suhornet84

Recipes 

My LHBS does not mill the grain you buy for you, so I was wondering what's the easiest way to do it myself (without buying a mill)?

Revvy

Recipes 

You'll have to buy a mill, it's really really hard to try to crush 10 pounds of grain with a rolling pin or a wine bottle and a ziplock bag, which is fine for a couple pounds of steeping grain bu to do godd all grains or partial mashes you will need a consistant crush of grain and you cant really do that to well by hand.....

But the good news is, you don't have to spend an arm and a leg, there are a couple cheap alternatives that work great.

Many folks have modified a 20 dollar pasta machine found at the art supply store to work great. http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/using-pasta-maker-mill-grain-75784/

And many folks, including Charlie Papazian are quite happy with the old Corona Style Corn and grain mill.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-ugly-junk-corona-mill-station-90849/

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suhornet84

Recipes 

That's what I thought. For my last brew I used a pound of 10L to steep and used a bottle of pasta sauce to crush the grain in a zip lock bag, but is was a pain in the ass.

Homercidal

Recipes 

Corona mills are not that expensive. Many people use them to great effect. The nice thing is, for that small investment, you can start using BULK grain instead of buying a single kit worth.

50 lbs. of 2-row for $40?? Heck yeah! You will recoup your investment quickly. Uncrushed grain lasts for many many months in cool dry conditions so you are ready to brew whenever you want, instead of having to brew only when the LHBS is available. (important to me, where the LHBS is an hour and nearly a half away!)

IXVolt

Recipes 

I bet if you put a bug in the ear of your LHBS they would get a mill for grain. I've only been to 6 different homebrew stores, but everyone I've been in had a mill and was happy to grind for you.

+1 on grinding your own. It took me a while to buy a mill, but I'm glad I did.

weirdboy

Recipes 

I don't think I would open a homebrew store without a grain mill in it.

The Pol

Recipes 

Where do you live?

Since you have to buy a mill or some contraption anyhow, you can bypass the LHBS and go to a place like the Country Malt Group and get 2-Row for 55lbs at $27, Pilsner for 55lbs for $36. Your LHBS did you a favor

Buy in bulk, get a milling contraption and you are all set.