What should I get

[simcoe26]

My birthday was last week. I got $100 to spend on brewing stuff. Any thoughts of what I should get. I'm leaning toward a mill. Just so you know I have a keggle gravity system with an immersion chiller no pumps

 

[BradleyBrew]

I had a monster mill and sold it... never saw a difference in eff or quality of beer.. plus it made a completely mess with the dust it produced. IMO I would stock up on brewing ingredients for the fall! Plus I'm not sure what quality of mill you are going to get for $100.

 

[simcoe26]

Everyone raves about the barley crusher and cereal killer. They are both in that price range but I was leaning toward the kegco 3 roller mill

 

[Hello]

My decision to buy a mill was not just to control the quality of my crush, it was to be able to buy some grain in bulk and save a couple of bucks. When buying a 50-55 pound sack of grain I can get 30% off the price if bought in bulk plus another 5% off with my AHA card. I do save money having my own mill. It has nearly paid for itself.

I had no issues with my crush from my LHBS. They care very much about the quality of everything they sell, which includes the crush from their mill. I simply like saving money on grain and it is pretty great having some stuff on hand so if I decide to brew the day I wake up, I'm not wasting an hour of my morning going to the LHBS.

I would buy a mill. I don't know the price on the kegco, but people do seem to like the cereal killer. I went with a Monster Mill, it is not exactly a $100 mill though.

 

[IslandLizard]

It depends on how much you brew. If you brew a lot and/or large batches and buy grain by the sack (group / bulk buys), you will need to crush it. The mill will pay for itself that way as you save compared to buying grain by the pound.

I like to be in control of the crush, using a much tighter gap than any LHBS. And even tighter for small kernels, like wheat, rye, oats, flaked products, etc. Efficiency in the 80-85% range.

After a lot of research I decided for a Monster Mill, 1.5" rollers. I should have gotten the 1/2" shaft option from the get-go, which I may get after all. Most regular drills (w/ 3/8" chuck) will not spin this machine. A good buy is the Heavy Duty Low Speed drill from Harbor Freight ($50, $25-35 with coupon!). Do a search here, many use them.

You can build your own hopper if you're a bit handy, but the factory baseboard is crappy MDF, so make yourself a real one out of 3/4" plywood.

 

[simcoe26]

The kegco is 150 shipped. I'd say it's about the same quality as the cereal killer but 3 rollers. Gash slug says it's the same mill as his. But that is exactly why I want a mill is lower malt cost. I can get 2 row for .90c a lb at my lhbs

 

[Homercidal]

I think a mill is an excellent choice if you are doing AG brewing. You can buy sacks of grain much cheaper and dial in you r crush where you want it.

Another excellent choice, if you don't have it yet, is a temp controlled fermentation system. A used fridge or freezer off of CL and a $30 temp controller and you are in business.

 

[normonster]

Aeration system is a great investment too.

 

[oujens]

I recently bought a cereal killer and already love it after one use. I've had efficiency struggles which I began to think was crush related. For my first time I hit 82% efficiency using the "credit card gap" where my efficiency had before had bounced between 65-75%. If you experience wide swings in your efficiency, I think it is worth the $100 to control the crush.

 

[simcoe26]

My efficiency is consistent at 70 from my lhbs. But from what I've heard from everyone with a mill they get closer to 80. So a mill provides the ability to buy bulk malt=cheaper and use less malt=cheaper beer.

 

[IslandLizard]

My efficiency is consistent at 70 from my lhbs. But from what I've heard from everyone with a mill they get closer to 80. So a mill provides the ability to buy bulk malt=cheaper and use less malt=cheaper beer.

The plot sickens. If the gap is too wide, small kernels (wheat, rye, etc.) pass through mostly uncrushed, reducing your extraction from those, throwing off your carefully balanced recipe. Where's the wheat?

 

[simcoe26]

The plot sickens. If the gap is too wide, small kernels (wheat, rye, etc.) pass through mostly uncrushed, reducing your extraction from those, throwing off your carefully balanced recipe. Where's the wheat?

Isn't this why a 3 roller mill is better

 

[IslandLizard]

Isn't this why a 3 roller mill is better

No, not necessarily. You can get a great crush from a 2-roller mill as long as the gap is adjustable. I crush Barley at 0.030" and Wheat, Rye, flaked stuff, etc. at 0.024". So yes, I mill those separately.

Your mashing system directs usuable fineness of the crush. I use a converted cooler mashtun with a cpvc manifold with slots cut. I batch sparge for ease and speed. 80-85% efficiency. BIAB brewers use a voile bag and can crush it so fine there's a ton of flour, and go up to 90% efficiency.
Those using a false bottom and fly sparge must crush coarser, as their grainbed needs to be a good filter.

AFAIK, most 3-roller mills are only adjustable on the bottom roller.

 

[simcoe26]

What mill do you have

 

[IslandLizard]

Monster Mill, see my previous reply.

 

[IslandLizard]

I had a monster mill and sold it... never saw a difference in eff or quality of beer.. plus it made a completely mess with the dust it produced. IMO I would stock up on brewing ingredients for the fall! Plus I'm not sure what quality of mill you are going to get for $100.

You always get dust when milling. I mill outside for that reason. Wet conditioning your grain tends to give a better crush, while reducing flour and dust production.

How are you milling now?

 

[BradleyBrew]

.

 

[Darwin18]

Make sure you invest in a solid corded drill. Do not go the cheap route.

