Crushing Grains Without A Mill

[sponge]

Ok, so I have some uncracked grains (carapils and medium crystal) in my fridge which i was wanting to use on my next brew. Just one problem, i dont have a grain mill. I have been told you can stick them in a plastic bag and give them a seeing to with a rolling pin or hammer, but have been warned it takes a fairly long time.

What other methods are there which are easier? can you use a food prcess and just pulse them so you dont practically turn then into powder? orr..... anything else...?


Cheers, Sponge

 

[AndrewQLD]

Find a mate who owns a mill and ask a favour.

Surely there is someone in the Gong who could ease Sponge's pain?

Cheers
Andrew

 

[oldbugman]

Surely someone wouldnt mind cracking for you.

I once tried to use a rolling pin on 500grams of grain.. never again.
You could use my mill if you dont mind a small drive.

 

[sponge]

Hmmmm... looks like ill be doing more drives to the HBS then haha.

It's all good. I was mainly just wondering if theres an easy home solution for it but it doesn't look too good. I dont mind a drive to the HBS anyways, always means i get to spend more money which i shouldnt be spending


Sponge

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Hey Sponge

If you are keen to drive to Balgownie I'll crack it with my mill

PM me

Cheers

 

[brettprevans]

nothing wrong with the home job cracker, before I got my mill I used the ali baseballbat. did a great job.

 

[Hutch]

Last week I painfully grushed 1kg mixed grains using a mortar & pestle. Took longer than I care to repeat, and resulted in a lot of powder.
Thankfully no problem with stuck sparge, as this was mixed into a few kg base grain.

The food processor is quicker, though it pulverises the grain to a fine powder.

 

[SJW]

U need a mill. If tour up near Newcastle drop in and I will crack it for u and send u away with a few samplers.

Steve

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Grafton up here on the Far Nth Coast is nice and warm at the moment...and I have a Mill... B)

More than happy top crack it for you....

 

[Tony]

Stu's Mill is a piece of Shite....... dont know where he got it from but it couldnt crack a sweat in a sauna.....

Oh wait forgot all those hours at 2AM on a laythe in a cold workshop :lol:

I tried a rolling pin and a brick the first time i used grain. After that awfull, pointless excercise i ordered my grain cracked till i built a mill.

If your going to get into buying uncracked malts...... get a mill. a couple of batched pays for it!

Nothing else will do the job properly, not food processors, not baseball bats, not rolling pins, not bricks, not midgets with club hammers, not depleted uranium anti tank shells..................... get a mill!

cheers

 

[microbe]

not depleted uranium anti tank shells...................

... and after I'd stocked up too...

Cheers,

microbe

 

[razz]

... and after I'd stocked up too...

Cheers,

microbe

I hope you ordered the worthog tankbuster to fire em !

 

[dr K]

errr..
why are you storing grains in your fridge?
stupid question maybe...or is it???
I would imagine that sort of enviroment would be deliterious to your grain but even if it were not you chilling product for no good reason (unless you can supply one), which means higher energy usage, more GH gases etc is a bit reckless


K (ermit)

 

[Tony]

A Mk 2 tiger tank wouldnt do it as good as a proper mill.

 

[sponge]

errr..
why are you storing grains in your fridge?
stupid question maybe...or is it???
I would imagine that sort of enviroment would be deliterious to your grain but even if it were not you chilling product for no good reason (unless you can supply one), which means higher energy usage, more GH gases etc is a bit reckless


K (ermit)

I always thought that grains were kept in the fridge and hops were kept in the freezer. Maybe ive picked up something wrong here.

and the grains i have, theres only 500g of them, so they cant be using up that much energy to keep them cold... but either way, ill take them out and leave them with my other brewing stuff.


Sponge

 

[dr K]

not a lot of energy but a good move!
its all those little bits of not a lot add up up up ....
(and thanks)

K

 

[sponge]

Thats all good mate. :icon_cheers: Just wondering, hops are best kept in the freezer though arent they? (Neglecting the energy factor, for now)

 

[Tony]

Grain needs to be kept away from air and heat. It will last for ages in a cool airtight spot.

Hops are fine in the fridge if they ar airtight........ i have found air kills hops.... not temps. its not good for them but if they are sealed they will be better off.

cheers

 

[Tim F]

I've had good success using a coffee bean grinder - the ones with the clear plastic domed top and little blade that spins round. It takes maybe less than 100g at a time but doesn't take too long for smaller quantities. I cracked 750g of Rye in about 10 minutes. It does crush quite fine depending on how long you spin it for so you wouldn't want to do a massive proportion of the grist this way.

The food processor was absolutely useless btw, don't bother. Unless my processor is just crap

 

[Sprungmonkey]

Had a bit of a thought after reading this topic. Has anyone ever tried using a pasta maker to crush grains? Just an idea. Could be a very cheap alternative if it works?