Chrushing your own grain

[johnmac]

I'm wondering if there's any point crushing my own malt. The cost benefit is negligible. Does anyone think that freshly crushed grain makes better beer?
Does crushing make a lot of dust? How long does it take to crush 5kg of malt?

[Seveneer]

I don't crush my own as I get good results with ready crushed and I use it fast enough not to worry about it going off.

If I only brewed once a month or less I'd probably consider it.

/Phil.

[Seveneer]

I keep crushed malt for months, imo it's fine.

I think you're right. There's more potential for me to screw it up by crushing too much or too little than there is risk of the pre-crushed malt going off.

/Phil.

[Andy]

I guess freshly crushed grain is always going to be the better option however there is the cost outlay of the grain mill and the time to do the crushing to take into account. I buy exact crushed grain amounts from a brewery and so I'm pretty confident that it's relatively fresh stuff + I don't need to store unused stuff for ages. Eventually I might buy a barley crusher mill but it's low on the shopping list.

[Scooby]

Like many I buy crushed in 25kg, I would be happy to keep it for 6-12 months as long as it was stored in a dry, dark and cool (in that order) environment

[Alton_Bee]

Like most others I use pre-crushed grains.

Again this is due to the minimal savings on buying un crushed grains.

[shiny beast]

I bought a Barley Crusher a few months ago. I explained to SWMBO that it would save money by allowing me to buy in bulk
I know you can buy 25 kilo sacks ready crushed. But I only have the option of storing grain in the garage, which is damp. If grain is left whole then it's less likely to go slack. It's also nice to have to be able to alter the crush to suit your setup. Ive set the rollers to .044 thou' of an inch.
The grains are only just cracked and the grist has little flour.

[tubby_shaw]

I buy ready crushed.
I have been buying from various sources recently and have noticed a lot of difference in the crush and thereafter the efficiency of the mash.

[Scooby]

I buy ready crushed.
I have been buying from various sources recently and have noticed a lot of difference in the crush and thereafter the efficiency of the mash.

Yeah, big problem I suffered stuck mashes with one supplier whose grain was very floury. I get mine from a local brewery now and am very pleased with the quality.

[subsub]

I have been buying ready crushed but as mentioned in previous posts I have suffered stuck mashes with finer ground stuff. I am currently thinking about a mill purchase in the near future.

[BigEd]

I bought my own mill about 10 years ago and it's a great convenience. Grain does store better uncrushed and since many homebrew shops seem to crush on the coarse side, at least in the US, extraction efficiency can be maximized with a fine crush.

[RabMaxwell]

I buy my grain whole once a year direct from maltsters thus paying less than half the price of home-brew shops

[steve_flack]

I've just started crushing my own - mostly for the better storage properties of uncrushed malt. Also like tubby_shaw mentioned, I've had some very poor crushes from homebrew shops.

[mysterio]

I wouldn't mind crushing my own malt to give a bit more of a manual feel over the brewing process. Hell I would grow and malt my own barley if I thought I could make a good job of it.

As it stands I buy mine pre-crushed, enough for about 2 ten gallon batches at a time.

[oblivious]

I also would like to crush my own grain, maybe it will increases my efficiency