I recently purchased a Barley Crusher and had my first go at hand cranking 16 pounds of grain today. Aside from the labor of hand cranking and potential cross-contamination I’m seriously considering just returning the mill and purchasing already crushed grain.
I am only brewing about 10 times a year and considering the labor, clean-up, etc. I’m not sure what to do.
Thoughts?
Poll added to the thread
Do you crush your own grains or purchase already crushed?
I would not return it. I hand cranked myself until I got a cordless 18v Dewalt from Blowes. It works likes a charm and I can crush tighter than I did with milled grain from a homebrew shop.
What did you brew? Sixteen pounds is a metric truck load of grain for a 5-gallon batch.
A mill is easy to clean. All one needs to do is take it outside and hit it with compressed air.
With that said, cross contamination is not a valid reason for sending the mill back. Any microflora that is living on the malt that you crush is not going to automatically jump into one of your fermentation vessels. There are simple steps that you can take to remove this threat such as crushing outside.
Another ‘keep it’ here. You’ll get things dialed in and honestly, I don’t see the mill as your issue. If you rely on precrushed grain, your efficiency will be all over the place unless you find a place that will double crush - can’t rely on that by mail order. RDWHAHB.
EDIT - Agree with no cross contamination concerns.
This could easily come across as a jacka$$ statement but it’s not meant to be. How on earth have you gotten this far into life and you don’t own a drill? Hardly a day goes by I don’t use a drill.
And even if you get it double crushed @ LHBS, that’s no guarantee your efficiency still won’t be all over the place. Having mine double crushed for me means that my efficiency at least stays above 70%. A grain mill is hopefully something I will be able to get in the near future.
Also, I think I was the one that brought up the contamination issue. I only meant to introduce the idea because if one was not aware that it was an issue and didn’t take the proper steps to prevent it such as crushing outdoors or not doing it where you have open fermenters, then you would be at risk without even knowing it. If you are informed of the risk, which is minimal, you can adapt your procedures very easily to avoid contamination. I just wanted you to know that there could be an issue if you weren’t aware of it. That’s all.
Moreover, I think there will come a day when you are glad that you kept the mill. Nothing is more frustrating that an unplanned contingency that keeps you from brewing at the last moment. If you think you have the post brewing blues, wait till you have the I was going to brew but opened up the grains and they weren’t crushed blues.