has anyone used pre crushed grains, my LHBS has bags of base malt of Breiss pre crushed grains
I don’t crush my grains at home so im depending on the store they look ok but my last 3 all grain batches came
10 pts lower than expected gravity could this be a problem I fly sparge keep an 1’ water on top takes bout an
hour to fly sparge could batch sparging b better? I trust that a product from Breiss would be fine or is it something im
doing wrong Thanks
Did you just start using those precrushed grains in the last 3 batches?
I BIAB and batch sparge so I can’t speak to fly sparging and efficiency.
Could be other things but crush is the first thing to look at with low efficiency. Unless you crush your own you can’t control the quality of the crush so you just have to increase the amount of grain to improve efficiency.
Fellow fly sparge right here. Without seeing your system in action it’s hard to say if it’s the sparge. It certainly sounds like your doing it correctly. I wouldn’t suspect your sparge unless you notice channeling. This is usually indicated by wort left in the grain when you clean the MT.
I would suspect the crush first. Many places are more concerned about their customers getting a stuck mash rather than excellent effeciency so the crush is more coarse.
ok let me start out by saying that my equiptment was modeled after Mullerbrau’s. Cart included, only exception is I have 15 gal Converted Kegs with Nat gas. my mash tun is a 75qt rect Colman xetreme cooler, and it is made identical to Mullerbrau’s so I try to collect 14 gal of wort boiled down to 12.5 and end up with 11 gal in fermentor with whats left in CFC and trub in kettle. you would think that Breiss base malt is a quality producer of grains and they would properly crush the grains but the last time i brewed i inspected the grains and it appears some were barely cracked i bit them open. i havent been back yo LBHS to talk to them i really like this store compared to others in my area. So i’M think i’m going to ket a crusher and do it myself
any recomendations on a quality crusher also what am i looking for in a proper crush so as not to b too coarse or too fine thanks guys
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I have a JSP. Served me well for 6+ years. I also know many people that have had their JSP for many more years than I. I started with a Barley Crusher and that thing was junk. Broke the first time I attempted to adjust the gap. Then they wouldn’t honor warranty because “I broke it.”
For a good crush you want the husk to be cracked with minimal powder. You can google image good crush and see it. Gap spacing is system dependent. I would start somewhere around .035 and adjust from there.
I agree regarding the barley crusher. Tossed mine and replaced it with a cereal killer. Used it 4 brew sessions and like it so far.
