grain crusher for extracts

I did a search on grain crushers, but most of them are for the larger type of operations, like for you AG guys. Is there any out there for us small use type, extract kind of guys? I mean, I don't need one for 100 some odd dollars to do 8 ounces of crystal 60L. Know what I mean? After going to the lhbs this weekend and paying 33 bucks for 6 lbs dme, 8 ounches of crystal 60L, 2 ounces of hops and a pack of dry yeast, I'm ordering off the internet from now on. I just don't have a way to effectively crush the grains if a recipe calls for one. Can I just put them in a bag and beat'em ???

I use a Porkert grain mill that I got for Christmas last year. It's basically a cheap version of the Corona mill. You need to be mindful of the set screw or you'll end up with flower instead of just a crush but it has worked very well for me. It was also under $50 CDN. Before I got this I just put my grains in a heavy zip-top bag and worked them over with a rolling pin - cheap and effective for SMALL amounts of grain. Many LHBS will crush your grain for you as well.

If you're going the internet route, I believe that most sites will send your specialty grains pre-crushed. I know that www.austinhomebrew.com does this. I order from these guys almost exclusively for my AG and PM's... good quality operation.

Yeah, why do you need a crusher? Unless you're buying in bulk and need to do long-term storage, all the online places will crush your grain for a nominal fee, probably about ten cents if you're buying a pound of crystal.

If you are feeling really cheap, you can crush your grain with a rolling pin.

Learn something everyday. I'll just find one that will crush them for me. But, I may want to go bulk since it is cheaper. The rolling pin is a good idea.

Listermann's and Austin both do it free of charge, FYI. That's what I do...I'm a partial-masher.

Ol' Grog said:

Learn something everyday. I'll just find one that will crush them for me. But, I may want to go bulk since it is cheaper. The rolling pin is a good idea.

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If you're only doing specialty grains with extract, bulk is probably not an option. As soon as I get my grain crusher built, I'll start buying 50# sacks of 2-row, but it would take me years and years to go through that much crystal malt. It's cheap enough, buy it when you need it so that it's fresh.

fwiw, I used my Cuisinart food processor for my first AG recipe (don't ask ) and you know what, it turned out great. A little low on efficiency, but it worked fine to get the grain exposed, It just mangled the husks though and did produce some flour but between the various particle sizes I think it was enough to work out ok in the end. So if you have a food processor, why not just give it a whirl? Especially if you are doing less amounts of grain. I was able to 'pulse' the malt to get the size(s) I wanted using about 1 lb at a time or so (so for a full AG batch it took quite a while lol).

the_bird said:

If you're only doing specialty grains with extract, bulk is probably not an option. As soon as I get my grain crusher built, I'll start buying 50# sacks of 2-row, but it would take me years and years to go through that much crystal malt. It's cheap enough, buy it when you need it so that it's fresh.

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Yeah, I started buying my base malt in #50, but specialty malts I still buy small. Although, if you think about it from harvest/processing it goes to storage. So actually you are trading one storage facility for another (the producer/etc vs. your own).