malt mill

[docmoran]

any recs on barley crusher malt mill with 7 pound hopper over schmidling which is much more costly?? thanks, doc

 

[eschatz]

friggin' pandora's box.


barley crusher is my mill. Price is right and I use a drill on it.

 

[docmoran]

eschatz,

pandoras box is infected first brew. You like the crusher and do you have 7 or 15 hopper?? any benefit to larger? thanks, doc

 

[the_bird]

Barley Crusher :rockin:

No need, IMHO, for the bigger hopper, it's just a little sheet metal that'd be easy to mock up in the future if you need more capacity. As it stands, for a five gallon batch you fill the hopper, grind the malt, re-fill, grind the malt; it's not worth an extra $20 - $25 to only have to fill the mill once!

 

[GreenwoodRover]

^+1 to the Bird. I have the same set-up. Sometimes I use a drill sometimes I get my workout in...

 

[eschatz]

I have the 7# version. Can't see anyone justifying the extra sheet metal for the 15. When you get your mill go out and buy a digital scale that reads down to 1/8 oz and up to at least 5-7 lbs. It'll cost you less than $30 probably but it's well worth the money.

 

[the_bird]

^+1 to the Bird. I have the same set-up. Sometimes I use a drill sometimes I get my workout in...

OMFG... Kaiser's got the hand-cranked MaltMill, I had to borrow it this past weekend - I thought I was going to die!

 

[GreenwoodRover]

I almost killed myself on a Hefe using 65% German red wheat malt, my arm was sore for about a day.

 

[Edcculus]

Barley crusher with 7# hopper for me. It works great. I don't have a drill on it yet. After my 13lb bill for Ed's IPA, I'm seriously considering it!

 

[Brewmasters Warehouse]

I use a Barley Crusher at the store, and crush a lot of grain through it. Never had an issue everyone has always been very happy about the crush they receive. I used thehand crank once, and I will never do that again.

 

[docmoran]

Sold on the barley crusher -- now the real pandoras box -- is milling your own only fun or is it better control / outcome than even a trusted LHBS??

 

[greencon]

I have the 7# Barley Crusher and use a 5 gallon water bottle with the bottom cut out to increase capacity.

 

[the_bird]

Sold on the barley crusher -- now the real pandoras box -- is milling your own only fun or is it better control / outcome than even a trusted LHBS??

I tend to think that our friend at Brewmasters Warehouse is a bit of an exception. My local shop uses an older mill, and I don't think I ever managed to get much better than 60% efficiency from them. One of the guys around here had one batch come through at like 40% because (he thinks) their mill. I'm not sure about Northern Brewer and AHS and the other major online suppliers, although you tend to hear a lot more complaints than praises.

(My personal theory is they intentionally give a mediocre crush to entice you to either buy your own mill from them or, alternatively - more grain!)

The bigger issue, from my perspective, is being able to buy and store whole grains instead of having to buy JUST ENOUGH for every batch. It's nice to have inventory, and that's not practical unless you can crush your own (precrushed goes stale too fast).

 

[docmoran]

bird,

how long can you reasonably store uncrushed grain and it stay fresh?? Special storage units necessary or just close tubs etc??

 

[Brewmasters Warehouse]

I think another possible issue with LHBS's crush is that the mill needs to be checked every so often to check the gaps. We check ours once a month with feeler gauges, and we have another setup specifically for requests on the gap setting. I have had people email me with a specific gap setting and we have always taken care of them.

For home storage of uncrushed grain you can expect to have it last around a year if not longer. Store it in a closed bucket, in a room that is dry and the grain will last.

 

[cellardoor]

we have another setup specifically for requests on the gap setting. I have had people email me with a specific gap setting and we have always taken care of them.

Seriously Ed I can request a specific gap and you will crush to order? That is awesome! The next step up in your customer service would be to actually come and brew my beer for me.

I have the 7lb Barley Crusher and love it. It isn't that hard to just refill the hopper with the rest of the grain bill. A drill is a MUST though. My first time using it I decided to crush the 1/2 lb test crush just to see how hard it would be. It took me forever and my arm was hurting just from that 1/2lb. I can't imagine doing a whole grain bill by hand. Using the drill is effortless and my grain is perfectly crushed in a few minutes.

 

[the_bird]

I feel a little less emasculated, hearing that I'm not the only one who hates hand-crushing!

 

[Brewmasters Warehouse]

Seriously Ed I can request a specific gap and you will crush to order? That is awesome! The next step up in your customer service would be to actually come and brew my beer for me.

Yes you can request it. We will adjust to requests as long as the requests do not start getting ridiculous, such every customer requesting a different setting. In that case we will have to cut off that service.

We are working on the pricing for me to come and brew for you. I would love brewing everyday for other people. The shipping charges are a killer though. Apparently FedEx freight does not accept people on a pallet.

 

[camiller]

... Apparently FedEx freight does not accept people on a pallet.

Just mark the box "samples for testing" and don't tell them it's people.

 

[luvmy40]

+1 on the Barley Crusher w/7# hopper.
As the bird said, the real advantage is buying larger quantities of grains and having an inventory for those impromptu brews. Being able to tailor your crush is great but I don't see it as the main issue. It is nice to be able to set a crush for wheat instead of crushing twice and hoping.
The drill is a definite must. It is not that it is so difficult to crank by hand, it is just almost impossible to keep everything stable enough while cranking.

 

[GreenwoodRover]

...or label the box Soylent Green, because, well you know...

 

[the_bird]

The problem is that the box gets too heavy. It's best to cut the people up into managable chunks and mail them separately. Be sure to line the boxes with some garbage bags.