Small Batch Grain Mills Help Please

[Chookers]

I am interested in doing small batches 10-15L at a time, I have done a few BIAB brews and they have both turned out better than I expected despite the problem I encountered. I would like to experiment and try more brews, but the cost of grains in such small amounts is not a very efficient way of doing things.

I would (ideally) like to buy 25kg sack of some base malt and in that case would have to crack it myself, mills seem to be expensive and would nullify the saving I would make from buying the 25kg sack. I have seen some mills on eBay and I just want to get some opinions on this one.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/500gm-CAST-IRON-HAND-OPERATED-CORN-GRAIN-WHEAT-SPICE-GRINDER-CRUSHER-MILL/351484323753?_trksid=p2045573.c100642.m3226&_trkparms=aid%3D555017%26algo%3DPL.CASSINI%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160706104836%26meid%3Dbf6f42fb510f4297893df10a417b2ae3%26pid%3D100642%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26

would any recommend this or has anyone used one like it??

Thoughts please?

 

[sp0rk]

I would say that up front, yes $100-$300 on a mill seems like it nullifies your saving
But then when you look at the amount you'll be saving grain, it quickly pays itself off
So say $62 for a 25kg sack of Joe White Ale malt (that's what I pay)
$280 for a Mashmaster Mini Mill (a top end home scale mill)
that's $342 for a single sack's worth of beer
vs
$3.95 per kilo, which is $98.75 for 25kg cracked

let's just push this out to 8 sacks worth, which would last me probably 3 years (I've been drinking less lately)
mill plus 8 full sacks of grain = $776
8 full sacks of grain bought by the kilo = $790
And if you get over the hobby and sell the mill, you're going to make a decent amount of your purchase price back


If you cheap out and buy a Keg King mill, your return is much quicker
you can get these for $120 if you look around
4 sacks plus the $120 mill = $368
4 sacks bought at kilo price = $395

 

[pcqypcqy]

I have one of those that a mate brought back from the states for a similar price.

Anyway. Yes, it works ok. The cracking can be a bit uneven, but you can still get some reasonable efficiencies out of it depending on how fine you grind it/how many passes. Be prepared to build some sort of shroud for it though as it can make quite a bit of mess with flour and bits of grain flying up out of the top. Most of it will end up in whatever bucket you put below it, but something to consider.

It's also possible to pop the handle off and modify this so that you can drive it with a drill or an electric motor (it can take a bit of grunt work to crack enough grain even for batch sizes like you're talking).

You can also DIY up a hopper arrangement to feed it as well, I never got into it because my new LHBS has a kick ass mill, but I think a 90mm or 100mm pvc fitting will slot on the top so you can make it taller, or you can try building a plywood or metal pyramid-shaped box to feed it.

 

[earle]

I have a mill like the one you linked but it has a metal shroud over to limit the grain flying everywhere. Not sure if you can still get that model but there are some with a plastic shroud.

I drive it with an electric drill as above.

Not the best mill on the market but fine for BIAB.

I mounted mine in a bucket with the bottom cut out, which sits in the top of another bucket for collecting the milled grain. At the end lift out the bucket which has the mill mounted and you're left with a normal bucket with milled grain in it.

I got a 15L blue neverfail water container, cut the bottom out and use it as a large hopper - just sit it in mills metal hopper and works fine.

 

[earle]

Here's a dodgy photo of it

 

[Chookers]

Lovely!!

Thanks for the answers guys. I am glad to hear feedback from those who have used this type of mill. I am on and off this (no offence) hobby, and as Spork pointed out the sacks I would need to buy are more than I can think of for my on again off again type of brewing, but I am keen on the keg king mill.

I would gladly buy 1 sack. I guess most 10L batches would use 2-3kg of Base malt. So I might get 10 brew out of one sack, which I think is pretty safe bet for me.

thank you to pcqypcqy for your personal experience, and earle for yours and your photos.

Based on these replies I think I will get the linked mill and see how I go. I doubt I will ever do more than BIAB, unless there is an easy process to produce AG in 10L batches.

Thanks for the replys

Cheers

 

[pcqypcqy]

I did 3v all grain with small batches for a bit before I started buying kit. I used a 19L big w pot to heat my strike, mashed in a 33 litre esky with a copper manifold that I made, while it was mashing I'd heat my sparge water in the same pot and put it into another esky I had kicking around, I'd then drain into the pot again while sparging and then put the whole thing on a burner.

I think I could manage around 13 or 14 litres of finished beer at the end. I slowly started buying more/better gear as I went but the 33L mashtun esky remained the core component until recently. I brewed my porter on it and got 1st at QABC and 4th at nationals, so you don't need tonnes of fancy gear to do good beer.

 

[Chookers]

Congrats on your 1st place pcqypcqy, porter sounds interesting, is your recipe up?

I still haven't done any dark brews, was very interested in doing a milk stout for a time there but still haven't got round to it and it seems a winter beer so I will probably wait.

I got a 19L Bigw pot and quite a big oven, so I heat my oven to 70 and turn it off, heat my strike water in pot add grain and put the lot in the oven to mash. Temp stays pretty steady. Then even though I have been told its not really necessary I heat some sparge water in my 15L pot and pretend I'm making a giant cup of tea.. Drain into the 19L and start my boil.. seems to work ok., but my efficiency could be better and I think that has a lot to do with the grind level of my grains.

 

[pcqypcqy]

Interesting - never thought about an oven for a small batch mash.

Don't worry about efficiency too much, so long as you're consistent you can always add a bit more grain to get the OG you want.

I haven't posted the recipe but it's very similar to those found in the BYO style guide for Robust Porter. http://byo.com/mead/item/2506-robust-porter-style-profile

 

[Chookers]

Great! I'll add the recipe to my little book. Very soon I'll have to get a Big book for my recipes.