I don’t have my own grain mill yet and I do not have a local brew shop. I have to order my grain pre milled and when I buy a 10 lb bag I end up with quite a bit of fine dust. Should I be sifting that out of my grain before the mash or is it something integral to the mash?
Also, what grain mill should I buy when I get there?
You can filter it out if you would like. Whether it matters much will depend on whether you vorlauf, and how you mash. I wouldn’t worry too much about it.
Again, how you brew, how often, and how much cash you have will help slim down your mill choices.
Popular options include
Corona mill $25~. Great low budget mill, especially for biabers. There’s some claims that it will produce a greater chance of astringency due to shredding the grain husk, I don’t buy it though. I haven’t had any issues as long as pH is managed properly.
Barley crusher $~125. Decent intro mill, tends to break down after awhile though. Warranty is a joke. I would not recommend buying unless you can get it in writing that the retailer you purchase through will take care of the warranty for you if the manufacturer ignores or says it’s normal wear and tear.
Cereal killer $~90: Knock off version of barley crusher, slightly better longevity.
After that there’s the monster mill and larger/more expensive mills. >$250
That grain dust likely has some fermentables in it.
I have a 2-roll monster mill and love it.
The Millars mill has features similar to the Monster, but was significantly less costly a couple years ago
I agree on the Corona mill being a decent and low cost alternative to a roller mill. I used a Victoria mill for several years before getting a roller mill and you’d be hard pressed to find a difference in the crush between the two.
I have the Cereal Killer grain mill, it has been fine and I probably have 130 batches on it. I drive mine with a cordless drill set on the low speed setting.
JSP Malt Mill. It’ last forever; it’s a tank!
You shouldn’t need to filter anything out. If their mill is decent, that flour is the malt fermentables, not shredded husks.
Yep. If you don’t use that stuff your efficiency will be way off.
I agree with everyone that you should not filter out the “flour” from your bag of crushed malts. It may increase the cloudiness of your wort but will settle out throughout the brewing/fermenting process, and will not make it through to bottle/keg.
As for mill, the MattMill Kompact from Austin Homebrewsupply is a serious contender if you have the money. If I were buying a mill today, this would be on the top of my list for researching pros/cons. A few years ago I went with a Monster 2-roller and have been happy with it. There are lots of good/great options out there from as cheap as ~$20 to as much as your entire savings account :D, and many have already been recommended.
I’ve ben using a JSP MaltMill for nearly 20 years and literally tons of grain. It still works as well as it did the first time I used it and I get a great crush. I would be hard pressed to recommend any other based on my experience.
+1 for the JSP Malt Mill.
My LHBS has 3 in their grain room that see almost constant usage on the weekends. They are tanks. And, thanks the the AHA Membership discount, was able to get mine for under $200.
Any mill is better than no mill, and money well spent. Milled grain oxidizes in a hurry…fresh is best.
Ya know, that’s a myth we busted on Experimental Brewing. Briess ( and I think some other maltster) have said that their precrushed grain is good for 6-12 months. My own experience is that grain I had crushed 5 months earlier made a killer pilsner. However, I don’t mean to discount your experience, either.
Zaxxle, Just keep making beer…and use the flour. It’s beer goodness in powder form. Brewing is about brewing, crushing is only a step in the process and you can take that step when you decide your interests in the hobby warrants it. Cheers!
+1 I’ve been using the JSP for about 10 years now with zero problems. I motorized it with a low RPM, high torque direct drive motor (very safe) and it chows through grain like a pro. Once I got a pebble in my grain sack, and that stopped it, but there was no damage to the system.
thanks for all the help guys! my wife said to wait on the grain crusher so thats what is happening lol. Thank you Denny for mentioning your findings about milled grain staying good for a few months at the least.
Glad i asked about the dust, my first instinct was to sift it all out so that could have caused me some headaches.
What motor are you using and where’d you find it? One of these days I’m going to get tired of holding the trigger on the drill…
Agree can’t argue against a mill. I have no idea on freshness. I’m always milling grain a year, or even 2, after I buy it. Still makes great beer IMO.
I got it from a friend of mine who owns a restaurant supply shop, and he pulled it off a pizza dough mixer, I think. It’s a Dayton Shaded Pole Gearmotor Brake, 2.6 amp, 30 RPM, 113 in.lb torque, 1/10 HP.
