Why should I buy a grain mill?

[Toecutter]

What was your efficiency before, and now?

From what I've been told, by brewers with their own mills, the flavor of the brew will also be improved when crushing on brew day... I'm itching to test this out... Just need the paycheck's to start coming in (start work either on the 17th, or the week after)...

Lets just say my OG went from 1.045 to 1.060 with the same amount of grain on my first crush with the new mill. At first I thought I dident have it adjusted right, so i readjusted and crushed a second time.

I had been adding extra grain to my mashes to compensate and try to hit my OG target. Now I can cut back.

 

[badmajon]

Find a brew group in your area.

I'm putting together a bulk grain buy in the next couple weeks. 2-Row is $0.46lbs, MO is $0.69 lbs.

Whaa?

 

[Golddiggie]

Lets just say my OG went from 1.045 to 1.060 with the same amount of grain on my first crush with the new mill. At first I thought I dident have it adjusted right, so i readjusted and crushed a second time.

I had been adding extra grain to my mashes to compensate and try to hit my OG target. Now I can cut back.

Very nice... I'm hoping to hit the 75-80% (or better) range once I get my own mill... I'm brewing either tomorrow or Monday (last weekday brewing unless it's on a vacation ), with the BIAB method (in a large pot) since last weekends attempt to use a cooler mash tun went poorly. The brew on deck has 11 pounds of grain in the recipe (5 gallon batch), so I shouldn't have any issue with using enough water in the mash, to make for a smaller sparge volume (20 quart pot for sparge, 32 quart for mash/boil)... I want to dial in my process for BIAB right now. Once I get the mill, I'll be able to get more reliable results.

 

[Frodo]

Well, I guess you guys gave some good reasons but I don't see where you can get bulk grain for 50% off of the usual LHBS milled price. The cheapest 2 row bag I've seen is $50 for 50#, which is a buck a pound, and I can get it milled from AHS for 1.25. Sure, there's shipping, but AHS gives a flat rate ($8) and I'd have to buy hops and yeast anyway.

You're not looking too hard then. US 2-row is closer to $35/50 lb online. Morebeer has 50 lb sacks a bit lower than that, as do some of the other online HBS. It's usually under a different tab something like "bulk grain" or "full sacks of grain". For example:

http://morebeer.com/view_product/17159/102161/Domestic_2-Row_50lbs

An smaller LHBS will likely be charging a little more, but the price goes way down when you buy a whole sack.

 

[LKHA]

LOL what do you do with a feeler gauge in a car these days

Check gap with a feeler gauge. If you have a car, you should have one of these.

 

[Atvar]

You're not looking too hard then. US 2-row is closer to $35/50 lb online. Morebeer has 50 lb sacks a bit lower than that, as do some of the other online HBS. It's usually under a different tab something like "bulk grain" or "full sacks of grain". For example:

http://morebeer.com/view_product/17159/102161/Domestic_2-Row_50lbs

An smaller LHBS will likely be charging a little more, but the price goes way down when you buy a whole sack.

Morebeer 50lb of 2 Row with shipping is $82.72.
AHS 27.5lb Canadian 2 row with free* shipping $27.49.
AHS 50lb Brewers 2 row with free* shipping $53.99.
My nearest LHBS 30min away 50lb 2 row is I think $70.00.
My nearest well stocked LHBS 1h away in Pittsburgh 50lb 2 row is $50.00.
BMW 50lb 2 row with 10% off is $51.75.

There just aren't many options in some areas, I've looked.

I got a mill for christmas and just bought a 50lb sack for $50. It will save me $1.75 from my usual buying grain kits from BMW. It's basically the same cost for me, but now I can brew and alter recipes on a whim, like adding some real malt to the mr. beer kit I was just given for christmas. It might also save BMW some cash from paying to ship that much really cheap grain across the country... it'd be interesting to know the actual shipping costs per pound.

If you're paying $1.25/lb milled and can get unmilled at $1.00/lb, a mill would pay for itself over time - ~2 sacks for a corona mill, or ~10 sacks for a nice barley crusher mill that will keep its value.

 

[Frodo]

Point noted. I was referring to "bulk" grain price, not with shipping included, which I guess you have to factor in if you must have it shipped. $70 for a sack of basic 2-row at your LHBS? And $50 at a larger one near Pittsburgh? Wow those are big markups. Granted I have no idea what their turnover is, but that seems way too high to me... Even in California they're not marked up nearly as much, and we certainly aren't known for cheap goods. At one of the LHBS near here a bag of Great Western 2-row is $38, and they're not known for their cheap pricing.

 

[joety]

LOL what do you do with a feeler gauge in a car these days

It's used in the back seat. Save's a lot of time on foreplay.

 

[petep1980]

The same reason I bought a 15.5 gallon keg with a nozzle. To be awesome.

 

[Sheldon]

Aside from group buys, is the consensu that AHS (with free shipping on orders of $100) is the most economical for bulk 2 Row buys on line? I am putting together an order and my research had verified AHS as the choice. Looking for better sourced input.

Thanks

 

[chriswilkes33]

it's used in the back seat. Save's a lot of time on foreplay.

hahahahaha

 

[just2brew]

I got talked into buying a mill at my lhbs. Needed 32 pounds to try out a new 15 gallon setup I put together after christmas. The guy at the store explained that 32# would cost me 64 dollars at 2.00 a pound and a 50# bag from them would run me 65 dollars. It made buying a mill seem like the logical thing to do. Should have bought a mill early, the hand crank mill at the store was getting old. Electric Drill + Barley Crusher = Best tool combination ever!