Do you need to grind your malt?

I'm sorry if there is already a thread like this out there, but I couldn't find one. I have done two extract brews and want to move to AG. I was wondering if I have to grind the mat I get at my LHBS. and if so what is the best meathod if I do not have a mill? thanks!

You don't grind the malt you crush the malt.
And your LHBS should be able to do this for you if you don't have a mill.

Tim

Grind or crush both work. Crushing is better, but I would call the Corona mill more of a grinder than a crusher, and it works great for me.

If you don't have a mill of some sort, it's usually best to have them crushed at your LHBS. If you are adventurous, you can crush small amounts of grain with a rolling pin. I wouldn't recommend that since it is very labor intensive and you get varied results.

The grain definitely needs to be crushed - otherwise you will not be able to extract the starches, sugars, and enzymes inside the grain. And without the starches, sugars, and enzymes, you're going to find it difficult to make beer. I always have my grain milled at my LHBS.

most LHBS will crush your grain for you if you ask them to.

Yes...

Thanks everyone! I'm just a little worried since my LHBS is just a liquor store with a homebrewing section with a bunch of people that can't answer my newbie questions I throw at them haha, but thanks! I hope they have a crusher

Let me ask a stupid question... I have switch to a new supplier. They are dirt cheap. Problem is, they won't grind my malts for me. So.... could I used a coffee grinder or a magic bullet for this? Otherwise I am SOL....

Look into getting a mill? You can get a simple corona mill for pretty cheap. Works well enough for me. The malts will stay good for quite awhile left uncrushed so there is no rush to brew these malts up.

Since I do BIAB partial mash,I need a finer crush. I use an old mini food processor. Fill it about half full of grain,then pulse 3 times at about 2 seconds per pulse. Using a paint strainer bag rolled around the lip of the BK/Mt,I can stir the mash for high efficiency. Works great so far.

Great, I will try this with my Magic Bullet and see how things turn out. Just a few pulses to break up the husks.

Vman said:

So.... could I used a coffee grinder or a magic bullet for this? Otherwise I am SOL....

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No. You are SOL.

You could maybe get away with it doing BIAB, but I can't imagine doing 11lbs of grain in a magic bullet.

That thing's abit small for a lot of grain. but my mini food processor idea does a fine crush that's needed for BIAB,which I do,so it works for me.

A grain mill need not be expensive. I have one like this one I found at Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000U5NZ4I/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

If you begin doing larger batches the hand crank will be tedious but it would definitly work. I use one just like it for my all grain BIAB batches.

With a mill like this you are no longer at the mercy of a LHBS that doesn't have a mill or does a poor job of milling.

I should have been more specific... I am doing extract right now. The grain (1 pound) is Caramunich and will be steeped.

A coffee grinder wouldn't be the tool of choice, certainly. First off, most coffee grinders actually chop rather than grind; and second, the results will be far too finely powdered, even with a coarse, brief grind. For anything but a very small steep, most coffee grinders are too small in capacity to do the job efficiently - most partial mashes are in the 1-4 lb (0.5-2kg) range, while an all-grain mash will almost invariably use over 6 lbs (2.5kg) of grist. Your typical 'magic bullet' type grinder has a capacity of about 2oz (60g), so I'm sure you can do the math yourself, especially since malt is somewhat less dense than coffee.

The real goals in crushing malt is to a) strip the hulls from the kernel in a way as to leave the hulls as intact as possible, then b) crush the kernels themselves into a coarse grist that leaves the starches exposed to the diastatic enzymes. The best tool for this is a three-roller mill, which is what almost all commercial breweries use; however, a homebrewer's version of such a mill generally costs at least $200 US, which might not be in your budget, and for a brand like Monster or Crankandstein may cost as much as $450 US. On the other hand, a plate mill such as a Corona or Victoria can be had for less than $50 US, but they are a grinder rather than a crusher, and tend to over-grind the malt on even a very coarse setting.

