Just thought i’d post my experience. I’ve been doing all grain for about a year and a half and I was getting frustrated with it because my effeciency was always about 58-63 %. So i’d have to compensate by adding 2 or 3 lbs of base malt to get up to the correct OG.
After talking to some people at NB (grand ave) I ran the grain through the grain mill at NB (Grand ave) twice. The result shot my effeciency up to the 75% i was hoping.
I do only batch sparging but now that I’ve figured out my low effeciency, I’m excited to brew again. The low effeciency was bothering me and I actually went back to extract for a while. Hope this might help anyone struggling with low effeciency and hitting all the right temps.
In addition, if two passes doesn’t help, it is also worth asking your LHBS what the gap setting is on their mill. At my shop, it was .045, and there were a LOT of uncrushed kernels left even after two passes. Got my own mill and efficiency is up 12 - 15%.
IIRC the mill at NB Grand Ave is locked at 0.043".
You may want to look at more of your processes before jumping on the NB mill first. You had a effic jump due to the healthy amount of flour created by the second pass which batch sparging you can get away with to an extent. Its still not ideal and for fly sparging may create more rates of stuck sparges.
Secondly it has been locked for at least 12 months(As far as I know) as Greg said because too many people were horsing around making unsound adjustments and messing up everybody’s crush.
Within the last 12 months or better I have gotten 80-85% fly sparging with one pass using NB grand ave crusher and I always throw a cup of base through and catch the crush to evaluate before throwing my batch in and the crush is always golden looking.—JFYI
They just redid there grain room really nice and are going to be putting in 2 brand new mills.
Warning: RANT
I must say I am not a fan of the “new” grain room. It is nicer looking, and there is more room to move around, but the stupid little grain bins and tiny little shovels drove me nuts on Monday. It took me twice as long as usual to weigh out 5 different grains because the little shovels only hold like 3oz in them. The NB staff didnt seem real thrilled about the small bins and smaller shovels either.
Oh, well. I’ll learn to live with it.
I had them get my grain and grind it they used a big scoop not those baby ones.
Maybe they hide the big scoop I don’t know.
I haven’t been there in over a month, so this is all news to me. It shouldn’t change the fact that the MAIN staff at grand are the ones that control the mills and in all my years of brewing I have never had a thought of buying a mill as it was unneeded because of my gravy crush at grand, so I would assume their watchful eye is in effect on the new mills also.
3oz scoops huh? Round about way of helping brewers control the amount of color malt they use? That way if they have to scoop out 12 scoops of 120L they might have to actually think about it? I kid, but your post Greg just made me laugh at the thought.
That’s funny Chuck as it continues my thought from Gregs post and you never know:
I also am conjuring up “soup Nazi” references too…NO chocolate malt for you!
Must have been very recent; I was there not 3 weeks ago.
It was done last week sometime.
[quote=“ITsPossible”]in all my years of brewing I have never had a thought of buying a mill as it was unneeded because of my gravy crush at grand[/quote]There’s more to owning your mill than just the crush, though - buy your grain in bulk and pay $0.50 per lb for base grain including shipping and the ability to crush minutes before mashing are the two that really sold me.
I hear ya there Shade! A mill will be my next beer purchase. Having odd amounts of preground grain laying around seems wasteful to me…and I always feel inclined to add odds and ends into recipes just so they are used. I would love being able to grind the exact needed amount just prior to brewing.
If only NB allowed grain to be sold by the oz…
Not to mention, if you have a mill you can buy a sack of base malt, 10 lbs each of 6 different specialty malts, and a bunch of hops and brew any of an array of styles whenever the mood strikes. It’s pretty awesome.
