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DSMbrewer · 11-02-2010, 07:04 PM

Fro those of you who do not have a LHBS, a mill seems to be on e of the logical things to have around. For those of us who have a LHBS, it seems to me that having the store house the grain and to let them grind it is the way to go. Any thoughts on having your own grain mill with a LHBS vs. not having a mill? Is it cost effective to own a mill with a local store in your backyard?

**IrregularPulse** · 11-02-2010, 07:07 PM

You can control the crush. Just because they have a mill, doesn't mean they give you a good crush. Plus with your own, you can buy grain in bulk and be ready to brew anytime. Regardless is the shop is open.

klyph · 11-02-2010, 07:08 PM

It's a matter of convenience. It's REALLY inconvenient for me to have to mill my grain at the LHBS, because their selection sucks. So, I buy in bulk and mill it myself.
If you have a LHBS with good selection and a mill, it's up to you if you want one.

**azscoob** · 11-02-2010, 07:14 PM

I have my own mill, it is one of the best purchases I have made. I buy in bulk, I condition my malt and crush as fine as I like, prior to getting my own mill I rarely got above the 65% eff. Now that I have tweaked my own milling process I am rarely below 85% eff, so my grain money goes farther to hit recipe target numbers.

PanzerBanana · 11-02-2010, 07:34 PM

I don't have a fancy mill but I got one of those cast iron hand cranked ones, from my shop. I could fit with a drill, but I really like having control over my grain, doing it by hand for the old fashioned touch.

lyacovett · 11-02-2010, 07:41 PM

I got a cheap corona mill. it much more convenient to mill the grain myself. I have the flexibility to brew whenever i want, without having to go to the LHBS to get grains. Keep around 100 lbs or so on hand and I can decide to brew last minute if I want. I also get around 83% eff. with my own crush .... but some like to have somebody else crush their grains. To each his own.

**Homercidal** · 11-02-2010, 07:50 PM

I live a ways form the LHBS, but even if I lived close, I'd still want a mill around. I built my own, so the cost was not an issue. Consider the facts:

1. Crushing your grain means you can keep bulk grains fresher longer.
2. Crushing you grain means you have fine control over your crush. Your LHBS *may* crush your grain perfectly. Or not.

It's a cost thing. I like having one, but if I had to buy one instead of building one using scrap at work, I'd have to think hard about it (not really, after owning one. It's just so handy!)

ReverseApacheMaster · 11-02-2010, 07:50 PM

I also have the cheap hand crank corona knock off. I have 3 HBS within driving range but I still like to buy and mill as I need it. One store is close and cheap, but has slim selections. The other two have better selections but they are more pricey and further away. I always overbuy a little more than I need so I have a stock of various grains on hand for those emergency/experimental/test batches. If I had it all milled it would go stale before I could ever use it all.

Synovia · 11-02-2010, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DSMbrewer

Fro those of you who do not have a LHBS, a mill seems to be on e of the logical things to have around. For those of us who have a LHBS, it seems to me that having the store house the grain and to let them grind it is the way to go. Any thoughts on having your own grain mill with a LHBS vs. not having a mill? Is it cost effective to own a mill with a local store in your backyard?

Its never cost effective to NOT own a mill.

If you have a mill, you can buy in real bulk, and get grain at about $.70/lb. You can get a corona, which isn't flash, but works fine, for $20-30.

DSMbrewer · 11-02-2010, 07:59 PM

That's kinda the thing.....my LHBS is close by and has great selection. Crush always seems good and i get about 75% eff. Looking at the price of a mill, bout $170, seems to me it would take a long time to get my money out of it. How much are bulk grains, money and bag size, and what is the best way to store?