Crushing Grain?

[niceguy4186]

I'm still pretty new to home brewing, besides going out and buying something made to crush them, what's the easiest way of doing it? my last batch, i ended up putting them in a plastic bag just smashing them between two weights. I couldn't imgine doing that with an all gain batch

[sallad]

my local shop always mills them free of charge when i buy them. i think most online stores offer this as an option too.

[wortchillergoal]

My shop grinds them as well and I think any shop that doesn't also does not want your business. If you are going to crush them at home smasing them with weights may not be a good idea. You want to crack the grain not turn it into dust. Try in a plastic bag and roll very hard with a rolling pin.

[mountain beer]

my shop also crushes the grains for me but i did hear once that you could use your coffee grinder to crush the grains---i am not sure if that works

[Beerconnoisseur]

I'm still learning when it comes to all-grain brewing. So I can't yet make any strong recommendations on mills one way or the other. But mills are the best way to crush your grain, and here are some of the mills I've seen advertised:

Morebeer (http://www.morebeer.com) has several mills available; a mill (with fixed rollers) for $100, an adjustable roller mill for $150, and even one with an all-stainless stand for $600.

BeerTools (http://www.beertools.com) makes the HuskBuster, which is also adjustable, and quite a bit cheaper at $75-$80.

The challenge with milling grain is you want to get an even crush, so the water can contact the starch of the grain and convert it to sugars. But, by the same token, you don't want to pulverize the outer husks, since they would become gummy in hot water, which makes sparging (rinsing the sugars from the grains) difficult.

FYI, the industrial brewers use larger mills with multiple rollers, set to different tolerances, and a blower unit to blow the outer husks away from the heavier inner kernel. But cost for these mills is generally prohibitive for the homebrewer.

[ray m]

I have read in several sources that using a coffee grinder is not recommended...it pulverizes the kernel too much. Listermann Manufacturing (listermann.com) makes a great mill that I have been using at home for over a year now. It's called the Philmill and I got it for @ $75. It has worked flawlessly for me.