7 replies to this topic

[Big Nake]

I used to run the grain through the mill one time. We compared "crushes" in a thread and mine looked a little "uncrushed" to some. I started milling twice. I don't really look at efficiency or OG measurements anymore so I don't really know if my numbers went up. There was also no real flavor difference so I don't think I was pulverizing the grain. But I have had a hard time during my recirc getting clearer wort into the BK and my thought was that I was getting too much "flour" into the BK and eventually primary. So I'm considering going back to one crush. Thoughts?

[neddles]

I used to run the grain through the mill one time. We compared "crushes" in a thread and mine looked a little "uncrushed" to some. I started milling twice. I don't really look at efficiency or OG measurements anymore so I don't really know if my numbers went up. There was also no real flavor difference so I don't think I was pulverizing the grain. But I have had a hard time during my recirc getting clearer wort into the BK and my thought was that I was getting too much "flour" into the BK and eventually primary. So I'm considering going back to one crush. Thoughts?

 

IIRC your mill won't mill properly if you try to adjust it tighter? Measure your OG and see if the single crush matters. 

[djinkc]

OG is one of the few things I always measure.  If you're concerned brew identical batches with one crush vs two.  Is you mill adjustable?

 

Why are you so concerned about clear wort going into the kettle?  I've been batch sparging lately and the runoff is much more cloudy than flying.  The OG samples and beer  in the glass look the same.

[Big Nake]

Why are you so concerned about clear wort going into the kettle?  I've been batch sparging lately and the runoff is much more cloudy than flying.  The OG samples and beer  in the glass look the same.

Low-O2 brewing does not allow finings so you need to get as little trub as possible into the fermenter. Clearer wort coming out of the MT and into the BK means less trub going into the fermenter. I'm sure I'm getting much more fine flour crushing twice.

Yes, my mill is adjustable and it was originally set to .39. I had some issues when I started conditioning the malt and adjusted it to about .41 which worked better. But then we had the thread where we were comparing crushes and mine looked a little 'undercrushed' so I started crushing twice.

[neddles]

Ken, I wasn't sure which one of your threads to post it in but thought I would offer a data point here. I brewed today and upped my loss volume by 0.5 gallons to see if I could get 100% clear wort into the fermentor on a 1.043 OG. IOW, left a full gallon in the kettle at transfer instead of my usual 0.5 gallon. Anyhow, I got 5.25 gallons (out of 5.5 total) of perfectly clear wort in the fermentor. 

[Big Nake]

Ken, I wasn't sure which one of your threads to post it in but thought I would offer a data point here. I brewed today and upped my loss volume by 0.5 gallons to see if I could get 100% clear wort into the fermentor on a 1.043 OG. IOW, left a full gallon in the kettle at transfer instead of my usual 0.5 gallon. Anyhow, I got 5.25 gallons (out of 5.5 total) of perfectly clear wort in the fermentor.

That's a good data point. I did up my volume from 5.25 gallon batches to 6 on a recent batch. One issue that I seem to be having is that the trub in my BK even after WF in the kettle, a quick chill and a long time settling (usually around 45 minutes) is so fluffy and there is just so damn much of it. Even with a larger volume I still only got 3.5 gallons of clear wort into the fermenter before I started picking up trub. I need to limit it and I also need to see if I can get it more compact. Rehydrated irish moss plus some of the P10 is going to be used on the next batch as well.

[jayb151]

I actually liked to mill twice. I was using the mill at my LHBS and they messed with it somehow to where one milling wouldn't crush enough and I saw a drastic drop in efficiency.

 

If you're not seeing a drop in efficiency with one milling, I'd just stick with that! My new LHBS has a mill that double crushes in one pass, so that's what I'm using till I buy a mill!

[positiveContact]

I used to run the grain through the mill one time. We compared "crushes" in a thread and mine looked a little "uncrushed" to some. I started milling twice. I don't really look at efficiency or OG measurements anymore so I don't really know if my numbers went up. There was also no real flavor difference so I don't think I was pulverizing the grain. But I have had a hard time during my recirc getting clearer wort into the BK and my thought was that I was getting too much "flour" into the BK and eventually primary. So I'm considering going back to one crush. Thoughts?

 

I think you are putting too much emphasis on getting perfectly clear wort into the BK.