Averaging around 90% extraction efficiency.

I recall Ross posting some time ago that Rye is no harder to sparge than Barley, just that it soaks up a lot more water than Barley. Not an issue if fly sparging, but you'd need more water if batch sparging.

 

[lefty2446]

The rye would be the reason for the slow sparge, as for the loss of 7 gravity points this consistently happens to me when using Rye, I usually average 80% eff batch sparging, but with rye its often 72%.

I made an American Rye IPA yesterday and decided to crush the Rye separately and at a much smaller gap setting(0.5mm) as it got me wondering whether it was being crushed effectively due to it appearing smaller than the other grains and also elongated in shape (skinny).
I got 79% and the sparge was no more slower than normal when using rye, I use a really fat braided hose which probably helps.

cheers,
BB

The difference in grain size is what I was thinking. I have the mil set correctly to squash the rye but in doing so I think that the barley is becoming crushed too much to be an effective filter bed.

don't measure i just crush it so i can lauter ok. Get 80+ efficiency and can batch or fly till my hearts content.

And its strange that you lost efficiency on a slow sparge, back when I was setting up my mill and had a few super slow sparges, my efficiency went up considerably.

Yes, when I had finished sparging and dumping the mash It's consistency and smell was different to normal. I tasted it and it was sweet to the taste not bland like normal. So I knew my efficiency was going to be down.

I have a feeling that my crush for the barley was too fine and caused the mash to settle and not drain properly.

Adrian

 

[Tony]

I think it was the Rye. It is like glue in the mash and can stick it fast. You probably suffered channeling aorund the sides of the mash trying to sparge it ay your usual rate.

Next time you use rye.... add 2 liters volume of Rice Gulls per KG of Rye malt in the grist. This will help a lot.

As for magic gap setting........... there is no such thing. Different knerling on 2 different mills will change the gap requirements dramaticly. I have a fine Knerl and use a 0.9mm gap. I get a good grit to flour ratio in the grist and get 80+ Efficiencies every brew with a slow sparge.

I think you really need to settle on a good crush that works in your system and sparge acordingly. But in my book a slow sparge is best with any grist.......... rushing the sparge is always bad and only leaves your hard won sugars behind.

cheers