Do You Crush Your Own Grain?

[berryman]

Thank you all for your replies. I buy grain for $1 a pound locally, but they charge me an another $1 a pound to crush the grain.

That is a lot of $ to mill, but $1.00 a pound is a good price. Can you buy it there un-milled for a dollar per LB? Just wondering if they are making up for the lower initial price. My LHBS doesn't charge for milling and uses the same mill as I got and where I bought it from.

[John Sand]

I have milled my own grain since I started. For a long time I used an old second hand Waring blender. It only blends a couple of cups at a time, but it takes no longer than heating the strike water. It got quirky after a couple of years of that, even though it was probably only 40 years old!
Then I bought a corona mill for $22 on amazon. I hand milled happily for a couple of years. That became a strain when I started ten gallon batches. I tired out after 12 or 13 pounds, and made up with extract. I recently bought a Millar's Pilot, I've only made one 5 gallon batch, but so far I like it.
I love that I keep a good supply of grains on hand and brew whenever I'm ready.

[ScrewyBrewer]

I'm just checking a receipt from last month for prices. I paid $1.50 a pound for Pale Ale Malt, and $2.00 a pound for Victory Malt and they double crushed it. On top of that our club gets a 10% discount. My next question when I go there is what I will pay for 50 pound bags uncrushed.

Thanks for sharing the link to the MM-2Pro, once I pull the trigger that's the one I'd get.

[bpgreen]

I buy 50lb sacks un-crushed. I like to crush them as I need them. I have used for 5-6 years a KitchenAid Grain Mill. Takes a little longer as it has a small hopper but I'm never in a big hurry. Most times I crush a day or 2 ahead of brew day.

That kitchenaid attachment rocks. You can make flour if you want.

Makes great flour! I get all the wheat I want for nothing so I make big sacks of it. Wife even has me use malted barley to make a sweet flour ever so often. Mixes it with wheat flour, makes pretty good pancakes!

You can use that free wheat to make beer, you know.

You can malt it if you want, but you can also just add some to your mash as long as you have an equal amount of 2 row to convert the starches. I've used 2-3 pounds of raw wheat in a 5 gallon batch.

I get wheat at a good price at Costco and use it in place of rice for a lot of things. I also use it as an adjunct for many brews.

[mashani]

Raw wheat is also most excellent in Belgian Wit beers.

[ScrewyBrewer]

Raw wheat is also most excellent in Belgian Wit beers.

Thank you for sharing. I plan to brew several Wits this Spring and Summer and will keep this in mind.