A proper grain mill...why didn't I buy one sooner!

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JSGT09

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I made the switch to AG about 4 batches ago and never looked back. I like to go the homemade route like many others do, partially to save money but mostly I just like to build stuff myself.

I order most of my grains online because my LHBS is far from my house (and expensive) so I made a grain mill out of the cheap Michael's pasta mill idea. Sure, it crushed grain, but took nearly 30 minutes and a lot of hand cranking sweat to get through 10 pounds. I was plagued with low efficiency (55-58% or so) for a few batches and chalked it up to the mill. I made my next batch with grain milled from my LHBS and my efficiency went up to about 65%. Time to buy a real mill!

I just got my Crankandstein last week and brewed on Sunday and I can't believe I didn't get this thing sooner! I milled 11 pounds of grain with my electric drill in about 5 minutes and my efficiency shot up to 73%. I could probably milk another 5% out of it with a roller adjustment.

So for those of you on the fence, this was probably one of my better investment aside from kegs and a fermentation chamber.
 
I did the same thing buying a cheap pasta machine first then a crankenstien. Now you just have to get an electric motor and mount it on something so you can just hit a switch and not hold a drill.
 
I have a crankandstein 2a and love it. Fortunately did not have to go through the pain of a crappy mill
 
I often hear the argument that few efficiency points is not worth the justification for purchasing a mill, however I'd have to totally disagree with this. Not only are batches and mash efficiencies incredibly consistent, but I now buy my grains in bulk at a cost of $.78 per pound compared to a $1.40 per pound. Right there I'm easily at about $8.00 per batch and I've run roughly 25 batches through the mill. The way I figure thing my malt mill has paid me $60 so far and will continue to make me $8.00 per batch.
 
.35 made my efficiency climb to 80%+

Hmmmm, I might have to adjust it down then. I seem to remember the stock gap being at .45.

And yes, time to buy some grain in bulk now! What are you guys keeping on hand with bulk grain? I assume some standard US 2-row, maybe some pilsner?
 
Hmmmm, I might have to adjust it down then. I seem to remember the stock gap being at .45.

And yes, time to buy some grain in bulk now! What are you guys keeping on hand with bulk grain? I assume some standard US 2-row, maybe some pilsner?

I keep a lot of grain, but the the stuff in the big bins:

2-row
Pilsner (only if you make lagers and belgians)
Light Wheat
Munich

Maris Otter is a great one to buy a bag of too, but I find that it's easy enough to mimic it with other malts.
 
I often hear the argument that few efficiency points is not worth the justification for purchasing a mill, however I'd have to totally disagree with this. Not only are batches and mash efficiencies incredibly consistent, but I now buy my grains in bulk at a cost of $.78 per pound compared to a $1.40 per pound. Right there I'm easily at about $8.00 per batch and I've run roughly 25 batches through the mill. The way I figure thing my malt mill has paid me $60 so far and will continue to make me $8.00 per batch.

$8 a batch for the grain alone, add in the hops yeast and propane and I imagine you're closer to $20.
 
I bought a Barley Crusher last year. My efficiency prior, having the grains crushed by NB or Midwest, was all over the place. I instantly was getting a consistent 79% efficiency except for my wheat heavy brews (hefeweizen, etc). I know the kernels are smaller so for the last 2-3 brews (not just wheats) I adjusted the gap a little tighter and have now been getting a consistent 81% efficiency and no stuck sparges so I'm leaving the gap as it is. Since you have a Crankandstein you can definitely get higher than 73%.


Rev.
 
Maris Otter is a great one to buy a bag of too, but I find that it's easy enough to mimic it with other malts.

Ooooh, how do you do that? I just bought a sack of 2-row and would love to still be able to make my favorite recipes which call for MO (silly LHBS was all out).
 
Ooooh, how do you do that? I just bought a sack of 2-row and would love to still be able to make my favorite recipes which call for MO (silly LHBS was all out).

