Grain Mill for Gluten Free Beers

[videojunkie1208]

Looking to get into Gluten Free Beers, and wondered what kind of mill and mill settings are you using for Gluten Free grains.

 

[skleice]

You need a mill with with full adjustability. I have the MM2 and it works great. Gluten free home brewing recently worked with Monster to make a custom mill.

https://www.glutenfreehomebrewing.c...r-Mills-MM-2Pro-Gluten-Free-Malt-Edition.html

Mills like the barley crusher or cereal killer won't work.

Gaps - Millet and buckwheat .6-.65mm
Rice - .9mm for first pass, .65-.7 second pass

I'll usually run the rice through at .9, mill the other grains on top at .65, then mill it all again at .65.

 

[videojunkie1208]

Yeah, I was hoping not to have to jump into a $300 mill as one of my first investments.

 

[JMath]

I also have the MM-2. It looks like the GFHB version is based on the "pro" model that Monster sells which is why it's so pricey. You can just pick up the standard MM-2 which is about $180 including the hopper and base, it works fine.

 

[Silly Yak]

I use a corona mill attached to a 5 gallon bucket. Use an electric harbor freight drill to power it. Total cost was less than $100. That mill will grind anything.

 

[glutarded-chris]

I have the MM-3 with 3" rollers and I would expect it to behave about like the MM-2. Personally, I would not buy the MM-3 again. I would get the MM2 and from the description, I don't see what the advantage of the MM-2Pro is. It still has 2" rollers. Maybe the size and tolerance of the knurling is better on the rollers.

I run my grain through on 0.020" (0.5mm) roller gap and run the millet, buckwheat and rice through together twice. About the same as Sklice is using. I find that as long as the total percentage of the larger buckwheat and rice grain is lower than 40%, the grain goes through just fine at that gap. With the higher percentage of millet, the rollers don't encounter the larger grains on a rate that jams the rollers. If the rice and/or buckwheat are run through separately, I have had to open up the gap. When I have tried the larger grains on a 0.020" gap, it jams hopelessly immediately. I think I had to open up the MM-3 to as large as 0.050" (1.3mm) gap for rice and buckwheat on the first pass. Maybe the MM-2 with 2" rollers is more forgiving for larger grain than the MM-3 with 3" rollers.

 

[JMath]

As Chris does, I mill everything mixed together. But I started using more rice, so I run everything through at 0.9mm and then again at 0.5mm. The first pass gets the rice and buckwheat while the 2nd pass gets the millet.

 

[videojunkie1208]

So the .025" minimum spacing is too big for GF grains?

 

[videojunkie1208]

What about something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Grinder-Mach...+grinder&qid=1587070753&s=home-garden&sr=1-17

It looks like a big corona mill with a motor!

 

[glutarded-chris]

There are grain crushers and grain grinders. I think to get flower you basically have to grind the grain. The monster mill and similar are grain crushers and you do have to go small to get a good crush on the millet. The one you pictured is almost certainly a corona mill on steroids. That one probably has much better control over the grinding plate gaps during the grind compared to a corona mill. Many sources will say that crushing grain is better because it leaves the husk essentially intact while cracking or crushing the rest into pieces that can be processed in the mash. If you shred or pulverize the husk then many will say you increase the surface area of the husk material and are vulnerable to extract off flavors from the husk and reduce the effectiveness of the filtration function of the husk. Since millet has almost no husk and does not really do anything for filtration, high millet grain bills are probably fine either way. I use the monster mill for convenience and I want the option of being able to use large percentage of rice which does have a very healthy husk!

 

[chaps]

So the .025" minimum spacing is too big for GF grains?

Correct. That wouldn’t grind the Millet very well. Depending on the mill you might not even crack open the Millet since it’s so small. I think that If you are going to brew gf beer a decent mill ($175) is easily the best investment for saving time and making better beer.
Chaps

 

[videojunkie1208]

So for my first brew, I had a mix of 4lbs millet, 2lbs rice, and a lb. of flaked quinoa. Mixing them together, and milling them twice at .025", got me a pretty decent crush.

Not saying that a better mill that can go that extra. 006" wouldn't have been better. Just saying it seemed to get the job done. But I will say that the second pass is essential.