Has anyone had experience with Weyermann Floor-Malted Bohemian Pilsner malt? My Cereal Killer mill could not crack it. Sounded like it was trying to crush steel ball bearings. I'm wondering if this is characteristic of this malt or something was wrong with my batch. Gap is set for 0.030-inch. Result was whole uncrushed grains Changed gap to 0.025 and same thing - lots of noise, kernels made it through unscathed. I ran the batch through 3 times. Some kernels looked okay but 90% looked like they weren't milled at all. Other grain styles crushed fine. Been using this mill for years with no problem until this malt.
Hasn't happened to me, but if it did I'd compare the size of problem grains with other malted barley. If there's nothing off about that, I'd then run a handful of the Weyermann and look for spreading of the rollers as it passed through, possibly indicating something awry with your mill, like some slop/play from a worn bearing surface. Thought about suggesting a chew test, but you might break a tooth if the husks are uber tough.
I ran a sack through my mill last fall without issue or making any adjustments. My mill is 20 years old and a standard soft knurled two-roller type. I typically precondition my malt with a few ounces of water out of a spray bottle. I doubt it would make much difference but I'm including the information to be thorough.
Considering how lightly kilned Pilsner malt is I find it highly unlikely it’s the mill and more likely that something is wrong with your mill.
I had a similar problem with my cereal killer mill. I found that a lot of the grains were escaping somewhere around the rollers and falling into the bucket. Couldn't figure out how to troubleshoot it and ended up just upgrading to a Monster Mill.
Living in Germany, I use that as a substitute for pale malts sometimes in IPAs or English ven mix it with Maris Otter. I’ve been using it for 12 years. I’ve never had a problem with my malt mill in crushing those grains. I bet the malts could’ve been stale, which would make them very hard.
