Using A Blender To Crush Grain?

[ManiacalJ]

Anyone else do this? Any reasons not to for someone doing BIAB?

I'm just getting going, and I built my own mill from a pasta roller (there is a lengthy thread about it here somewhere...). Worked great for the first batch, but I suspect the bushings didn't think much of how fast I was driving it with my drill, because one failed in short order while milling for my second batch.

While I understand the concerns with grain being crushed too fine causing stuck sparges, it's a non-issue for BIAB. I've read comments here suggesting that one can pretty much crush the grain to flour with BIAB.
The only negative thing I noticed was there seemed to be more water held within the grain following the mash. Of course the batch is fermenting now, so results are still pending...

My own experience was that the blender worked very quickly. There is no middle ground - I had whole grain, or extremely fine. I didn't notice any more trub in the kettle than my first batch, but the hot break was far more violent, and I actually scraped a lot of the protein material off the side of the kettle and removed it during the boil.

The biggest upside - I bought a 55lb bag of 2-row for $25, which is the same as what I spent at a LHBS for the grain bill of just my first batch.

Thoughts?

 

[sfgoat]

I did it in a blender for a long time with no negative effect. I would just put in about a cup at a time in the blender and pulse it for a couple of seconds, 4-6 times per cup of grain. It was fine. I now have a real grain mill and I love it but I never had a problem using a blender.

 

[badmajon]

$25 for a 55 lb sack of grain? Did you buy $25 of hops and steal a bag on your way out? LOL.

In reply to the question though, it may work, but its one of those things where it seems like the best thing to do would be to just buy a grain mill. I got mine for $49 on sale.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I used a blender once to finish up the last couple pounds of a grain bill when my mill became disabled due to abuse. Rather than repair the mill, I used the blender. The crush was very fine, I found in order to chop all the grain pieces, the total grist became very fine. With a fine poly voile bag, this should work for BIAB. For $25 one can get a corona mill delivered, a better option to the blender IMO for both ease of use and crush quality.

Given the choice, no beer of crush with the blender, I'd use the blender

 

[yourfavo]

I used a coffee grinder to break up some black patent a few months ago. Worked very well. Good idea with the pasta roller, don't think SWMBO would approve though.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[ManiacalJ]

$25 for a 55 lb sack of grain? Did you buy $25 of hops and steal a bag on your way out? LOL.

In reply to the question though, it may work, but its one of those things where it seems like the best thing to do would be to just buy a grain mill. I got mine for $49 on sale.

http://westernmalt.webs.com/brochure.htm - they've recently opened a small order desk, and have done away with their small order fee. They supply a number of breweries, large and small, but some of the local clubs have been doing group buys from them for years. They don't sell any other brewing supplies, just the malt, adjuncts, etc.

As far as the mill goes, I will likely buy one at some point, building one was more for fun than anything. I'll probably hold off until I decide if I ever want to move to a 3 vessel system though. Hence the question around using the blender in the short term.

sfgoat - I was able to put about 2lbs in at a time, and it was done in about 10 seconds of pulsing - very fine though.