Trying to "mill" grain with a blender

[Bribie G]

When I bought my new Marga a couple of years ago I fired up the old "Modding a Marga Mill" thread for a quick refresher as you have to drill a hole in the control wheel to give the correct gap between the rollers.

The mill comes with a number of pre drilled holes anyway for flour, coarser flour, rolling oats etc. I drilled a hole in between the rolled oats setting and the setting shown in the Modding thread, and it's perfect for BIAB.

 

[CoopsOz]

A bit OT, but the concept of using a blender intrigues me. I've run into one case where I accidentally got delivered whole grain and was a bit stuck. I was hesitant to use the blender as I've not seen a thread like this before, and was entirely aware of a stuck mash. Please continue with worked examples to save me the hassle on a false bottom.
My wife went to a Thermomix 'party' and I was completely blown away by the $2k price tag. Dismissed it before knowing what it did. "But it does everything" she said. Then ranted off "... makes custard, stirs risotto, can mill flour..." She stopped talking there, she could see my ears prick up like a Labrador who was asked if he wanted to go for a walk.

Still not buying it.

My wife bought one, it sits in the cupboard with the rest of the crap we have bought in the past.

 

[sandybits]

Why are you using unmalted barley?

Good question.

I have a 20kg bag of barley that I grabbed to try some malting at home. My first batch of malt is currently germinating so I thought I'd get a head start and try it with raw barley.

As I mentioned towards the start of the thread a <> b but I thought it might give me a rough guide once the barley is finished. Oh yeah and I'm too lazy to drive the 45+ minutes to the nearest LHBS to grab some malt

 

[Let's Brew Beer]

I use a blender! Would like to get a grain mill, will some time, but I think I've got the art of blenderising grain pretty down pat now. Did a brown ale today and was expecting a gravity of around 1.040, and ended up with a gravity of around 1.047 - so, must be doing *something* right.

I couldn't say how long I blend for. I just put it on its lowest setting and let it go for a bit. Stop once to stir the grain up with a spurtle and then give it another whizz on the lowest setting. The blender is a bit inconsistent - you end up with a few remaining whole grains, a bit of flour, but most of it is in the ideal in-between range.

Keep on forgetting the 'wet the grains' trick. (Makes mental note: must remember that trick so, er, I can forget it next time I brew).

You and me both mate, mind you i mostly BIAB so its not really a big deal if you turn it into flour. Gonna get one of those old crank-handle ones that hold 500g of malt in the hopper till i can afford something better.

 

[pvan340]

My wife bought one, it sits in the cupboard with the rest of the crap we have bought in the past.

We've got one. Yes it does mill grain, quite well in fact! As well as all the other advertised benefits.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

I've milled with a blender since we moved to Tassie,as getting PAYG milled grain in an isolated hamlet was not viable.

It won some awards and with a BIAB bag, the flour isn't too hard to deal with.

 

[kierent]

I just did a 5kg bag in a friend's thermomix. Seems to have done the job pretty well. I had to do it 300g at a time. I also did try it in my normal blender first and it also worked fine but the thermomix seemed a bit quicker and a bit more consistent. I wouldn't buy one, but it was fine as a loan. I forgot to wet the grains first too.

I only needed to because I ordered from craftbrewer and either I forgot to tick the box or they forgot to crack them for me.

 

[good4whatAlesU]

Blenders work okay - I accidentally ordered uncrushed grain a couple weeks back and have been using the wife's Kogan on "turbo pulse" to smash it up. A couple 5 second bursts seems to get the job done in 2-3 cups at a time.