This is the cheapest one midwest sells,but it's out of stock atm; http://www.midwestsupplies.com/barley-crusher-maltmill-w-7-lb-hopper.html
It has a 7lb hopper,which is great for me,as I mash 5lbs of grains for my PB/PM BIAB beers & is 130 bucks.

unionrdr said:

This is the cheapest one midwest sells,but it's out of stock atm; http://www.midwestsupplies.com/barley-crusher-maltmill-w-7-lb-hopper.html
It has a 7lb hopper,which is great for me,as I mash 5lbs of grains for my PB/PM BIAB beers & is 130 bucks.

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Not a bad choice, especially for a beginner, a nice two-roller mill at a good price. I agree with Unionrdr on this, especially since you would then also be in a position to order malt in bulk, which is much cheaper.

I just checked for other brew shops in Ottowa, and didn't come up with anything; there are two in Toronto and a few elsewhere in Ontario, but all are in the southeast of the province and none are close to you AFAICT. Mail order may be your best bet for getting suitable supplies of malt and equipment.

I get my malt (any type I want) for 99c per pound. Is that a good price??

Vman said:

I get my malt (any type I want) for 99c per pound. Is that a good price??

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I priced Munich 10L at my local supplier and it was $2.20 in a one pound bag. Does that make your malt sound good?

For small units (as opposed to 50lb or 20Kg sacks)? That's an excellent price, at least compared to what we see around where I am. YMMV depending on your location, though.

Have you asked about bulk prices? They may be even lower, if your LHBS is anything like most others.

You can get up to 20 lbs per order at the 99 cent price. It's more than enough for me. Thanks for your reply.

RM-MN said:

I priced Munich 10L at my local supplier and it was $2.20 in a one pound bag. Does that make your malt sound good?

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WOW... yes. Thanks.

If you don't mind me asking, what do you have in mind for your equipment? I'm specifically thinking in terms of you MLT (mash-lauter tun), your brew kettle and your wort chiller. Any plans on those so far? What do you already have?

As for malt mills, the Barley Crusher is a good middle of the road model, and more than adequate for most brewers. You might want to look at some of the more upscale models, though, if only to see what they're like. Aside from the BC, the three that I know of are the JSP, Crankandstein, and Crankandstein's evil twin, Monster Brewing Hardware. Check them out and consider what you can afford. IMAO, the MM-3 2.0 is probably the best on the market, but you pay through the nose for it.

(It says something about my own current finances that I don't have a mill myself, though the LHBS does a more than adequate job in any case.)

Wort chillers, if you don't have one already, really are a lifesaver. They range in price from around $70US for a basic immersion chiller, up to $200US for the top-flight plate chiller (the Blichmann Therminator). It is even possible to build a simple one for about $30US, if you are inclined to a little mechanical work.

I have an aluminum kettle that I use to steep grains and brew from extracts. Then the usual fermentation stuff (carboys, demijohns, hoses, etc.). I don't want to move to full mash. I have two kids and I don't have the time. I live in Canada, so chilling my wort is easy. There are lots of snow piles outside. I brew 80 per cent of my beer around now and then keg it all so I have lots to last through the summer. I used to use a guy who milled my malts for me. The new guys (with the 99c price) won't do that. They don't have the time. So, I'm not looking to change what I do, I just want to find a way to mill 1 pound of grain at a time. .... I may use a rolling pin and just tough it out.

Vman said:

Let me ask a stupid question... I have switch to a new supplier. They are dirt cheap. Problem is, they won't grind my malts for me. So.... could I used a coffee grinder or a magic bullet for this? Otherwise I am SOL....

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It's not a stupid question but to answer it I wouldn't advise it. After I moved I didn't have access to a mill for a short time and since I'd injured my arm I thought maybe I could make due. It worked but my extraction was terrible and it really needed hulls for the massive amounts of dust it produced in quick order. What's worse is that you have to grind them in very small quantities or shake the crap out of it while you do it and it'll still miss a bunch of them and leave them uncracked/broken.

