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I voted for the mill, but you've got to have another thirty bucks.
Grain Mill or Wort Pump?
- Thread starter Boogogee
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Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
My 2 cents:
I think that the mill is a better first purchase.
A little ingenuity and use of gravity can go a long way.
My burner/HLT sits on my deck
Gravity feeds to the mash tun on the steps 24" below
Gravity feeds to the burner/BK on the ground 24" below that.
I borrowed a friend's pump once and it can be tricky to dial in the correct flow rates to avoid a stuck sparge.
Not to mention what others said about the added costs of quick connects / valves etc... that come with the pump addition.
I will eventually get a pump, but not until I can afford to get it all at once and have a better understanding of the pump process.
I think that the mill is a better first purchase.
A little ingenuity and use of gravity can go a long way.
My burner/HLT sits on my deck
Gravity feeds to the mash tun on the steps 24" below
Gravity feeds to the burner/BK on the ground 24" below that.
I borrowed a friend's pump once and it can be tricky to dial in the correct flow rates to avoid a stuck sparge.
Not to mention what others said about the added costs of quick connects / valves etc... that come with the pump addition.
I will eventually get a pump, but not until I can afford to get it all at once and have a better understanding of the pump process.
charliehorse
Well-Known Member
I think that question that you have to ask yourself is: Are you trying to brew better beer or move liquid quickly? If you want constantly better beer, get a mill. I bought the Monster Mill 2 and have been very pleased. I didn't buy the Barley Crusher because it seemed that everybody wanted the same price (and on principle, I refuse to buy products from companies that mandate how much a retailer has to sell something for). The MM2 is heavier because it has bigger rollers (both diameter and length) than the BC. Charlie P. may use the Corona, but when he started brewing, he was on a teacher's salary and they didn't have all the equipment that we have now.
If you brew the same recipe much, you'll find that you'll be buying grain (and hops) 3 or 4 batches ahead. Have 4 hours on a Saturday when SWMBO is shopping with her friends? Brew a batch of beer and you don't have to make a trip to your LBS or remember to put your order in online. You'll find an instant improvement of the fresh taste of your malty beers with a fresh crush.
Just get the mill and get the pump with the money that you'll save.
If you brew the same recipe much, you'll find that you'll be buying grain (and hops) 3 or 4 batches ahead. Have 4 hours on a Saturday when SWMBO is shopping with her friends? Brew a batch of beer and you don't have to make a trip to your LBS or remember to put your order in online. You'll find an instant improvement of the fresh taste of your malty beers with a fresh crush.
Just get the mill and get the pump with the money that you'll save.
KarlHungus76
Well-Known Member
Grain mill IMO. I think it was Denny who said approppriately, you don't hear people who own grain mills complaining about their crush.
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Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
I think it was also Denny who just recently acquired a pump after many years and hundreds of batches.
There are far many more easy "work arounds" for not having a pump, but not having a mill???
Easy decision for me....I have a mill and no pump. Don't even plan on getting one any time soon.
Wilserbrewer
Http://biabbags.webs.com/
50quidsoundboy
Active Member
here's how a pump helps me make better beer:
- recirculating the mash (better clarity and efficiency)
- recirculating wort during chilling (better hop aroma from faster chilling; clearer wort thanks to recirculation through hop bed)
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- Recirculating gives you clearer wort, not clearer beer.
- Clearer beer is not alway better beer.
- Better efficiency does not equal better beer.
- Consistent efficiency makes better beer.
- Consistent crush equals consistent efficiency.
- Faster chill does not equal better hop aroma
Google hop stand. You can get to below isomerization temperature quickly with an IC by manually stirring.
50quidsoundboy
Active Member
Whatever pal. I brew good tasting, good looking beer with consistent efficiency and I've never once looked at a 25kg sack of Maris Otter and thought - "I wish I'd milled this myself". If I'm going to end up with a right arm like Arnold Schwarzenegger, there are more fun ways of doing it...
temple240
Well-Known Member
Consistency makes consistent beer. Unless you find a flawless recipe and need to hit the gravity dead on for the perfect beer, a consistent crush does not make the beer better. Of course you need to remain within reason but I don't think someone who uses the lhbs mill is seeing 20% swings in their efficiency on average.
charliehorse
Well-Known Member
I just connect my cordless drill to my mill. In less than 5 minutes, I have a 15 lb grain bill milled the way that I want it.
