Teufelhunde
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A little background first. I am relatively new to All grain, having done only extracts until I got a smokin' deal on a Brewzilla. I have 6 batches done, and have been struggling with mash efficiency, some as low as 50%. I did a couple with grain from my not so LHBS (70 miles away), and the rest with grain purchased from Morebeer. All grain was purchased crushed.
This morning, as I was in the process of mashing in, I noticed one of the bags had a lot of "barley flour" in it, but didn't think too much of it. I got all the grain in and set the recirc pump for as slow as I could get it and let it hum. Checked it a couple of times in the first 10 minutes and all seemed well. Gave it about 10 minutes until the next check and it was full and going down the overflow pipe. Shut the pump off and tried to let it drain down a little, no dice, didn't want to move. I then lifted the heavy AF malt pipe out and placed it on the rests. It started draining just a little, so I left it there for a while. It finally drained down to where I could get ahold of the top screen, and that's when I saw the issue. There was about an 1/8" layer of flour plugging up the top screen. I managed to get the screen out and then got in there and loosened up the grist which was really compacted and dry-ish. Dropped the malt pipe back into the wort and gave everything a good mixing before setting it up to recirc again.
From there, all was pretty normal, except when I went to clean up, the hop cone on top of the false bottom, instead of the nice forest green it usually is, was more of a baby poop green it was so loaded with flour.....
Lesson learned from all this......crush your own grain....I'm pretty sure that's why my efficiency has been all over the place is due to inconsistent crush......Oh well, it's only money, right?
Anyone got suggestions for a reasonably priced motorized grain mill? I can't save money on a hand crank one due to f'd shoulders that would not let me turn the crank for more than a couple turns.....
YMMV
Lon
This morning, as I was in the process of mashing in, I noticed one of the bags had a lot of "barley flour" in it, but didn't think too much of it. I got all the grain in and set the recirc pump for as slow as I could get it and let it hum. Checked it a couple of times in the first 10 minutes and all seemed well. Gave it about 10 minutes until the next check and it was full and going down the overflow pipe. Shut the pump off and tried to let it drain down a little, no dice, didn't want to move. I then lifted the heavy AF malt pipe out and placed it on the rests. It started draining just a little, so I left it there for a while. It finally drained down to where I could get ahold of the top screen, and that's when I saw the issue. There was about an 1/8" layer of flour plugging up the top screen. I managed to get the screen out and then got in there and loosened up the grist which was really compacted and dry-ish. Dropped the malt pipe back into the wort and gave everything a good mixing before setting it up to recirc again.
From there, all was pretty normal, except when I went to clean up, the hop cone on top of the false bottom, instead of the nice forest green it usually is, was more of a baby poop green it was so loaded with flour.....
Lesson learned from all this......crush your own grain....I'm pretty sure that's why my efficiency has been all over the place is due to inconsistent crush......Oh well, it's only money, right?
Anyone got suggestions for a reasonably priced motorized grain mill? I can't save money on a hand crank one due to f'd shoulders that would not let me turn the crank for more than a couple turns.....
YMMV
Lon