When To Mill Grain Prior To Brewing?

[Montanaandy]

I have a new mill and I am going to brew my first AG batch with it later this week. I am wondering when those of you with a mill crush the grains? Do you take care of this the night before so that there is one less step on brew day or do you mill the grain just prior to brewing for purposes of freshness? Is there much of a difference in either case? Thanks, Montanaandy

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I mill just prior to dough-in.

Milling the night before will not effect freshness.

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

I mill when the strike water is heating up.

 

[OLDBREW]

Do all your pre-cleaning, sanitizing, measuring the days and night before. Wait until brew day to mill the pre-weighed grist while the strike water is heating up. The fresher the better

 

[jma99]

Mill while the water is heating. I mill directly into my mashtun.
I average 22+ lbs of grain per 10 gal batch.

 

[Montanaandy]

Thanks for the advice re: milling while the strike water is heating. Great idea. Montanaandy

 

[joety]

+2 on measuring/milling while heating the strike water. Saves up to half an hour.

 

[Mongo64]

I don't have my own mill so I crush the grains when I buy them. Usually a day or so before brewday but sometimes life happens and it ends up being a week. I keep the grains in a somewhat airtight bag at room temp. Crush when it's convenient for you.

 

[MarkSheffield]

For those of you who do the job while the water is heating up, are you cranking by hand or are you motorized?

 

[bull8042]

For those of you who do the job while the water is heating up, are you cranking by hand or are you motorized?

Barley Crusher with a battery drill...... While my strike is heating.

 

[qvantamon]

Do all your pre-cleaning, sanitizing, measuring the days and night before. Wait until brew day to mill the pre-weighed grist while the strike water is heating up. The fresher the better

I hope you mill your grains very far away from the stuff that's pre-sanitized... Milling blows pulverized lacto-infested grain everywhere... I'd rewash and resanitize anything that's exposed to air during crushing.

 

[OLDBREW]

I hope you mill your grains very far away from the stuff that's pre-sanitized... Milling blows pulverized lacto-infested grain everywhere... I'd rewash and resanitize anything that's exposed to air during crushing.

Carboy's, fermenters, kegs are all sealed, bottles you just drape plastic wrap over the tops after sanitizing.

I always make up a bucket of sanitizer brew day, and have a spray bottle with the same for anything that has come in contact with the air on the chilled side of the brew.

My mill is on one end of the basement, the stay in place nat gas brewery on the other. Never had any problems, even when milling 40 lbs of grist.

I mill at about 120 rpms per minute motorized and have a herculite vinyl skirted collar that goes from the bottom deck of the mill around the 7 gallon buckets I use to collect the milled grist. The grist is scooped into the mashtun during dough-in while the exhaust fan system runs to outside air from the brewery

 

[EvilGnome6]

First thing I do on brew day is measure and condition my grains. Then I get the strike water measured out and start heating it. While it's heating up I wait until the grain has had at least 30 minutes to condition and then mill it shortly before mashing in.

 

[joety]

For those of you who do the job while the water is heating up, are you cranking by hand or are you motorized?

3/4 HP powered three roller monster mill with a 12 inch sheave. Works so well I generally mill them twice for good measure.

 

[nbspindel]

if i might jump in here with a related question, how long will milled grains last? i'm still doing extract with steeping grains and got a bunch of kits with milled steeping grains for christmas but won't be able to get to them all for about 4-6 weeks. How should they be stored for best results? Is this too long for pre-milled grains?

 

[waldoar15]

For those of you who do the job while the water is heating up, are you cranking by hand or are you motorized?

I use a battery powered drill motor also. I cranked the very first batch through my barley crusher. After that, I decided I had a new use for the drill.

 

[trailblazer]

i get my grain milled at the lhbs the day im brewing or the night before if im doing a morning sesh the next day.

 

[MarkSheffield]

I use a battery powered drill motor also. I cranked the very first batch through my barley crusher. After that, I decided I had a new use for the drill.

So it was a bit more than a few quality zen moments getting in touch with your inner grain. It seems that most people jump to the drill method pretty quickly - is it because it just takes too freaking long to go through 10 lbs of grain?

 

[budbo]

For those of you who do the job while the water is heating up, are you cranking by hand or are you motorized?

Hand Crank, I the only thing I am impatient about while brewing is heating water/wort.. Hand cranking kills waiting time.

 

[Yooper]

Hand Crank, I the only thing I am impatient about while brewing is heating water/wort.. Hand cranking kills waiting time.

It depends on the grainbill, though! 7 pounds of grain is no problem. 17 pounds of grain calls for the drill! I don't mind one hopper full of grain (7 pound hopper on the BC) but more than that is just too much work!

 

[EvilGnome6]

So it was a bit more than a few quality zen moments getting in touch with your inner grain. It seems that most people jump to the drill method pretty quickly - is it because it just takes too freaking long to go through 10 lbs of grain?

I clamp the mill to the top of a Homer Bucket and hand cranking is really tough (especially with conditioned malt and a tight gap). It's mostly because the bucket moves around so easily. If I had the mill permanently mounted it wouldn't be so bad. I like the zen aspect of hand cranking but it just turned into too much of a chore so I picked up a nice high torque, low RPM drill to make it an easy job.

 

[Brew-boy]

I through the switch on my Barley Crusher and watch it mill all the grain on brew day.

 

[rico567]

I've got enough to do on brewday. I mill the afternoon before.