 

[Teromous]

Mills are cool because you can crush grain whenever you want to in the comfort of your own home, but my opinion is that it should be one of the last things to buy. I don't think my efficiency or freshness is any better than when I bought it from my LHBS or online (in most cases). Everyone has an opinion though. Adding a plate chiller and pump really had a greater impact on my brew day than a grain mill did...and I mean by a landslide. The same goes for quick disconnects. Having them on my system made things a lot easier, but again their usefulness didn't come until after I had a pump and plate chiller. Having a refractometer also really helped but I can't say that it beats the usefulness of a mill or the cost savings of buying in bulk. If I were in your shoes I would probably buy a pump with expectations of buying a plate chiller later, but I don't know how attached you are to your immersion chiller. Even without a plate chiller you can use it to recirculate or transfer wort from your kettle to your fermenter in an instant. One thing I like is the ability to do whirlpools without any manual labor. If you use a hop bag you can stick the exit tube from the pump up to the hop bag and it works just like a make-shift hop back extracting tons of aroma.

 

[simcoe26]

So my wife convinced me that a fridge with a temp controller is a better option because it will make the beer better. Whereas a mill won't really(just save me money) luckily I have a good close lhbs. My question now is if I buy a mini fridge(cuz I already have a normal fridge as a kegerator) which one to get that will fit a 6.5 gallon carboy and what temp controller to get that is good and also simple because I know nothing about wiring

 

[brew703]

I would get a chest freezer for your ferm chamber and get the ITC 308 temp controller. Both will be a bit more than the $100 you have. I bought a small chest freezer for $150 and the temp controller is $35.
I didnt find the small fridges were big enough. The freezer part will affect clearance, especially with an airlock.

 

[simcoe26]

I only ferment one beer at a time so if I can find a small fridge big enough that would be my 1st option. I read That some Temp controller only go to a certain wattage and wouldn't cover a small mini fridge

 

[IslandLizard]

Save this thread, at some point you'll be back in the market for a mill and drill.

For a fermentation freezer, you could check Craigslist, although there is a risk you're buying a dud. It should be working at the time of buy.

 

[55x11]

I only ferment one beer at a time so if I can find a small fridge big enough that would be my 1st option. I read That some Temp controller only go to a certain wattage and wouldn't cover a small mini fridge

If you can get your grains milled at LHBS (the way I do), I would say freezer chest with temperature control is much higher priority.

What if you want to do an imperial stout that requires 2 months of fermenting?

Fermenting more than one beer at a time and keeping some bottles in the fridge "for the ride" will expand your brewing ability a lot more than a mill. I am assuming you have a few square feet of space. It's multi-purpose and adds to your brewing toolkit a great deal, whereas grain mill (probably) duplicates something you can get at LHBS for free.

My grain bill averages about $15 per batch. If you improve your efficiency from 70% to 80%, this would save you about $2 per batch - you need to brew 50 batches just to break even.

Stirplate would save you $100 in about 15 batches, for example - and they don't cost $100, mine was about $20, so about 3 batches payoff.

 

[simcoe26]

How does a stir plate safe 100.

 

[simcoe26]

Also my average grain bill is about 13 lbs but at $1.50 per pound for base malt and 2 per specialty mine are usually in the $22 dollar range how are your beers so cheap

 

[Mx750ktm]

How does a stir plate safe 100.

I'm not entirely sure what he meant with a stir plate saving 100 dollars. But I know for me personally now owning a stir plate and buying one vial of yeast instead of 2-3 depending on the estimated OG I have saved 7-14 dollars a trip to the LHBS. I'm guessing he was thinking roughly the same thing.

 

[oujens]

So my wife convinced me that a fridge with a temp controller is a better option because it will make the beer better. Whereas a mill won't really(just save me money) luckily I have a good close lhbs. My question now is if I buy a mini fridge(cuz I already have a normal fridge as a kegerator) which one to get that will fit a 6.5 gallon carboy and what temp controller to get that is good and also simple because I know nothing about wiring

Yes! What a great lady! I found a Sanyo mini fridge that was big enough to hold a carboy with no modifications. I think most will need a modification to the door due to the compressor hump in the back of the fridge. I bought mine off craigslist for $40 and built an inkbird controller for about the same. Im not a technical guy, but there are plenty of wiring diagrams on here that helped me. A used wine fridge or chest freezer could be considered too. My advice is to be patient and check craigslist for deals. There are always a bunch of mini fridges and chest freezers for sale.

Edit: should also note that on a mini fridge, some have a freezer section that might get in the way. I use a mini fridge for fermentation and a chest freezer for kegs and cold storage. Just FYI, I paid $200 for my chest freezer brand new, and I could have gotten the same freezer barely used on Craigslist for $100. A lot of people buy them and barely use them.

 

[normonster]

Go fridge, not chest freezer IMO. Chest freezer with a normal controller will freeze the bottom of your kegs at low temp settings so you either need a brewPI or set it at like 38 or higher. Can't wait to ditch mine. For a ferm chamber the temps will be higher so no freeze but the temp difference from top to bottom even with a fan is too much IMO.

Cheers!

 

[Shooter]

You are going the right route with fermentation control. This should be one of the FIRST things people do after getting into the hobby, before kegging, even before all-grain. Temperature control, along with a healthy, properly aerated/oxygenated yeast pitch, was the MOST important difference in my beer quality.