Quick question: Is this grind sufficient?

edit: In the past, my efficiencies from the crushes ranged...

 

Yeah, big ranges. I love my mill.

The last time I was in the grain room at MW there was a guy crushing for a 16 gallon batch. 28# of Rahr 2-row and with quick math figure that to be about $35 (just checked $34.97, damn I was close ). I proceeded to tell him a 50# sack of that same grain is $34.99...same damn price plus 22# more base grain. Not sure how much people understand how quickly that mill pays for itself.

 

OP: This is a good crush, and I think some of us go even further. If you notice here that the's acutally flour in here. That's not a bad thing. I'd say your're only 1/3 of the way there so far. Just keep some rice hulls handy if you get too carried away and try to mash with pure flour.[/quote]
Agreed that's a good crush, but you should error on the finer side, not the coarser side. My mill produces a lot of flour, but keeps the husks practically whole. I've never had a stuck mash. Well that's not exactly true but it was from using unmalted not from the crush.

 

Or you can mill part of the grain and take the rest home, bringing back what you need milled each time for the next batch.

 

The BC factory setting is ok, but I have tweaked it a lot since I originally bought mine. I dont have a pic right now but my grains come out now where the husk is totally off the grain, but still intact enough to create a good filter bed.

 

Got word recently about tightening the Barley Crusher's factory-set gap from 0.039" using a credit card.

Interwebs sez a CC thickness is 0.030".

Get 60 - 65% efficiency with the factory setting.
Will see how that changes next Friday.

 

I get 75% with the BC factory setting, with a typical 1.2-1.3q/lb grain ratio, and batch sparging.

 

Yea, well I get 75% with my $15 corona style mill. So there .
I could get 80% but I would be approaching stuck sparge.

Back on topic, I would not brew with that grain as is.

 

Looks like an awful crush to me. Hate to sound like "that guy" but if you get grain pre crushed online or do it at a homebrew store, they usually make it so you'll get shitty efficiency, and have to get more the next time. Or maybe they just don't realize a finer crush is better. You don't want powder. You just want it to the point where you don't have any grains that still appear whole. You'll have a lot of coarse flour and empty husks. My crush is similar to HB42's as well. You just have to occasionally stir to stop dough balls. My efficiency is usually at 75% or a touch better.

 

Bad crush.

I don't blame the brewshop to an extent. They buy a standard monster mill, and after running a few thousand batches through it, the teeth wear off. They then won't grab the grain. The mill spins and spins, but nothing goes through. Then, you have to widen the gap slightly to get things to go through. This leaves half crushed grain.

If you KNOW you are having this problem, you have to re-gap the mill, then run things through again to get a proper crush. Some people can re-gap correctly... some can't.

I'd bet money the teeth on the mill at the shop are pretty much gone. Hopefully they replace the rollers, or get a new mill soon.