[quote=“beerguy52”]Thanks for all your replies. I posted my rant out of frustration and I was out of line. I was having problems putting my MM together which were the result of my misunderstanding of the instructions exacerbated by never having actually seen any grain mill. (I know there are zillions of YouTube videos out there but they seen to be mostly about the mill in operation and not how to construct it.)
Anyway, I did get in touch with Fred Francis (Mr. Monster Mill) and he set me straight. My frustration pretty much stemmed from the fact that I am a mechanical idiot and there is nothing Fred can do about that!
The construction of the mill is first rate and is well worth the money - I am happy with my purchase and believe this mill will serve me well for years.
Now, about that new HERMS setup that I am wrestling with . . . .[/quote]
Your title lead me to this thread. I have met Fred, bought the 3 roller from him, and put together the hopper. I’m not sure I looked at the directions though. I didn’t think people looked at directions anymore.
You should change the title of this thread. Its not accurate.
[quote=“onthekeg”]Nuts out.
Also, what are you using for draining, how fast, how much head on the bed? If you have a 3 roller you can make flour. Thats, pretty easy. There are many reasons for your issues.[/quote]
I just have the toilet braid setup, 12" of braid probably, hooked up to a 3/8 valve and 3/8 hose.
Mash up to 14# in a 28 qt. cooler, after 212* infusion to get equal runnings it’s usually pretty full.
Could that be part of the problem, too much wort above the bed?
I recirculate 1/2 gallon to clear and set the bed, then runoff as fast as 3/8 can.
Sometimes it goes all the way to empty no problem, some times it slows to a trickle.
Some times it holds gallons above the bed. Poking around with a knife will always get it going again.
The whole surface locks down with the brown protein goo and sucks the grain into a brick when it does it.
I don’t think its stuck anywhere near the braid itself.
I’m not sure if crushing less or adding rice hulls would help the matter, unless it would allow the goo to get pulled into the bed itself and distributed more evenly instead of covering the surface.
It really probably is just a malt problem, think Maris Otter and other “premium” europe malts. I guess their just that gummy.
Can you post a picture of your crush?
I use a lot of Maris Otter and get fast run offs so I think you can rule that out.
“after 212* infusion to get equal runnings” Are you sparging with 212 degree water?
I don’t have a picture of the crush, or any grain to crush right now.
I only used it once so far, but I was surprised to see it look as crushed as it did with it set at .045.
It really did’nt make much flour with it set at .045,
Chunks of starch and shredded hulls.
Seem to always mash at 1.25 Qt/#
The infusion is usually 1.5 - 2 gallons @ 212 rarely does it get me over 160*
Then batch sparge with the other half of my target pre boil @ 170*
If it locks down on the first run, it locks on the second run too.
Maybe it could be from filtering so much wort through such a small footprint.
It’s like the filter works too well and plugs solid .
The nuts can go either way - I put mine on the inside since it was a lot faster to assemble with a wrench holding the nuts and a drill driving the bolt from the outside.
Looks pretty much the same as my 2-roll MM. Thanks for the photo.
As for stuck mash, try raking. Pils has a lot of protein and it will gum up the surface of the bed, if you lightly scratch back and forth on the top 1" you’ll break up this smooth surface and get it to run again. I rake routinely now because I crush pretty fine.
