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Author Topic: Crushed grain powder  (Read 8927 times)

Offline denny

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Re: Crushed grain powder
« Reply #30 on: March 23, 2017, 04:14:06 pm »

How tight is "as tight as it will go"?  I found with my fully adjustable JSP Malt Mill that tightening too far would cause too much torque to use my 20V cordless drill with it, so I returned to ".030" as a reasonable setting.  I have been conditioning the grain lately and like the "less dust" created with that.  I BIAB with recirc mostly now, so I could go finer if the mill can still turn the rollers with the tighter setting.

Well, it's as tight as it will go!  ;)  I have no problem grinding and I don't seem to create a lot of dust.  I tried conditioning, but found it really made no difference for me in any appreciable way.
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Offline Philbrew

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Re: Crushed grain powder
« Reply #31 on: March 23, 2017, 06:50:41 pm »
I tried conditioning and found that my mash eff. took a sizable hit but I liked the less dust to clean up.  My Cereal Crusher mill ( at .030") did not seem to crush as fine with conditioned grain.  Maybe I over-wetted the grain.  I BIAB so the only advantage is the less dust to clean out of the mill.
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Offline Mardoo

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Re: Crushed grain powder
« Reply #32 on: March 24, 2017, 01:58:31 pm »
This is a mill option we have here in Australia.  Price is in $AU.

http://mashmaster.mobile034.com/p/4571858/millmaster-grain-mill.html

My opinion, this one is the bomb. Fluted, geared stainless steel rollers, very solid build, flawless crush. I have yet to hear a negative report on the fluted rollers.

I was originally looking at the Cap'n Crush, but then this came out. The geared rollers seem to have solved some of the fiddliness experienced by the good Cap'n. However, I've never even seen the good Cap'n in action so  I have no actual comparison.

I've also been watching the MattMill for some time. Sounds the goods.

Offline coolman26

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Re: Crushed grain powder
« Reply #33 on: March 24, 2017, 04:10:39 pm »
I've not been conditioning. I liked the hulls being almost perfect, it was taking too much time. Now I'm doing it again. I fly sparge and it definitely clears out in less than a quart. I'm crushing pretty fine and they still stay intact. Whatever works for ya I guess.


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Jeff B

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Re: Crushed grain powder
« Reply #34 on: March 25, 2017, 09:11:51 am »
I hate my Cap'n Crunch!


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Offline Mardoo

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Re: Crushed grain powder
« Reply #35 on: August 29, 2017, 03:45:52 am »
Finally pulled the pin on the Mashmaster mill I mentioned above. It's the absolute bomb, straight out of the box. Zero fiddling. Solid as a rock. It just works, and bumped my efficiency up a few points too. Highly recommended!

Offline Visor

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Re: Crushed grain powder
« Reply #36 on: August 29, 2017, 05:06:16 pm »
   I've been conditioning since about my 5th batch and wouldn't even consider stopping, less dust, faster draining of the mash, higher efficiency. It is possible though to get your grain too damp, I have gummed up my JSP before. I power my mill with a 35 year old Milwaukee, 3.3 Amp, 1,000 RPM corded drill, which never game me any trouble until I bought a bag of Castle Pilsen, when I went to grind the batch, the mill completely bound up. I had to loosen the setting a bit, the kernels don't look that much bigger than any other malt, but that's all I can figure caused the problem. My only complaint with the JSP mill, other than the cheesy hopper is that the thumbscrews locking the gap setting sometimes come loose during use and the setting backs off while grinding, as happened last week.
I spent most of my money on beer, tools and guns, the rest I foolishly squandered on stupid stuff!

Offline brewsumore

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Re: Crushed grain powder
« Reply #37 on: August 29, 2017, 06:57:20 pm »
I recall standard old brewing literature, before people started conditioning, that stated that properly milled grist had at least 10% flour.  I'm still in the old school (Denny school) of "crush until ye'r scared", and I probably get flour as high as 20% at times.  And I'm still happy enough with dry milling that I've barely tried conditioning my malt, especially since I mill the night before brewing. ;D
« Last Edit: August 29, 2017, 06:59:23 pm by brewsumore »

Offline wobdee

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Re: Crushed grain powder
« Reply #38 on: August 30, 2017, 06:43:19 am »
I've had the Cereal Killer for 5 years and it's held up great. I find conditioning and a low speed drill setting with a gap of .038 works best for me with the least amount of flour. Higher speed with this mill will really shred the husks.

Lots of variables in different Mills, size of rollers, knurled vs fluted, speed, conditioning, gap setting, they all have an effect on the crush.

Offline Visor

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Re: Crushed grain powder
« Reply #39 on: August 30, 2017, 08:51:24 am »
   Back to the OP, most of the grain powder is converted to sugar during the mash, a higher percentage of it becomes sugar than the grain bill as a whole because it consists almost entirely of the main kernel without husk material, especially if you condition. Tests I have done involving drying & weighing the spent grain show that with my system, the weight of the dry spent grain is about 35% of the weight of the total grain bill. That means 65% of the total goes into solution in the mash. Probably a stupid test to have done, but it makes very real in ones mind the science that takes place in the mash. Besides, ya gotsta dry the stuff if ya wants ta make treberbrot.
I spent most of my money on beer, tools and guns, the rest I foolishly squandered on stupid stuff!

Offline denny

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Re: Crushed grain powder
« Reply #40 on: August 30, 2017, 09:33:57 am »
I recall standard old brewing literature, before people started conditioning, that stated that properly milled grist had at least 10% flour.  I'm still in the old school (Denny school) of "crush until ye'r scared", and I probably get flour as high as 20% at times.  And I'm still happy enough with dry milling that I've barely tried conditioning my malt, especially since I mill the night before brewing. ;D

all of this ^^^^^
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

www.dennybrew.com

The best, sharpest, funniest, weirdest and most knowledgable minds in home brewing contribute on the AHA forum. - Alewyfe

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell