90 replies to this topic

[Big Nake]

Yep. Water is 1g/ml so while weighing the grain I just pop the bottle on the scale, zero it and pour until ~90g.

I just took a look at my spray bottle which has distilled water in it. It's marked with ounces and right now there is 18 ounces of water in there. So I'll spray as usual and keep my eye on the level and also try to compare that to what I usually do. If I feel like I'm using less water than usual, maybe I was overdoing it.

[neddles]

I just took a look at my spray bottle which has distilled water in it. It's marked with ounces and right now there is 18 ounces of water in there. So I'll spray as usual and keep my eye on the level and also try to compare that to what I usually do. If I feel like I'm using less water than usual, maybe I was overdoing it.

 

Report back re: schputz on rollers

[Big Nake]

I'm waiting for some work replies and once things start to quiet down I'm headed out to the garage to try this. Btw, this batch has 9.5 lbs of grain in it which converts to about 2.75 ounces of water. I'll report back and maybe even snap a pic!

Ps. I'm going to allow the grain to sit for 10-15 minutes after conditioning and before milling too.

[Big Nake]

Okay, I grabbed my spray bottle and started spraying. I sprayed until I thought I had used enough... just looking at the grain. I looked at the bottled and I had gone from 18 down to about 16¼ ounces... so 1.75 ounces. I sprayed more feeling like I was now using more than usual and I got to 16 ounces for a total of 2 ounces for 9.5 lbs of grain. I mixed it by hand and I'm now letting it sit for 15 minutes and then I'm going to run it through the mill. Maybe the delay is the key. I definitely have not been using more water than desired.

[Big Nake]

Okay, this was very different and the key is CLEARLY the delay between conditioning and milling. Also, the mill not wanting to grab and roll as it should did not happen this time either. That was an issue that started with the conditioning but I was clearly missing the "wait" part. The mill performed much better just now.

Here are my rollers after the first mill:


And here is the crush:


Then I milled again and that went very smoothly. Here are the rollers after that:


And the final crush:


The rollers would ordinarily be crusted with grain schputz which must have been from milling too soon after conditioning. Thanks kids! I might love my mill again!

[neddles]

Looks good. Glad it went well.

[Big Nake]

I started my mash about 20 minutes ago and I did end up with a big doughball which is not normal so I think there may be something to making this change. I don't know if I'll get better yield/efficiency but I can't see this being bad in any way. I will be curious about how it impacts my clarity but I'm not going to worry about that now. Brewday has begun! Cheers Beerheads.

[pkrone]

Cheers!   Happy you don't have to invest in a new mill!

[djinkc]

Mills are weird.  I had a JSP that just wore out - wouldn't grab grain.  For whatever reason I cheaped out and bought a Cereal Killer a couple years ago.  When I unpacked it my first thought was I bought a toy.  It works.  I have it cranked down under .030 and the husks aren't intact.  I get 100% conversion when I check and hit the gravities I expect most of the time.  Love the Beefy Bodine motor that a few of us bought years ago.

[Bklmt2000]

As long as I get a crush that looks like what I posted earlier today, I will make my BC last as long as possible.

 

That said, I used to not have to do 2 passes to get a decent-looking crush.  That's a more recent development, strictly out of necessity.

 

But, since mills have gotten ever more spendy in the 11 years since I bought my BC, i want it to work for as long as possible.

[Big Nake]

As long as I get a crush that looks like what I posted earlier today, I will make my BC last as long as possible.
 
That said, I used to not have to do 2 passes to get a decent-looking crush.  That's a more recent development, strictly out of necessity.
 
But, since mills have gotten ever more spendy in the 11 years since I bought my BC, i want it to work for as long as possible.

I hear that. I don't know if I call myself cheap but I just really hate to replace something that I feel should stick around. All that said, I have probably mistreated this mill. I should lube it up and I should clean it better. What happened today was an eye-opener and I was just clearly missing one little thing.