Crush advice?

[nate_e]

After dealing with variable crush quality from various suppliers, I finally bit the bullet and went in on a MM2. I just ran ~4lbs of 2-row through it to get the burrs off and play with the gap setting. I don't have much experience on this front, so I was wondering if y'all would be willing to weigh in on the quality of the crush for the various gap settings.
Top to bottom, the settings were: 0.045" (factory), 0.041", 0.039", 0.037"

 

[airdog_47]

I crush more on the .037 to .035 side of things which may be too much. Its gonna depend on if your mash tun can handle it or not, thats why most lhbs set higher to reduce complaints on stuck sparging. Finer crush more efficency possible stuck sparges. Course crush less efficiency almost no stuck sparges.

 

[BigRedHopHead]

I think your .039 looks good. .037 looks like a bit much flour. You will have to adjust the gap after 3-4 batches when the sharpness of the burrs wears down on the rollers from the factory. I have a MM2 2.0 set at .038, works great for my cooler mash tun. Put 20 batches through since christmas never a stuck sparge.

 

[Varmintman]

I happen to be a expert on crushes and all I will say is never let your wife find out

Joking aside your crush depends on your system and how you sparge. The finer the crush you can achieve without stuck sparges is by far the best. I would start with the second one and every batch tweak it a bit finer until you are on the edge of a stuck sparge. Lock the system down and toss a couple of handfuls of rice hulls in every time.

Just for the record my crush is perhaps a tad finer than your finest crush and I batch sparge with a hose braid. Sometimes I will have to cut the top of the grain bed to help the sparge but over all it works

 

[nate_e]

I happen to be a expert on crushes and all I will say is never let your wife find out

Hah, that made my morning.

More than anything, I was skeptical about the 0.045" factory setting. It seemed like a large gap to start with on paper and after trying it out it looks pretty coarse. It still looks better than what I've gotten from NB or the LHBS in the past. From what I've read around here I guess they go really coarse to prevent people from getting stuck sparges.
I think for my first batch using the MM2 I'll go with a gap somewhere between 0.041-0.039". I'm running a 10gal round rubbermaid MLT with a SS false bottom and fly sparging so I'm a little hesitant to go all the way down to 0.037" or below until I know how the systems handles material finer than anything I've used in the past.

On a side note, do any of you condition? I didn't get SS rollers, but I gather the amount of water used to condition is pretty minimal and shouldn't rust everything up.

 

[D_Nyholm]

I tried conditioning for the first time my last batch. Used very little water and it bound up my rollers on my barley crusher terribly. I have to remove all the grain and clean the rollers and then drop the grain in a cup at a time while using my corded drill to spin it through. I must have done something wrong, but I used about 6 ounces of water for almost 20 lbs of grains and let it sit for a good 30 minutes before I crushed it.

 

[BigRedHopHead]

I condition. Started doing it about 10 batches ago. First time used too much water and bound up the rollers. It takes some trial and error to get the feel for it. My efficiency has gone up a couple points. I use a spray bottle and mist the water over the grains, stir, repeat about 5 times for a 10lb grain bill. Make sure to let the grains sit 20 minutes after spraying them to allow the husks to soak up the moisture. My first time I didn't do this and may have contributed to the binding up.