Milling grains

I see people crushing their own grain in videos online. What's the advantage to crushing your own versus buying it precrushed?

You can buy in bulk, to reduce cost big time. Un-crushed grains last a long time.

Control freaks and cheap skates. Buy in bulk - save money in the long run.

Set the crush you want. Better efficiency, or no stuck sparges, or whatever. Yeah, control is the real answer.

I went to milling my own grain for a few reasons. Allows me to store more grain at a time and to control the crush. My efficiency went up when I started milling my own. Also it will allow me to buy grains in bulk which is cheaper.

Another thing I just thought of, it adds one more element of making the process your own, something you control.

Any tips on how much to spend on a mill? I saw a Northern Brewer YouTube video for this thing called Mr. Crush. Looked cool but cost nearly $300. Seems a little pricey.

What kind of brewing are you doing now and what do you see in your future? If you are extract with steeping grains a mill might not get you much. If you extract with steeping grains but intend to go to all grain, the mill will be worth more to you. If you are all grain brewing and having difficulty with your brewhouse efficiency being extremely low or very inconsistent, you need a mill. If you are using a conventional mash tun, you probably want a roller mill but a cheap Corona style will work. If you are BIAB, then you definitely want a mill because it will allow you to mill as fine as you want which will get you consistency and high efficiency. I BIAB and have a Corona style mill that I bought for about $25 and with it I consistently get 85% efficiency.

I love my Millar's Mill. I've used it about 5 times now and my efficiency has been great! http://www.millarsmills.com/

My first mill was a pasta roller conversion. It worked but that is where the compliments end. Now I'm running a Barley Crusher for the few years. I have several hundred pounds through it and have recently had to double crush as the teeth are wearing out somewhat. The upside is the low price compared to, say, a Monster Mill.
I love milling. The smell of grain changes after its milled, the control, and the ability to brew whenever I want as long as I have yeast on hand is fantastic. Kyle

I bought a Barley Crusher mill because of the inconsistent crush I got from on-line sites. Many uncrushed grains & such in the pre-crushed orders. Now I get consistent crush & I think a fresh crush on brew day helps efficiency. Beyond crush size anyway. And uncrushed grains do store better longer as mentioned. I do PM & E/SG with it & my efficiency went up.

stuknkrvl said:

Any tips on how much to spend on a mill? I saw a Northern Brewer YouTube video for this thing called Mr. Crush. Looked cool but cost nearly $300. Seems a little pricey.

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It depends on what you expect to do with it. Expensive mills will certainly save time if you have a lot of grain to crush.

RM-MN said:

If you are using a conventional mash tun, you probably want a roller mill but a cheap Corona style will work. If you are BIAB, then you definitely want a mill because it will allow you to mill as fine as you want which will get you consistency and high efficiency. I BIAB and have a Corona style mill that I bought for about $25 and with it I consistently get 85% efficiency.

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I have a Corona (make sure it has a big hopper), and do partial mash. I've started using 8 lbs of grain per batch (getting close to all-grain). It's a little slow to crush the grain, and would like to be quicker, but overall I am happy with my cheap Corona, and can't really see the need to move up. Probably takes about 15 minutes to crush the grain. I get about 85% efficiency too.

I'm doing all grain in five gallon batches. I like the process a lot, so maybe it sounds like a mill is the way to go.

Calder - is your Corona mill hand cranked or does it chuck on to an electric drill?

stuknkrvl said:

Calder - is your Corona mill hand cranked or does it chuck on to an electric drill?

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I can do both. I've adapted it to do both, but I always end up hand cranking. I'm sure it would be a lot quicker if I used a drill.

They have Imperial threads, so you need to go to the specialty bolt section to get a screw to replace the one for the crank. Get a screw with a square drive, and use a square drive bit in the drill.

Look for the "Ugly Junk" Corona Mill thread... Mount the mill in a Homer bucket and use something as a large hopper (I use an old cracked arrowhead 5G water bottle. Cut the bottom out and invert into the hopper that comes with the corona).

The cheapest Harbor Freight corded drill will just barely get through a 13ish lb grain bill before crapping out from overheating... Better to spring for a more heavy-duty drill right off the bat.

Tighten the plates until they touch when no grain is going through... you might need to add washers to get 'em tight enough.



Edit to add:

Here's the thread...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f256/my-ugly-junk-corona-mill-station-90849/

There are some better designs deeper in thread... might be better to start at the end and work backwards

I have an 18 volt cordless Rigid drill. Should be strong enough, yes?

Conan said:

The smell of grain changes after its milled, the control, and the ability to brew whenever I want as long as I have yeast on hand is fantastic. Kyle

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I love the smell of the freshly crushed grain in the morning. Smells like...Victory.

Barley Crusher

stuknkrvl said:

I have an 18 volt cordless Rigid drill. Should be strong enough, yes?

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Probably, although corded is better. Torque is what helps here. If your drill has a low rpm/high torque mode, set it to that.

stuknkrvl said:

Any tips on how much to spend on a mill? I saw a Northern Brewer YouTube video for this thing called Mr. Crush. Looked cool but cost nearly $300. Seems a little pricey.

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I've been very pleased with the Cereal Killer.

Hook it up to a drill and it's easy going.

douglasbarbin said:

Probably, although corded is better. Torque is what helps here. If your drill has a low rpm/high torque mode, set it to that.

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Yes. That drill will work fine. I use a 20 V craftsman, but I used to use a puny 12 V cordless and it would crush 15 pounds of grain through my corona no problem.

I have an ugly Corona setup and use my Black & Decker cordless drill with no issues. I need to submit a picture to the ugly mill thread because my setup certainly qualifies.

I love that cheap little mill. I BIAB so I tend to want a finer grist because I don't need to worry about stuck sparges. It took a little trial and error, but I finally got it set to what I want.

To be honest, if I wasn't BIAB-ing I'd spend a bit more and get a better mill.

I used to have a Corona and eventually got a barley crusher. The one thing I remember most about the Corona is that it was freaking LOUD!

I went from a Corona style mill in a double bucket setup to a MM2 Monster mill. I'm still dialing in on the crush, but wow is it faster, quieter, and way more bad-azz. I considered the 3 roller MM3, but decided to go with the MM2, which has turned out almost perfect for my volume of crushing. Awesome mill.

I use a corona mill with a drill but will eventually get something better. The main reason I bought a mill was to buy grain in bulk. It's insane how much cheaper it is to buy 25KG bags of grain. I brew 2-4 times a month and buying bulk grains and hops lets me make a 10G batch for $30 or so.