For what it's worth, there really isn't anything wrong with a Corona and you can pick one up for $25 bucks give or take a bit from Amazon (I think the one I bought was about $22 shipped until I could order my Monster Mill) and it's shipped quite fast. I'd honestly wait. Alternatively I'd look into other methods such as the bottle rollover or rolling pin (if you're a sadist) or the pie plate (or cake pan) and the rubber mallet (this actually works decently in small quantities) but the mallet approach takes for freaking ever. If you take either approach I'd suggest the deepest cooking sheet you have to go under it, especially if you go the pie pan/tin route. I would never do either of them again (call me lazy) unless it was specialty grain for an extract brew because doing it for a full All-Grain batch might very well make me psycho.

As far as your equipment, I've heard some suggest some of the paint straining bags from local hardware shops (nylon ones IIRC) are useful if you go the BIAB approach and it really doesn't seem much more difficult if it's of interest. A friend I work with uses a similar approach to do Partial Mashes with great results.

Sidenote as I'm not overly familiar with Canadian cuisine... But if you pick up a Corona style mill they're actually fantastic for grinding fresh corn meal if you're into things that use it. I wouldn't recommend eating it fresh ground that way every day mind you as it's hard on your enamel but it's hard to beat for fresh. I picked up a stone attachment for mine once I replaced it and couldn't be happier.

Turns out the wife has a friend with a husband who has a husband that brews. He owns a grain mill. I'm going to grind my stuff there (so. Can keep my timeline) and keep my eye open for a cheap used mill online. Thanks everybody!

Vman said:

Turns out the wife has a friend with a husband who has a husband that brews. He owns a grain mill. I'm going to grind my stuff there (so. Can keep my timeline) and keep my eye open for a cheap used mill online. Thanks everybody!

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Your wife's friend's husband has a husband?

Sorry... Couldn't pass that typo up...

freisste said:

Your wife's friend's husband has a husband?

Sorry... Couldn't pass that typo up...

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Wow... that's embarrassing.... and you guys are Ruthless! RUTHLESS I SAY!!

Looks like it's a bit more expensive than I said earlier @ $27 shipped (stupid inflation) Example Generic Corona Mill. For about $25 though I'd still keep mine for insurance if nothing else. And for specialties it would save you a trip to the other guys house but the counterside of that coin it would prevent you from being given beer to sample so you have to weigh the cons as well....

freisste said:

Your wife's friend's husband has a husband?

Sorry... Couldn't pass that typo up...

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Who says it's a typo? He could be friends with the Zell-Ravenhearts, for all you know...

SOrry for derailling, there, but I just had to put in my $0.02.

Ha. Actually, the OP confirmed it as a typo. And I have no idea what a Zell-Ravenheart is...

Canadian Wort chiller... Neat "eh"!?

So to clear your driveway you could just have a huge beer making party. It's brilliant!

Joking aside, do you have issues with it sucking things back into the pot? I swear mine creates a slight vacuum action when I use Ice to chill quickly and I'm always afraid of infection. I had always thought it was supposed to work the other way around strangely but it's enough to pull a piece of paper to it if you suspend it near it.

Never had that issue. Having said that I leave space (as you can see) so, it'd need to be pretty strong suction to pull anything back.

Maybe it's just my lid. It's pretty flush on mine. I always thought cold expanded and heat contracted though so it's always been kind of weird to me.

Accidic said:

Maybe it's just my lid. It's pretty flush on mine. I always thought cold expanded and heat contracted though so it's always been kind of weird to me.

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Heat expands

Yes, but the chane in pressure created by the temperature fluctuation would create a vacuum. ... having said that, I've never really noticed a problem.

I always thought heat expands too but mine will hold paper all the way around the lip without the paper coming off wet. I usually wrap plastic wrap over and around out just to be safe.