Buying grain mill vs buying crushed grains

[PCABrewing]

govner1 said:

How much grain are you milking that takes half an hour?
I just did a batch with about 20 lbs of grain in ten minutes or so. My mill runs at about 150 RPM.

Most of that time is the weighing, since I use the scoop that came with my Vittles Vault to parcel it out and my scale only has a 4x4 inch platform.

And it's "at most" -- so far, that's about the longest it has taken, and that includes dragging out the scale, the pot I dump the weighed grain in, hooking up the drill to the mill, blowing residue off the mill, etc.

Agree,
I quoted ~30 minutes in my previous post to Weigh and Mill. That includes unpacking and setup of the equipment. Since my work area is shared with other hobbies, I also cleanup and put everything away when I'm done.

This reminds me of managing software developers who would tell me they could "have the fix in 5 minutes". They neglected the build and unit test steps and integration testing. You had to know that when you asked for an estimate.
If you leave out major steps of the job you're not getting a good estimate.
Perhaps in some of the nice permanent setups that some folks have 3-minutes is reasonable.

 

[PCABrewing]

Any time you feel the mash bed might result in a stuck mash. It add nothing to the flavor and is cheap insurance. I always add a hand full when I use wheat or sticky grains.

Do you add the rice hulls to the MT before you dough-in or is it mixed into the milled grain?
Curious because I haven't tried it yet.

 

[franknbeans]

I bought a Malt Mucher (3 roller) from Bobby/BrewHardware.com last year and have been happy with it. I consistently got batches of grain that were barely crushed from some big website companies and it was to the point that I was not hitting my numbers with a BIAB setup and very frustrating. Did I need it? Ehh... I could have gotten a cheaper one. I also got a deal on a sack of 2-row from a shop an hour away that also gave me some beers they made in their taproom as well after chatting with the crew. On paper, I did save a little money buying that bag, but it was negligible. It became more convenient to dial in my process and nail down the fact that the crush I was getting from stores were screwing up my brew days.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I agree with advice on a grain mill and consistency. Back when I was buying pre-crushed grain my efficiency was all over the board. I was fly sparging at the time and I had terribly inconsistent sparges. At the time I did not think much about grain crush. I was getting grain from a variety of sources.

Also, for me, the cost savings on around 100 lbs of grain pays for the price of a $100 mill.

I tend to splurge on stuff to avoid buyers remorse. $100 doesn't seem bad, and it looks like its plenty for me as it can rest on a 5 gallon bucket and can be spun with a drill.

I have had a Barley Crusher for many years. When it dies, I will not replace it with something imported from China. The Monster Mill is towards the top of my list, but I could see getting another Barley Crusher as well.

 

[Alexholsch]

cool to have a mill, you can crush to your desired setting. Also I believe freshly crushed grain is fresher. By that I mean its at least less oxidized. Would recommend also looking into grain conditioning, if you bought the mill.

 

[RyPA]

Yeah, I got a cereal killer. It's great and I've since also bought grain and hops in bulk, so I can brew whenever I want.

 

[Steveruch]

Thinking about this more, maybe I will get the grain mill and try to plan out my brews for a year and order bulk grains from my LHBS. This way when it comes closer to brew day, I will only order hops/yeast and whatever else I need. I will not take a beating on shipping 4 times a year, probably paying off the cost of the grain mill pretty quickly.

If you use dry yeast you can order a year's worth at the same time, Also hops. If you store them for the year you know they've been stored properly.

 

[RyPA]

I am in the dry yeast camp, and see no reason to change.

Hops are kept in the freezer. I did vacuum seal 2oz packs in the past but recently I've just been closing up the Yakima valley zip pouch--much easier.

 

[Edward's Beer Cellar]

Having a mill seems like a good idea with the price increases and malt supply issues we have been hearing about. I doubled my usual order as a result when my LHBS had a sale this week. I will be picking up 2 - 55# bags for about $0.60/lb later today.

Some 10# bags of Munich and C40 along with my current inventory of malt and adjuncts will keep me in pale ales, cream ales and porters for the next year or two. Using dry yeast and re-pitching will allow a lot of brewing without buying more supplies.

 

[MHBT]

One reason that is enough to buy a mill is sometimes pre crushed grain is not milled good enough and most importantly freshness, you can probably find a mill on the cheap, definitely get yourself one just my 2 cents

 

[RyPA]

A mill is definitely worth the investment being you can buy grain in bulk versus buying pre-crushed grain on a per-recipe basis. Fresher grain is another bonus.

 

[wepeeler]

I mill my own.
I don't brew in volume big enough to warrant buying and storing grain.
I mill my own simply because it is slightly less expensive for me to purchase the grain un-milled, and since I BIAB I want the crush finer than what the typical milled crush is from a HBS which then has to charge even more for the twice milled grain.
I also just like the feeling of doing it myself and finding the mill setting that works best for whatever I'm making.

I could have written this post

Exactly my thoughts for the past 5 years, but now I brew more regularly, and I'm thinking of getting 2 Vittles Vault. Storing at least 2 Row and Pils for impromptu brew days. I usually have a 1/2lb to 1lb of other malts I can throw in the mix.

 

[RyPA]

I bought the food grade buckets from Home Depot and gamma2 seal lids. 2 buckets holds ~50 lbs of 2-row and a third bucket for everything else (honey malt, golden promise, maris otter, wheat malt). A little cheaper than vittles vaults

 

[Cloud Surfer]

I spent about $700 on my mill and mill motor setup. It’s a nice stainless mill with fluted rollers. I save by buying malt in bulk, but the cost wasn’t the main factor. It’s for two main reasons.

I crush about 10 minutes before I dough in, so it’s all so fresh. Plus I control the crush gap so I get total repeatability between brews which I really like.

 

[hout17]

I could have written this post

Exactly my thoughts for the past 5 years, but now I brew more regularly, and I'm thinking of getting 2 Vittles Vault. Storing at least 2 Row and Pils for impromptu brew days. I usually have a 1/2lb to 1lb of other malts I can throw in the mix.

I need to grab a couple of those vaults I'm planning on buying some base Malts in bulk like you.

 

[T Murph]

I like the vittles vaults. I gotta get about a couple of those.