2 roller grain mill setting ideas!

Doughav

Doughav

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Good day all.
My wife just gave me a new 2 roller grain mill for our anniversary. I currently use both a Digiboil, and Mash -n- Boil electric all in one kettles. I am wondering if anyone has preliminary adjustment settings to use on my new grain mill to get started with?
thanks,and happy brewing!
 
I would start with 1-1.5mm gap and go from there.

You want very little flour (don't pulverize it) but you want nice separation of the husks and uniform pieces.

Just realize, smaller crush will be more efficient, but easier to get stuck sparge. Larger will sparge easier, but will waste more.

You just have to mess with it for a couple brews and see what works
 
Thanks so much for that fast reply.. I'll give those settings a try.. All the best
Doug
 
One forum member (@Craigerrr ) advocated for a moist milling. Pre-moistening the grain for at least a half hour softens the husks, letting them tear in milling instead of cracking. He just spritzes some water on the grain while mixing it up. Not too wet, or it will gum up.

Not having a mill myself (that's one fine wife you have there @Doughav ) I can't say how well it works.
 
Donoroto said:
One forum member (@Craigerrr ) advocated for a moist milling. Pre-moistening the grain for at least a half hour softens the husks, letting them tear in milling instead of cracking. He just spritzes some water on the grain while mixing it up. Not too wet, or it will gum up.

Not having a mill myself (that's one fine wife you have there @Doughav ) I can't say how well it works.
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Thanks for the hints ... gonna try it this weekend.. I'm also a fan of your Lambic recipe!
 
Two roller mills work well. But keep in mind that continental malt grain (Europe) is larger than malt from North American. That means you might need to run the grain through twice. If you have it set on the manufacturers standard setting, this works really well for the smaller grain from NA, but when you mill European malt, the grain is "pulper" and the mill will not pass the grain. You have to open up the mill gap, pass it through, close it back to the standard setting and run it through again. That's why 3 roller mills were invented.

Be carful not to mill to fine, it will end up causing lots of problems and your extraction rate actually will decline.
 
My mill is set to 39 thousandths.
Works for me.
Also, as stated above, different grains will be different sizes and may require a second running. I've specifically found the muntons maris otter to be smaller and if you don't run it twice, your efficiency will tank.
Good luck,
Brian
 
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I grabbed my bank card and used this as my mill roller width it's worked bloody flawlessly for the last ten or so brews I've had it. Efficiency had increased a couple of points and I used to blitz my grains in a thermomix before this.
 
I use an all in one system (Brewzilla) with a bag, so don't have to worry about slow drain/sparge from the basket and I do the same as Ben and use about a credit card sized gap.
 
I use a modified BIAB mash. I set the rollers on my grain mill as tight as they will go. While this does shred up the husks a bit, they are still contained by the bag. I also only need one pass through the mill instead of two.

The bottom line is that the roller settings are dependent on your mash technique. With the Mash n Boil, I would keep edging toward a finer grind, much like that used in BIAB.
 
Bubba Wade said:
I use a modified BIAB mash. I set the rollers on my grain mill as tight as they will go. While this does shred up the husks a bit, they are still contained by the bag. I also only need one pass through the mill instead of two.

The bottom line is that the roller settings are dependent on your mash technique. With the Mash n Boil, I would keep edging toward a finer grind, much like that used in BIAB.
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What works, works. I have found with biab (also what I do) if you crush too small then it tends to drain too slowly to recirc. The Pump will literally pump out under the bag and the top will be over flowing.

There are also concerns with tannins if you destroy the hulls, although I have never noticed that lol
 
I use a feeler gauge that's .035". Probably could be just a little bigger, up to .040 and I'd have the same results with fewer stalls when milling.
 
Minbari said:
What works, works. I have found with biab (also what I do) if you crush too small then it tends to drain too slowly to recirc. The Pump will literally pump out under the bag and the top will be over flowing.

There are also concerns with tannins if you destroy the hulls, although I have never noticed that lol
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Yes, if you’re running a recirc pump, that can be a problem. I don’t use one. I just stir the mash 3 or 4 times.

And if you destroy the husks so they pass through the bag, you can have some issues with tannins. The setting on my grain mill won’t go small enough to destroy the husks.

I think most people will agree that the grind size is dependent on your equipment and mash method. There are some good guidelines here, but no “one size fits all”.
 
Donoroto said:
One forum member (@Craigerrr ) advocated for a moist milling. Pre-moistening the grain for at least a half hour softens the husks, letting them tear in milling instead of cracking. He just spritzes some water on the grain while mixing it up. Not too wet, or it will gum up.

Not having a mill myself (that's one fine wife you have there @Doughav ) I can't say how well it works.
Click to expand...

I did a brew yesterday, and pre moistened the grain. Got just a bit too much water and had to clean the rollers a few times. Makes a big diff the grain!
 
Dogwood said:
I did a brew yesterday, and pre moistened the grain. Got just a bit too much water and had to clean the rollers a few times. Makes a big diff the grain!
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Did you wait for 20 minutes or so after moistening before milling?
 
Craigerrr said:
Did you wait for 20 minutes or so after moistening before milling?
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I did, just put a bit too much water in the grain. Sure grinds up nice with this method. I did start to grind before I remembered to add water so I had a good comparison of the two methods. Its a big pain cleaning the rollers but a stuck mash is a much bigger pain!!
 
Donoroto said:
Rice hulls are your friends.:D
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or a strainer basket. all my stuck sparges went away when I made a mesh basket for the BIAB bag to sit in.
 
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