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If you have to recirculate to get better efficiency you should probably look at your crush as the culprit. :cross:
Funny, my Barley Crusher is going on seven years and a few thousand pounds of grain. Only thing that has worn out are two HF drills to drive the thing.
Be prepared to have your mind blown.
50quidsoundboy
Active Member
well, i guess it's different over here in the UK, where probably 90% of homebrewers are getting their malt crushed by the same (highly regarded) guy. with so many other variables to work with in pursuit of making good beer, adjusting the crush of my grain just isn't even on my radar. maybe this will change with time.
for me, adding a pump to my setup made a real difference, if not to the beer itself, then certainly to the experience of making it. automated spargeing, mash recirculation, whirlpool chilling.....these things are helpful and rewarding in themselves (and i actually think they do contribute to the quality of the end product)
for me, adding a pump to my setup made a real difference, if not to the beer itself, then certainly to the experience of making it. automated spargeing, mash recirculation, whirlpool chilling.....these things are helpful and rewarding in themselves (and i actually think they do contribute to the quality of the end product)
Distances are much different over here. If 5% of homebrewers in the US lived close enough to use the same HB shop I'd be shocked. Personally, I'm 100 miles (one way) from a LHBS that has grain and a mill. Adding to that is the general "customer is right" mentality and you've shops that change crush based on what the customer wants, looser, tighter, whatever. Leads to massively inconsistent crushes.
I've both a mill and a pump. Not have a mill would drastically change my brew day and force me to plan brew days a week or more in advance to have grain bills delivered. Not having a pump would force me to use a racking cane and a 4qt pitcher.
I would also like to point out that most home brewers don't realize they are being charged a pretty penny to have the LHBS mill grain for them. After I purchased a mill my PPO (price per ounce) dropped drastically and made it possible for me to tackle bigger beers with my ingredient budget.
I would be curious to see what voters have in their own setups. As an owner of both, I'd say pump. If you get a bad crush at LHBS, send it back through the mill another time. You say you get good and bad crushes, so clearly their mill is capable of a good crush.
That said, naturally I vote both if that's an option. I own 2 pumps and I batch sparge, got em on sale, both of them together costed less then my MM IIRC.
That said, naturally I vote both if that's an option. I own 2 pumps and I batch sparge, got em on sale, both of them together costed less then my MM IIRC.
charliehorse
Well-Known Member
Interesting... but nope.
Guess I'm lucky ... Not only does my LHBS not charge for crushing, I get to use their mill and crush it myself. So for me that make a mill less of a need and the pump I bought made brew day way easier not to mention gave me options for whirlpooling etc...
hannibalmdq
Well-Known Member
I must be one of the few people on this board that's completely happy with my stores crush. Consistently around 80% efficiency and no stuck spares. Talking with the store staff they try really hard to keep their machine producing a consistent quality crush. I grab my grains, turn the mill on, dump, and head to the register.
There's definitely an appeal to buying in bulk and crushing myself but since I'm limited by space is really not high on my list of things I'd like to have.
There's definitely an appeal to buying in bulk and crushing myself but since I'm limited by space is really not high on my list of things I'd like to have.
My LHBS prices grain over triple what the bulk buys are charging...so having a mill seems like the right choice.
Having a pump seems like another mouth to feed, clean, maintain etc.
JMO
Cheers
Wilserbrewer
Http://biabbags.webs.com/
Having a pump seems like another mouth to feed, clean, maintain etc.
JMO
Cheers
Wilserbrewer
Http://biabbags.webs.com/
So OP you got lots of advice here for a thread started in April.
What did you end up doing and are you happy with your decision?
What did you end up doing and are you happy with your decision?
To be honest, I jumped to the last post after reading the first few.
My vote is a grain mill. Pumps are cool but a little bit of brewstand tweaking using gravity as the motive flow is easy, repeatable and reliable. The local brew store's crush isn't.
If lifting and moving around stuff is not out of the question.. Best bet for now is a good grain mill. Your brewing environment might change but the need for well crushed grains never will.
My vote is a grain mill. Pumps are cool but a little bit of brewstand tweaking using gravity as the motive flow is easy, repeatable and reliable. The local brew store's crush isn't.
If lifting and moving around stuff is not out of the question.. Best bet for now is a good grain mill. Your brewing environment might change but the need for well crushed grains never will.
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