Midwest Uncrushed Rapid Response

Hey all I should have checked the boards first but I fell victim to MWS terrible grain mill. I have about 16lbs total, I ordered the BEAVER chocolate Stout and well some grains are crushed others are not. My LHBS might still be on vacation but in any case tomorrow is brew day, no way around that. I have read rolling pin I have read car, i have read books etc...

The issue I guess I have, since this is my first official all grain batch, I have rolled oats and all my other grains in their terrible bag of uncrushed grains. I was thinking of taking their massive bag, splitting in two, then placing two garbage bags wrapped with a towel and running over them in my garage. Has anyone done this or does anyone live in the Wichita Falls, TX area with a grain mill that wouldn't mind helping me out by running them through again?

Attached should be a picture or two of the grains.

That doesn't look like a bad crush. It looks like it's not crushed!

Not sure on how to crush them, I would try a rolling pin or a wine bottle first.

Maybe you could find a Corona style mill locally. Bed Bath & Beyond?

That is what I thought too, uncrushed all together. Some are crushed and some aren't. I am pretty disappointed with MWS and wont order from them for kits again. However, I will look in to a corona style mill; I have not heard of that.

I've done the rolling pin thing, and it's labor intensive. It works, though. I've also done the "pulse in a blender/food processor" thing. It's not ideal, but it also works if you don't turn the grains in to flour. The Corona comment is a good idea. Some Walmarts in the country stock them (some don't)... Good luck!

+1000 to the Corona Mill, I have one and love it, trying to crush 16 lbs of grain is going to be way time consuming. I wish I could help you but I'm a tad bit too far Good luck!

Thanks for the replies all. I think Corona mill would be best but oddly enough I don't think I will find a a corona style mill in my neck of the woods. I find it odd but I think I might be out of luck, I am considering the car option though.

Trick to pulse blender thing is not to put too much grain .. Only about a cup (depending on a blender) so the weight of the grain doesn't keep bottom part steady and therefore finely ground. It's annoying and takes long time but it works somewhat

Well I tried the car thing. I will be honest I didn't think it would work but it did! I put my grains in a towel and got in my car. I was nervous because I didn't want to ruin or waste $30 worth of grain. So I got in my car and found myself surprised that my LHBS owner had not gone on their planned camping trip and he crushed them for FREEEEEE! yay! Big shout to Ken at the Wichita Homebrew Supply! As always Ken was funny, glad to help and we talked about my favorite thing, homebrewing.

Here are the results of a proper crushing. FYI I am going to by a corona mill online for $20 in case this happens again. Midwest was some what helpful regarding my grains issue but not really worth talking about because they said there must be a problem with our mill that caused the crushing of grains to be less than adequate. HMMM ya think?

I would consider buying a mill from lhbs. They crushed grains for you for free that you bought from someone else(I know that kit is not one you can get just anywhere)that says something about the customer service there.

It seems almost every AG brewer soon after starting AG buys a grain mill I know I did! And now there are no more worries about crushed grain and efficiency.


Rev.

Regretfully my lhbs doesn't sell the mills. But he is a great guy. He is a customer service advocate without a doubt. I know the next time I'm getting my grain from him and the specialty if he doesn't have it from NB. I would like a homebrew mill but that will wait.

I have been using Midwest from the beginning from extract to all grain, these guys are Great. If you had problem you should have called them. I guarantee they would have rectified your issue.

junior said:

these guys are Great. If you had problem you should have called them. I guarantee they would have rectified your issue.

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I'm sure Midwest would've fixed it, as would Northern or most other brew supply shops. But, keep in mind he said, "but in any case tomorrow is brew day, no way around that". One thing I never got was how in these situations some others don't see the importance of time with brewing. Sometime us brewers only have a specific day we can brew on and having everything right makes all the difference between a good brew day or no brew day

And sometimes the weather is poor and ruins the brewday as well (since I boil outside)


Rev.

Look in the end my lhbs crushed them for free. Rev you're right some of us can only brew on specific days and none the less what happened, over all it was a good day except my strike was off.

Most online hbs (Midwest/northern brewer) actually list their recipes. I take them to the LHBS and get my grain. I would have felt odd going to them to crush my grain.

There's probably some feed stores around wichita falls and they may sell corona style mills. If not, you can definitely buy online through amazon.

Rev2010 said:

I'm sure Midwest would've fixed it, as would Northern or most other brew supply shops. But, keep in mind he said, "but in any case tomorrow is brew day, no way around that". One thing I never got was how in these situations some others don't see the importance of time with brewing. Sometime us brewers only have a specific day we can brew on and having everything right makes all the difference between a good brew day or no brew day

And sometimes the weather is poor and ruins the brewday as well (since I boil outside)


Rev.

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Rev, I appreciate that most people have a specific day to brew, I was only giving my opinion on Midwest. This thread is the reason why I finally broke down and purchased a Barley Crusher.

junior said:

Rev, I appreciate that most people have a specific day to brew, I was only giving my opinion on Midwest.

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My apologies, I didn't mean anything by it. It's just that in the past I complained one time about Northern taking a few days to ship from when I ordered and how it messed up my brew day. The responses weren't very understanding of the "time" issue


Rev.

ReverseApacheMaster said:

There's probably some feed stores around wichita falls and they may sell corona style mills. If not, you can definitely buy online through amazon.

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Corona mills are often used to prep chicken feed, so I'm sure someone in Witchita Falls sells one. I got mine from Amazon and love it. ReverseApacheMaster has an excellent write-up on using one if you click the link in his sig and dig around a little.

If you go with a Corona, you must check out Revvy's ugly junk corona mill thread, and particularly Wilserbrewer's corona in a bucket. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-ugly-junk-corona-mill-station-90849/index15.html#post1308996

Midwest really has some of the best customer support. If you had called immediately you would probably be surprised at what they would have done to help you.

One time I order some grains a few minutes after they closed (I ordered online at night, eastern time.) I realized that I forgot two grains and called them the next morning...they had been open for two minutes. They had already packaged my order and I told them I really wasn't happy about having to pay shipping twice since I needed to make a new order. They said they would help me out and left it at that. They overnighted both orders and charged me a $5 flat rate. I didn't even ask for that!

They have gone out of there way several times...they are really good to their customers, just let them know if you have an issue. I once got broken bottles from them, they sent me a free case no questions asked. Its the asking you just need to do.

As odd as it sounds I looked at all but one store and didn't find a corona mill. I am thinking the local ATWOODS might have one but none of the stores I thought would carry them did. In any case the beer is fermenting nicely. My strike was off about 8 degrees but it will still be amazing.

SciencePig said:

As odd as it sounds I looked at all but one store and didn't find a corona mill. I am thinking the local ATWOODS might have one but none of the stores I thought would carry them did. In any case the beer is fermenting nicely. My strike was off about 8 degrees but it will still be amazing.

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Midwest has the Corona Mills.