I have bought MO and loved it. But I hate the trip to the LHBS, so I often do with what I have on hand, which is just about everything other than MO.

The last time I went through my english beer phase, I used pale malt and victory malt in a ratio that gave me the same color as the MO. Maybe replaced 10% of the pale malt with victory, don't remember.

I've read that you can get very close by replacing 15% of the pale with 10% munich and 5% carapils, but I haven't tried that (yet!).
 
The last time I went through my english beer phase, I used pale malt and victory malt in a ratio that gave me the same color as the MO. Maybe replaced 10% of the pale malt with victory, don't remember.

I've read that you can get very close by replacing 15% of the pale with 10% munich and 5% carapils, but I haven't tried that (yet!).

Thanks! That's exactly the sort of thing I was looking for.
 
I have the Barley Crusher and love it. 5-6 minutes for 15 ish pounds of grain. I buy in bulk but not the sacks but really want to. At least a sack of 2 row and then get the specialty malts as i need them but space is a problem and I'm not sure the best way to save them. I guess I could get some of the pet food conatainers (got one already that is great and holds about 25 lbs.) but I'm gonna think on this. $.80 a pound is pretty dang good.
 
My LHBS won't discount 50lb sacks....I just asked. But, his prices are very good compared to the big online stores.
I think Northern Brewer has some grains that are included in their $7.99 flat rate shipping. Can anyone confirm this? If so, I don't know how they do it. Shipping is expensive and UPS/FEDEX are filthy rich.
 
My LHBS won't discount 50lb sacks....I just asked. But, his prices are very good compared to the big online stores.
I think Northern Brewer has some grains that are included in their $7.99 flat rate shipping. Can anyone confirm this? If so, I don't know how they do it. Shipping is expensive and UPS/FEDEX are filthy rich.

I get 55# sacks off the truck when my local microbrew gets pallets. Look into that. By far your cheapest option.

The trick is to make very good friends with the head brewer.
 
matt2778 said:
I often hear the argument that few efficiency points is not worth the justification for purchasing a mill, however I'd have to totally disagree with this. Not only are batches and mash efficiencies incredibly consistent, but I now buy my grains in bulk at a cost of $.78 per pound compared to a $1.40 per pound. Right there I'm easily at about $8.00 per batch and I've run roughly 25 batches through the mill. The way I figure thing my malt mill has paid me $60 so far and will continue to make me $8.00 per batch.

If you save $8 per batch and have done 25 batches, haven't you saved $200 instead of $60?
 
I would crush my own grain at my LHBS, but I got tired of waiting in line to use the mill. Then the mill kept breaking down or wouldn't give you a good crush. I bought a BarleyCrusher and my efficiency increased from high 70's to mid 80's. This mill provides one of the best crushes I've seen. I crush over 20 lbs of grain for my 10 gallon batches in just a few minutes.
 
I would crush my own grain at my LHBS, but I got tired of waiting in line to use the mill. Then the mill kept breaking down or wouldn't give you a good crush. I bought a BarleyCrusher and my efficiency increased from high 70's to mid 80's. This mill provides one of the best crushes I've seen. I crush over 20 lbs of grain for my 10 gallon batches in just a few minutes.

I love my BarleyCrusher.
 
Anyone know anything about brewmaster warehouse crushed grains? Any good?
 
I used Brewmasters Warehouse's crush for many batches. I had no problems. They lean toward the coarse side, which was never a problem for me.
 
My LHBS is a lunchbreak away from work, so I conveniently go there whenever I plan a brew day. There has never been a line at the mill, and there are 2 mills available for use. The mill was recently adjusted so I no longer need to do a double crush. The LHBW has a wide variety of grains available, so I always brew with grains that were purchased and crushed within 2 or 3 days. Yes, I pay $1.40 pr lb but I beleive I am getting sufficient benefits. I am happy for people that own their own grain mill, but I see no present reason to obtain one.
 
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