Japanese rice mills for crushing malt?

ebbelwoi · Nov 4, 2018

A fellow expat brewer buddy here in Japan recently found a cheap local source for malt. The only problem is that they only sell it uncrushed.

In Japan, there are kitchen-sized rice mills, called 精米機 or seimai-ki, which people use when they buy rice straight from the farmer. I've never used one or even seen one in person, but wondering if they might be an alternative to buying a standard malt crusher.

It's a longshot, but has anyone here used one?

IslandLizard · Nov 4, 2018

Depends how finely it gets milled. Too fine (flour) and you may get problems with the mash not lautering or ending up with a lot of flour in the boil.
Grain for mashing should be crushed, rather than ground.
Many homebrewers use a knock off Corona corn mill, adjusted to not pulverize the grain too much.

day_trippr · Nov 4, 2018

I expect these rice milling machines to be designed to scrub the bran off the rice kernels. I wouldn't expect the mechanics optimized to perform that function would be compatible with crushing barley...

Cheers!

Funkychef · Nov 5, 2018

I bought a mill from AliExpress. Was cheap compared to what I could find in Japan at the time.

ebbelwoi · Nov 5, 2018

Funkychef said:
I bought a mill from AliExpress. Was cheap compared to what I could find in Japan at the time.

Which type did you get, how much did it cost, and how did it work out for you?

Funkychef · Nov 5, 2018

From memory it was about $80 delivered so I think about 10,000-yen at the time. Works ok have used it for about 4 years without issue. Probably not as nice as other Mills but does the job