milling grain with a meat grinder

[fluketamer]

my wifes grandma died last year and we got a bunch of stuff from her house that i never went through due to time. she immigrated from russia in the 70's and managed to sneak quite a few things out of the soviet union. she always said russian stuff was the worst and only bought japanese or german when she could. i found this vintage 70's bakalite panasonic supergrinder made in japan. she used to use it to make coklietki a russian meatball made of chicken. she was meticulous and kept it super clean. no fat grease or gunk in there. i figured maybe i can use it to mill my grain.

i found this thread here for help :

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/meat-grinder-to-mill-grain.517669/
so yes a meat grinder will mill grain in a pinch

i particularly like how the vibrations move the grain in the hopper at just the right speed so it doesnt jam.

 

[lumpher]

Looks like a decent crush. Do you know the gap on the rollers?

 

[DBhomebrew]

Not rollers. More like steel cut oats rather than flaked/rolled.

 

[day_trippr]

Right - clearly not a crush, more like a chop or slice. Does it matter?

Cheers!

 

[hotbeer]

I use those type meat grinders quite a bit. But only for their intended purpose. I have one that is about as old as I am. And newer too. You just need to figure out what your mash efficiency is so you can adjust your recipes for that grind. Might need to mash longer. But I really don't have much experience there since I've pretty much been BIAB and milling malts fine since I started once I left the kits.

If you are use to using malts milled to powder for BIAB, then your efficiency will probably be way way lower. But it's not a big deal if you know how much it is so you can adjust the amounts of malts you use.

 

[IslandLizard]

As long as the kernels are cracked the endosperm is exposed and ready for the mash.

Look for any whole (uncracked) kernels in the milled grist mix. If there are, maybe run the batch through a 2nd time.

Especially small kernels such as wheat, rye, and oat malt may not get crushed sufficiently. Wheat malt is also quite hard, and it's hull-less, so look for any pieces larger than 3/32" which may indicate an insufficient crush.

Are you using the smallest arbor plate on the grinder?

You can always mash longer for more complete conversion, and/or soak the grist in 100F water for an hour to pre-hydrate (puff up), before heating up to mash temps.