the hand crush pain

I've seen some other people on here saying the same thing, but just gotta say, there is some pleasure in hand crushing grain. By which I mean using a mill without a drill. I crushed 21 pounds of grain earlier this way for the RIS to be brewed tomorrow. It's some sort of perverse workout pleasure but I dig it.

Looking forward to brewing this puppy tomorrow. Named the beer after Caligula, who died on January 24th, 41 AD. Hopefully the beer makes people mischievous. If you can, screw someone tomorrow in his honor, willya?

;-)

All you guys brewing tomorrow, cheers! Hope everyone has nice, easy brew days followed by nice fermentations and tasty beers.

While I have no plans on screwing someone tomorrow, I do plan on brewing on new equipment. The first brew in almost 9 months. I guess I might be the one screwed. I too am looking forward to "brewing this one tomorrow".

I have hand cranked four beers and they all didn't taste any better for the effort. Good for you for enjoying this you masochist . 30lbs of grain took me 15 minutes each time

beerthirty said:

While I have no plans on screwing someone tomorrow, I do plan on brewing on new equipment. The first brew in almost 9 months. I guess I might be the one screwed. I too am looking forward to "brewing this one tomorrow".

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Naw, you'll be fine. Just take your time and relax and it'll all go well. Just remember everything you know as you encounter new issues.

Matt Up North said:

I have hand cranked four beers and they all didn't taste any better for the effort. Good for you for enjoying this you masochist . 30lbs of grain took me 15 minutes each time

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This is the 12th one I've hand cranked. Sure they don't taste better, but at least I get some exercise! I sit on my ass all day for work, so gotta do something.

Brewing a hefe tomorrow! With summer still a few months away, it's start to start working on my reserve stock...

I tested the new equipment last week, and have corrected the issues but my rig is completely automated now so the first brew is sure to bring a few problems up. Fear is not an option, but it is still there. It is almost like the first AG brew again.

jiggs_casey said:

Brewing a hefe tomorrow! With summer still a few months away, it's start to start working on my reserve stock...

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Nice! I have a Hefeweizen coming up around the beginning of April. Looking forward to that one too!

beerthirty said:

I tested the new equipment last week, and have corrected the issues but my rig is completely automated now so the first brew is sure to bring a few problems up. Fear is not an option, but it is still there. It is almost like the first AG brew again.

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Yeah, I understand. I always have little things I have to tweak but the beer almost always comes out great, and that's the reason we're doing this. Anyway, best of luck. Hope the brew goes nice and easy.

MattHollingsworth said:

If you can, screw someone tomorrow in his honor, willya?

;-)

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All I can think of is Malcolm McDowel in the movie screwin' both the bride and the groom on the occasion of their wedding...

If I ever get into all grain, I will hook the grain mill up to my bicycle.

beerthirty said:

While I have no plans on screwing someone tomorrow, I do plan on brewing on new equipment. The first brew in almost 9 months. I guess I might be the one screwed. I too am looking forward to "brewing this one tomorrow".

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This thread reminds me of a joke...


A sex therapist was addressing a group of people. He took a poll of the room and asked "Who here has sex everyday?" A few hands went up.

"How about once a week?" Quite a few hands went up.

"Once a month?" Again, many hands went up.

"What about once a year?" One hand shot up and the owner excited said, "Ooh, me! I do! Yeah, me!".

The therapist looked puzzled and said, "I've never seen anyone so excited about only doing it once a year before."

"Tonight's the night! Tonight's the night!"

I double crush so ain't no way I'm hand cranking.

Well...not my grains anyway.

Bwaah! Ha! Ha!

(the sex therapist joke, AND biermuncher's dubbel entendre.

I usually hand crank my grain. The only time it sucks is either raw wheat or carapils. Anyone know why the hell carapils is so hard?

adx said:

I usually hand crank my grain. The only time it sucks is either raw wheat or carapils. Anyone know why the hell carapils is so hard?

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It's among the least kilned. Cured...but very raw.

Roasted barley crushes like crackers.

"ut just gotta say, there is some pleasure in hand crushing grain"

I agree. I do derive satisfaction from hand crushing - there is a certain Zen that occurs while you are crushing the 10+ lbs of grain and milling it into the malt that you will use to create a great beer, I would also argue that I personally get a better crush than I do (did) when I used a drill. I never did get the drill to run at the correct speed and quite often ended up with an uneven crush. Montanaandy

i tried to hand crush when i first got my BC. it was fun for the first 5 minutes. then i realize i had only crushed about %15 of my bill. then i attached the drill and never looked back.

Hand-milling risks:


I've hand-milled all of my batches so far due to my drill being busted. It's a pain but meh. Milling 18 lbs of grain = ARNOLD TRICEPS!

Hmmm. No hand crushing here. I hooked up my DeWalt cordless today and crushed 28# of grain in under 2 minutes. You guys go ahead and hand-crank all you want. I'll stick with my drill.

I agree with the zen statement. There's actually something relaxing about it for me.

Hand milling is mildly entertaining until you're about 4 lbs in. From that point on it's a complete chore and I hate it. I brewed on Saturday and milled 24 lbs of grain by hand, because Fed Ex pushed the delivery date of my new low speed drill back from Friday to Saturday afternoon. I doughed in at around noon and it was delivered at 1pm. I was pissed. I hope I never have to mill by hand again.

Hand cranking is the best!

(He said sarcastically as he prepared to hook up his new gearmotor to his crusher...)

I hand crank my mill, too. I figure maybe I'll burn enough calories to cover the beer I enjoy when I mash in.

"Hand milling is mildly entertaining until you're about 4 lbs in. From that point on it's a complete chore and I hate it."

I just must be fortunate in that once I get the Crankenstein mill going it just keeps going at a fast & easy clip until the hopper is empty. My hopper holds around 6lbs and most of my 5 gal batches are around 10-12 lbs of grain so I don't find it taking more than 3-5 minutes to hand crank the grain. I have not done any 10 gal batches since I purchased my mill so we will see if I am singing the same tune this summer when I start brewing 10 gal batches. Montanaandy