Grain mill for all grain

[jcs401]

I am looking at grain mills to use rather than order grains crushed so I can keep longer. I own a kitchen aid mixer and found a grain mill attachment.(pic attached) anyone know if this would work well???

 

[zoonose]

That looks pretty cool. I love my KitchenAid!

 

[alefort]

It does work, the hopper isn't very big if I recall correctly. A friend of mine sold his and upgraded, word of caution, you may end up doing the same.

 

[IslandLizard]

At that price, I'd get a real grain mill for a little more. These things don't crush, they grind, giving you lots of flour.

 

[gwapogorilla]

Woa, woa , woa! Guys...that thing is for "grinding" grain into flour....you really don't want to use that thing! Sure, it's adjustable. BUT, your going to end up with more flour material than you really want. Which leads to stuck sparges and tannin extraction.
Get a grain "crusher"....AKA barley crusher, monster mill, crankenstein.....something like that.

 

[hoghead]

Woa, woa , woa! Guys...that thing is for "grinding" grain into flour....you really don't want to use that thing! Sure, it's adjustable. BUT, your going to end up with more flour material than you really want. Which leads to stuck sparges and tannin extraction.
Get a grain "crusher"....AKA barley crusher, monster mill, crankenstein.....something like that.

So is a corona mill. And tons of home brewers use those with great results myself included. It all depends on how adjustable it is.

 

[divrguy]

I used a corona mill ($25 shipped) for years and they actually work really good. IMO they are like a vw bug, if you can tinker around with them, they work great! When I got tired of tinkering, I bought a 2 roll monster mill, set it and my grains are consistent as hell now. Either will work, but of you can afford the barley crusher or monster mill, go for it!

Edit: I have the MM2 and love it!

 

[Flipadelphia]

IMO the barley crusher isn't even in the MM's class of quality.

But yeah I would avoid that KitchenAid grinder, that just seems like a big hassle. Get a real grain mill.

 

[charliehorse]

I don't think that I would go with that one... it's designed to make flour from wheat and rice. After lots of research (price and features), this is what I got and where I got it:
http://www.farmhousebrewingsupply.com/monster-mill-2-roller-mill/
I absolutely hated that everybody charged exactly the same price for the Barley Crusher. If I can help it, I NEVER buy stuff from companies like that (Are you listening, Blichman?). When I got the thing, I compared it to the BC... needless to say, I was more than a little please.

 

[wilserbrewer]

The kitchen aid attachment is purposed to grind several cups of grain. Not 10-30 lbs. I wouldn't put the wear and tear on an Expensive kitchen aid using an expensive attachment, much better to source another mill.


Wilserbrewer
Http://biabbags.webs.com/

 

[sandyeggoxj]

The reality here is that you are not cool until you own a monster mill. That is why I bought one. I wanted to be cool.


I have a MM2-2.0 with hardened rollers. It will last a long time! I am a "prolific homebrewer with lots of friends" so I figured the hardened option was a good one.

 

[ram5ey]

Unless you are getting some kind of insane deal it's not worth it. I'm a HUGE fan of my cereal killer grain mill from a
Adventures in Homebrewing. Great deal.

 

[bbohanon]

Unless you are getting some kind of insane deal it's not worth it. I'm a HUGE fan of my cereal killer grain mill from a
Adventures in Homebrewing. Great deal.

+100 on the cereal killer. Cheap, easy to set your crush, sturdy and I have run over 200lbs of grain through mine with no issues. Love it.

 

[spotmon]

I have a barley crusher I bought from brew and grow for around $125. Homebrewing.org has a mill exclusive to them for $100 and it had great reviews. I bought the barley crusher just because I have a brew and grow around the corner

 

[poptarts]

$20 corona mill knock off on amazon plus a bucket and a drill and thats all you need, anything else is overkill and money that could have been spent on some other device to make better beer.

 

[charliehorse]

$20 corona mill knock off on amazon plus a bucket and a drill and thats all you need, anything else is overkill and money that could have been spent on some other device to make better beer.

Not trying to be an a**hole, but the only people who say this are those who have never used a grain mill that's designed to break the husks open while leaving them whole and break up the meat of the grain into smaller bits. The corona type is designed for breaking up corn (after you've soaked it in lye) for making masa dough.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Not trying to be an a**hole, but the only people who say this are those who have never used a grain mill that's designed to break the husks open while leaving them whole and break up the meat of the grain into smaller bits. The corona type is designed for breaking up corn (after you've soaked it in lye) for making masa dough.

Not trying to be an A-hole, But not entirely true, I have used both as my LHBS has a roller mill, and while I don't examine my grist w/ scope, nor sieve it to determine fractional percentage by size, my observation is that the crush with a corona style mill is not substantially different.


Wilserbrewer
Http://biabbags.webs.com/

 

[Fenduh]

My neighbor bought one of those attachments and we added a 5 gallon water bottle with the bottom cut off as a hopper. It worked well. I thought the crush looked fine and the beer (a Porter) came out great.

 

[BrewerBrad82]

I too would avoid that type of mill. As previously said in this thread, those are meant to produce flour much like a Corona mill. True, they are adjustable, but its a crap shoot at best. For consistency in your crush (consistency in your mash efficiency) your money is better spent on a purpose built brewing grain mill, IMO. I have been using a Barley Crusher for 7 years and it has served me very well, I am 100% happy with it. They may be a bit more than the KitchenAid attachment, but for approx $140 it is worth every penny for the mill.