[Joe_Beer]

How’s your crush?  A poor crush requires an extended mash.

Hey, I was going to say that!

I wish I could make a knowledgeable comment on it but I just haven't seen enough grist to say either way.  I rely on my LHBS to do the best they can with it. There wasn't a lot of flour at the bottom of the bucket after mashing in if that's any indicator. If I was to collect it all, it might have been a half cup.

[Joe_Beer]

For what that is all worth - just thought the OP might be interested, given his observations.

Always good to hear how others are brewing on their Foundry.  The more I read about brewing, the more it seems that every "rule" is really just a knob to turn. Appreciate it, thanks!

[BrewBama]

...  The more I read about brewing, the more it seems that every "rule" is really just a knob to turn. ...

Well said.


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[Joe_Beer]

A negative result (brownish-orange color) means that the amylose has finished converting but it doesn't tell you anything about whether the amylopectin has.

That would explain why the iodine was done around the 60 minute mark, but my sugar content was still going up 30 minutes later. This whole brewing thing is really like 30% about beer and 70% about the science behind it =J

[dmtaylor]

How’s your crush?  A poor crush requires an extended mash.

Hey, I was going to say that!

I wish I could make a knowledgeable comment on it but I just haven't seen enough grist to say either way.  I rely on my LHBS to do the best they can with it. There wasn't a lot of flour at the bottom of the bucket after mashing in if that's any indicator. If I was to collect it all, it might have been a half cup.

The crush is the problem then. I have spoken.   And I am serious, I think this is it.

[denny]

For what that is all worth - just thought the OP might be interested, given his observations.

Always good to hear how others are brewing on their Foundry.  The more I read about brewing, the more it seems that every "rule" is really just a knob to turn. Appreciate it, thanks!

To paraphrase...."they're not really rules.  They're more like guidelines"

[denny]

How’s your crush?  A poor crush requires an extended mash.

Hey, I was going to say that!

I wish I could make a knowledgeable comment on it but I just haven't seen enough grist to say either way.  I rely on my LHBS to do the best they can with it. There wasn't a lot of flour at the bottom of the bucket after mashing in if that's any indicator. If I was to collect it all, it might have been a half cup.

The crush is the problem then. I have spoken.   And I am serious, I think this is it.

Crush til you're scared

[Saccharomyces]

Crush til you're scared

You do know that you have a mill that is better than all of the mills available today?  Jack Schmidling may have been a horse's backside with whom to deal as a human being, but he produced a superior mill (I am absolutely certain that his cantankerous attitude was due to this knowledge).  I put over 1000 pounds of malt through my first Model P and it was barely broken in before I sold it. At this point, the Monster Mill is the gold standard, but it pales in comparison to the basic Schmidling malt mill.

[jeffy]

Crush til you're scared

You do know that you have a mill that is better than all of the mills available today?  Jack Schmidling may have been a horse's backside with whom to deal as a human being, but he produced a superior mill (I am absolutely certain that his cantankerous attitude was due to this knowledge).  I put over 1000 pounds of malt through my first Model P and it was barely broken in before I sold it. At this point, the Monster Mill is the gold standard, but it pales in comparison to the basic Schmidling malt mill.

Cool.  I use that one as well.

[Joe_Beer]

The crush is the problem then. I have spoken.   And I am serious, I think this is it.

It may very well be a sub-par, or more likely, just an "all purpose" crush. The LHBS has a section for "Notes" on their order form where I'm sure I could put "Crush my grains till you're scared" but I'm brewing with 13.5# of flour takes a whole new level of skill that I just don't have yet.

Is there some metric for specifying a "grade" of crush or the mill setting? I guess there's a gap you could specify?

[dmtaylor]

0.025-0.030 inch. Thinner (tighter) than a credit card.

[Iliff Ave]

A mill is still one of my best investments. My efficiency immediately jumped 8 points and became more consistent once I didn’t have to rely on the lhbs. I rarely go beyond a 45 min mash with normal styles.

[Joe_Beer]

0.025-0.030 inch. Thinner (tighter) than a credit card.

Thanks! I'll keep that in mind for the next order. Assuming this gap would apply whether it's base or adjunct malts (well, I would assume something like faked oats wouldn't apply)? They usually mix all the grains together unless you ask to bag separately.

A mill is still one of my best investments. My efficiency immediately jumped 8 points and became more consistent once I didn’t have to rely on the lhbs. I rarely go beyond a 45 min mash with normal styles.

To be honest, I've looked at various models on different sites and watched a few videos on the topic but haven't really dug into it deeply. Part of the issue is  the price vs. quality, the other issue is buying grain in bulk.

How long is a 50# sack of 2-row good for? It would take me a good four months to go through one of those. I've read about grain getting old from sitting around but if you have in air-tight container in a dry, cool basement, how long is it good for?

[Drewch]

...
How long is a 50# sack of 2-row good for? It would take me a good four months to go through one of those. I've read about grain getting old from sitting around but if you have in air-tight container in a dry, cool basement, how long is it good for?

I'd say well more than 4 months.

[erockrph]

0.025-0.030 inch. Thinner (tighter) than a credit card.

Thanks! I'll keep that in mind for the next order. Assuming this gap would apply whether it's base or adjunct malts (well, I would assume something like faked oats wouldn't apply)? They usually mix all the grains together unless you ask to bag separately.

A mill is still one of my best investments. My efficiency immediately jumped 8 points and became more consistent once I didn’t have to rely on the lhbs. I rarely go beyond a 45 min mash with normal styles.

To be honest, I've looked at various models on different sites and watched a few videos on the topic but haven't really dug into it deeply. Part of the issue is  the price vs. quality, the other issue is buying grain in bulk.

How long is a 50# sack of 2-row good for? It would take me a good four months to go through one of those. I've read about grain getting old from sitting around but if you have in air-tight container in a dry, cool basement, how long is it good for?

I'll second that a grain mill was the single most useful investment I've made when it comes to brewing. The most important thing it did was give me consistent efficiency. When I was getting crushed grain from multiple online and LHBS my efficiency would swing by as much as 10% from batch to batch. After a couple of batches to dial in my crush my efficiencies are within a 2% range pretty consistently.

A sack of uncrushed grain will store well in a cool dry place for at least a couple of years (and I've gone a lot longer than that to be honest). But if you're concerned, just buy 5 or 10 pounds at a time.

Also, I sincerely doubt any homebrew shop will set their mill to a specific gap setting for you (especially one as tight as Dave recommends), but if you have a good LHBS that isn't super busy they might be able to run your grain through the mill a second time which will get you a bit of a finer crush.

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