How much is saved milling own grain?

[VP Brewing]

I'm thinking about getting a grain mill and am wondering how much $$$ gets saved when you mill ur own.
For those with a mill, what do you spend on grain for a roughly 5.5 kg brew? I'll probably just be doing base malt for a start.
Cheers

 

[SimoB]

You save money because you can buy bulk grain and store it. Where if you buy cracked grain you need to use it fairly soon.

 

[elcarter]

Tell the missus it saves the deficit of Kenya and must be done for the good of the world but do it because it allows you to change your recipe last minute on brew day.

But yeah buy bulk base malt and any others you use a lot and pick up the speciality when needed.

Bag of imported malts around $80 less if you shop around so $3.20KG most shops charge around $5 a kg

Joe white ect can be had for less around $50 and sometimes get down to $1.70kg

Bulk buy with lads for further savings.

 

[Pogierob]

To give you an idea. JW trad ale by the kg at grain and grape for 2-20kg is $3.90
If you buy a 25kg bag I think works out at around $1.90 per kg unmilled (I think they charge $10 to mill the bag for you

You save $2 a kg on unmilled.

 

[Bribie G]

There's also the advantage that if you buy your spec grains unmilled they keep far longer than milled. For example crystal malt used to smell like guinea pig food after a couple of months, whereas I can now keep it for up to a year and still smell quite fresh when milled. So you can do "economies of scale" and order five kg at a time of your favourite spec grains such as Caraaroma, roast barley, whatever and save a further dollar a kilo from many suppliers.

 

[dmac80]

More importantly than the savings I think is the ability to brew at short notice, assuming you keep healthy stocks of malts

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[Mardoo]

If you get in on the bulk buys on here, and there should be another one popping up within a couple months, you will save about 2/3 on grain costs. If in your example you were using bulk-bought base malt at 90% and crystal at 10% you would be looking at $10-$15 for grain cost, depending on domestic or imported grain. I haven't bothered to power my mill, using the hand crank, and I don't find it bad at all. Maybe 10 minutes of contemplating my brewing process or my navel and 7 kilos of grain is milled. If I were regularly doing double batches I would want to power it though.

 

[Tahoose]

All the major points have been hit already.

The handy thing I find is that I might think, ok Saturday I have a brewday. Something will come up and then I might end up with a free afternoon sometime next week. I doesn't bother me that my grain will be sitting there milled for a week or 2 because I mill it while my strike water is heating up.

Also I'm expecting to get 20 odd years out of my mill. At a difference of $2 per kilo I'm pretty sure that the cost of my mill will be absorbed by the time I jump on the next grain bulk buy.

If you are going to brew 4 times a year and you generally don't drink that much it might not be for you. If your going to brew maybe once a month It would definitely be the better option as your going to get through at least 2 sacks of base malt.

 

[Camo6]

It's worth having your own mill for all the points mentioned above. It's also awesome to be able to stick your head in your grain storage and just enjoy the smell. I've got a whole bunch of crystals stored in a chest freezer with my usual base malts and I swear it smells like a Snickers bar atm.
Having separate unmilled grains is also great for taste testing different malts.
You should easily save 50% off the price of grain if you utilise bulk buys. The last BB I was in had multiple split sacks allowing one to stock up on a range of spec grains at great prices.

 

[VP Brewing]

Awesome guys. Sounds like a good idea. I live 2 hrs north of melb so it would be way easier to get grain in bulk rather than getting single batches sent up. Looking at ways to do it cheaper so I think I'll get a mill, vac sealer for hops and just started splitting wyeast packs. I really should make my mates pay for all the beers they drink but I doubt that will happen.
Now which mill is good value for money?

 

[Camo6]

I bought a Mashmaster minimill for about $250 delivered. There are much cheaper options or in between but I did a bit of research here and with geared stainless rollers in a solid aluminum frame it should last a lifetime and worth the few extra bob to start with.
The perspex hopper's a POS though. But plenty of options for water bottle hoppers or the like.
Kegking have a simple mill with a solid hopper for a lot less and it sounds like they do the job well.
I guess it depends on how much use you'll get out of it.

 

[SnakeDoctor]

So whats the rough average saving per 23l batch? $10?

For mine when doing the numbers it depends on if you have a reliable / cheap supplier of mixed / milled grain or not.

 

[Mardoo]

I have one from Nev at Online Brewing Supplies, formerly Gryphon, and it does the job well, as well as it being quite affordable. If budget wasn't an issue I'd go the Mashmaster like Camo6's or other geared one. Monster Mills have a good reputation and Barwon Brewing Supplies currently has a thread going about the fact they're stocking them now.

The three things you mentioned, milling my own grain, bulk hops, and splitting yeast definitely combine to make brewing totally affordable for my very tight budget.

And the smell of the grain is AWESOME and nothing beats tasting it for helping put recipes together if you want to make your own.

 

[VP Brewing]

How do the bulk buys work? I've had a look at some threads and see that people put names and what they want on the list but do they have to go pick it up or can it be sent to them?

 

[pedleyr]

Ordinarily you need to pick it up, but you can usually find someone willing to pick it up for you and you can arrange collection/delivery directly with them.

 

[VP Brewing]

Cheers. $60 in fuel might make it not worth it.

 

[pk.sax]

Best is if you can arrange with other brewers closer to you and split the cost to get the lot to your area.

 

[Pogierob]

Let me know LonglostBelgian, if you go in on a bulk buy, I might be able to assist to a degree.

From time to time I drive up to Harcourt/Bendigo. I"d be happy to throw a sack or two in the car.

 

[Pogierob]

Or a quick google and I found this..

http://www.bendigomaltnhops.com/

 

[VP Brewing]

Wow that's service. I'm in shepp and probably still a while off going in a BB just seeing my options. There is a couple of other brewers here that I know of that might want to split some travel costs or might happen to be going down. Bendigo is slightly closer than melb but I'm probably more likely to go down to melb. It's good to know there is somewhere in bendigo that caters for AG brewers. Don't have the luxury here. Thanks for ur advice