I had to slow my brewing frequency to a near stop over the last year and a half. I have always ordered my grains crushed and when my brewing slowed, I found I was storing the grain much longer than I liked. Now that I’m brewing again, I want to buy in bulk and get uncrushed grain.
I recently bought a Monster MM2 mill. Since there were no instructions included in the box, I fiddled with everything to see how it worked. Well, I also adjusted the gap from the factory settings. I have gap tools to measure the gap and adjust, but now wonder what the best setting is?
Understanding all brewing setups are different, what are your preferred gap settings? Please chime in and tell me your opinions along with if you’re fly or batch sparging. Thanks to all.
I used a permanent sharpie and marked both ends at .035, .040, and .045 inch.
What do I run? Using about .039 or so for most 2 row right now with a hose braid. Would go a little over .040 for my pics false bottom. Lower for 6 row, rye and wheat since the kernels are smaller.
My gap is ~35 mil. I use a 0.88mm (Dunlop Tortex green) guitar pick to set my gap. I BIAB, so too fine a crush isn’t an issue for me. YMMV for spargers.
Well, I’d say crush quality and still having the ability to drain the tun in a reasonable amount of time. Another thing that Denny reminds me of, is the speed at which the rollers are spun. If you spin fast, you might have to increase the gap a bit and vice versa. Another variable is if you condition the malt prior to milling. All of these factors suggest that there isn’t a preferred gap. However, there is the gap that works for you.
Great answers everyone! Lots of things I hadn’t accounted for. Mill speed wasn’t something I’d ever considered.
I’ve used a CPVC manifold, grain bag net, and a stainless braid as different options in my mash cooler. I’ll likely stick with the braid, which should allow a fairly fine crush. Time to experiment.
And I love the idea of using a sharpie to mark out some settings. I wish they’d have been marked out by Monster in the first place.
Just to be more complete, I crush very fine and have never had a runoff problem. I also run the drill I drive the mill with as fast as it will go and I don’t condition the malt. Yeah, counter to pretty much everything oter people do. But I get great efficiency and IMO great beer.
I have been conditioning but found a side effect on Sat’s brew that i’d not experienced before. The grains were sticking to the rollers and were slung out of the slight gap between the mill body and grain tray. I think I over did the conditioning. I’m not sure I am going to continue the practice because I got stuck mid way in the lauter. I simply shut the ball valve, stirred the grain bed, re-vorlaufed, and continued the lauter. No biggie but an indicator of crush issues.
Yes you overdid it. You only want be using an ounce or two at most…also more often overlooked is the time you should give it to absorb, I find ~30 minutes to be good.
Here is non-conditioned at .024
And conditioned at the same gap
If you are seeing shredding you need to look at more water or more time.
Totally agree with Martin about there not being an exact “preferred” gap. When I got my mill I did some test crushes and observed the results. I then brewed around 4 batches taking note of my flow rate and measured mash efficiency before I got to what I considered “dialed-in”. In the end, I ended up at 34mil and I think the out-of-the-box setting was .035. Drill speed is about a third to half trigger pull, but I use a big 6A 1/2 inch Craftsman, so that is going to vary with what you are using to turn those rollers. I get around 82%-85% mash efficiency, good flow, and as Denny said, great beer! As usual, it’s those end results that count rather than some precise number.
Sam P.
Thanks for all the responses. I won’t be conditioning because I didn’t get the MM2 rollers that specify they’re ok with the moisture. Might be fine with mine, but don’t want to chance it.
I’m getting some grain on order and looking forward to some experimenting.
I still have my old MM-2 mill as a backup, and got good results with conditioning. Just reserve a lb or 2 of your grist and run it dry through the mill after. That picks up most of the residual moisture - and you can let it air dry in a ventilated place. I have not seen any rust or corrosion at all.
I still need to give this a try with the MM-3. Having issues with the bushings catching and not pulling malt through properly.
In my humble opinion, the Monster Mill design has too much play in the shaft to bushing interface. The Schmidling Malt Mill is heads and shoulders above the 2 and 3-roller Monster Mills in this regard. A Malt Mill with 10" rollers provides bind-free operation using only two fasteners whereas a Monster Mill with 6" rollers requires four fasteners that have to be aligned and tightened carefully to prevent binding, especially the 3-roller mill.
A Monster Mill works fine after one manages to get the bushing blocks aligned correctly, but the Schmidling product is stupid proof out of the box. What the Schmidling mill lacks in bling, it more than makes up for from a mechanical point of view. That’s why there are so many old Malt Mills still in use. It’s not like Jack has not had competition over the years.
My advice is to keep whatever gap setting you settle on once you find your favorite. If I change mine I can no longer predict my OG very well. If I leave it alone, I get consistent efficiency and know I can design a recipe and at least get the OG spot on every time.
Yes, I think this is the beauty or the reason behind my choice of the pre-set JSP Maltmill. The crush is set permanently, so once you dial in your crush and the resulting efficiency, you’re all set. You can then figure all your recipes based on that number. That predictability is what I was looking for, and the JSP delivered. I actually get 79% eficiency on most of my recipes, albeit a little less if the grist has 50% wheat, etc. So, I know what I’m going to get. And, I think I read somewhere along the journey that the goal shouldn’t be 100% efficiency, that there is a sweet spot for efficiency somewhere around 80% where you are getting the most of your ingredients without any negative effects which might be gotten from an higher yield.
I have my mill set at the width of a credit card. I also condition my grain for 15 min before crushing. I get a pretty consistent 80% mash efficiency doing BIAB.