Chrushing your own grain

[bitter_dave]

I got rained off work today, the boss called me this morning and said no work today! Yippee!,
Within 10 minutes I had my water on heat and my grains milled, the most time consuming part was deciding what grain and hop bill I would run with, mash was on within half an hour! (if only it would rain everyday)

Stroke of luck there NzDan Why not start your own thread and let us know the recipe and how it goes?

[Scooby]

If 1 mill = £80 and the difference between 25kg whole and crushed is £2.50
and you use 3 bags a year it's only going to take 10 years to payback So you crush your own for many reasons but not to save money

I crush my own to save money and to have control of what I want when I want it! I got a 25kg bag of Maris otter last week for $65NZD, theres only 10kg left in under a week, therefore for the likes of myself it does pay off, I guess it depends on how much you want to brew and how you do it! for instance, I got rained off work today, the boss called me this morning and said no work today! Yippee!,
Within 10 minutes I had my water on heat and my grains milled, the most time consuming part was deciding what grain and hop bill I would run with, mash was on within half an hour! (if only it would rain everyday)

OK I give in, if you use 30 x 25kg bag a year like NzDan it will only take a year to pay back

[tubby_shaw]

c) I'm fat and I need the exercise.

I'd best get one quick

[tubby_shaw]

You must burn a fair few calories doing that trout wrestling TS

You can't talk about my wife like that

[iowalad]

Recently picked up a barley crusher and now have a 50 lbs bag of Marris Otter, 10 lbs Golden Promise, 5 lbs of Mild Malt and various specialty grains (should last me till the end of the year).

I will start with the factory set gap of .039". I was curious what others with the barley crusher (or an equivalent malt mill) have set their gap at?

[steve_flack]

Mine's still set at the factory setting.

[NzDan1]

Ive left it at factory setting and its been fine, not sure if my efficiency would improve or not setting it tighter.
I ran the grain through twice once and it was visibly much finer, but I think thats what contributed the my stuck mash.

[shiny beast]

I batch sparge through a stainless braided hose. At the factory setting, I was getting very slow run-off. Increased it to .044, and much improved.
The grains are just cracked, leaving the husks mostly intact. Efficiency is over 75%.

[iowalad]

Thanks for the advice. Interesting to hear that the factory setting or wider seems to be the consensus.

I will start with the factory setting but suspect I won't be able to resist playing with it some.

[SteveD]

I buy pre crushed but I'm considering a crusher because:-

(1) Better storage qualities of whole grain resulting in:-
(2) freshness of crushed grain going into the mashtun (you don't know how long it's been sitting around at the HBS
(3) Dodgy homebrew crush periodically giving low efficiency or stuck mashes and so:-
(4) you can set the crush to suit you and your gear.

Clive LaPensee for one won't entertain precrushed grain, but then he is a bit of a luddite, and perhaps all the better for it!

[iowalad]

Steve,

Those were my reasons for getting a crusher as well (although I don't really have any evidence to support the assertions). As I was explaining to my wife the reasons as to why a barley crusher was critical to our existence she finally broke down and stated she was fine with the purchase as long as I stopped droning on about it!

[SteveD]

Steve,

Those were my reasons for getting a crusher as well (although I don't really have any evidence to support the assertions). As I was explaining to my wife the reasons as to why a barley crusher was critical to our existence she finally broke down and stated she was fine with the purchase as long as I stopped droning on about it!

Now, thats a plan!