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Date: 19 Jul 2006 05:04:29
From: Adam Preble
Subject: Is it really worth getting a mill and possibly malting?
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I'm now trying to find a place to mill the corn malt I've produced after
it has dried a few more days. Austin Homebrew doesn't want to try it so
I'm looking at alternatives. St. Patrick's of Texas is discontinuing a
mill and has it marked down considerably. I could get it, but I don't
know if it's worth my investment. It seems to me like it'd make more
sense if I had to get all my grains in bulk in big trips to a faraway
vendor. What is the economy of bulk grains, whether I'd have to malt
myself or not?
The corn I've malted will probably come out fair. Not too many got the
full acrospire length, so they're not completely modified. After
kilning, they do smell like malt. I still have to dry some more in
order to winnow the roots and everything off. I tried to malt too much
at once, and probably would have done better going in 15 pound
increments. I could live with the process if it would improve, I could
get good barley, and it was inexpensive.
I don't use too many darker grains in my beer. I use a lot of 2-row,
6-row, marris otter, and pale ale malt. I assume I could take care of
those base grains with bulk barley easily. If I were to guess, I'd go
through over 50# of those base grains in a year. Would it be a good
call to get a $110 mill?
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Date: 19 Jul 2006 08:55:20
From: Denny Conn
Subject: Re: Is it really worth getting a mill and possibly malting?
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Adam Preble wrote:
>
> I'm now trying to find a place to mill the corn malt I've produced after
> it has dried a few more days. Austin Homebrew doesn't want to try it so
> I'm looking at alternatives. St. Patrick's of Texas is discontinuing a
> mill and has it marked down considerably. I could get it, but I don't
> know if it's worth my investment. It seems to me like it'd make more
> sense if I had to get all my grains in bulk in big trips to a faraway
> vendor. What is the economy of bulk grains, whether I'd have to malt
> myself or not?
>
> The corn I've malted will probably come out fair. Not too many got the
> full acrospire length, so they're not completely modified. After
> kilning, they do smell like malt. I still have to dry some more in
> order to winnow the roots and everything off. I tried to malt too much
> at once, and probably would have done better going in 15 pound
> increments. I could live with the process if it would improve, I could
> get good barley, and it was inexpensive.
>
> I don't use too many darker grains in my beer. I use a lot of 2-row,
> 6-row, marris otter, and pale ale malt. I assume I could take care of
> those base grains with bulk barley easily. If I were to guess, I'd go
> through over 50# of those base grains in a year. Would it be a good
> call to get a $110 mill?
A mill, definitely. Malting, definitely not, unless it's just for
curiosity....
---------- >Denny
--
Life begins at 60 - 1.060, that is.
Reply to denny_at_projectoneaudio_dot_com
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Date: 19 Jul 2006 08:41:09
From: Scott L
Subject: Re: Is it really worth getting a mill and possibly malting?
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Adam Preble wrote:
> I'm now trying to find a place to mill the corn malt I've produced after
> it has dried a few more days. Austin Homebrew doesn't want to try it so
> I'm looking at alternatives. St. Patrick's of Texas is discontinuing a
> mill and has it marked down considerably. I could get it, but I don't
> know if it's worth my investment. It seems to me like it'd make more
> sense if I had to get all my grains in bulk in big trips to a faraway
> vendor. What is the economy of bulk grains, whether I'd have to malt
> myself or not?
I don't malt grain myself, but for me having a mill is totally worth
it, even aside from the clear savings in buying grains in bulk. I don't
trust the settings on LHBS mills, most of the time. Many of them are
not even adjustable. And who knows how much play is in those ancient
bearings? Maybe half my grain isn't being crushed! It's better to be
able to control my efficiency directly by setting an optimal crush for
each kind of grain I'm using.
Also, having 55 pounds of malt around is handy in case I need to brew
an "emergency batch." Or if a friend randomly suggests that we brew up
15 gallons of something -- that takes a lot of malt! I have numerous
smaller bags of specialty malts on hand usually, so it's the base malt
that's the limiting factor. I only have to go to the LHBS once every
couple of months for more base malt.
Another thing you can't do if you buy your grain pre-crushed is toast
it. Sometimes I like to toast a little pale malt or Munich malt in the
oven. This has to be done before the grain is crushed. Without a mill,
there's no way to do this yourself unless you bring the toasted grain
into the LHBS to crush it.
Scott
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Date: 19 Jul 2006 13:24:22
From: Joel
Subject: Re: Is it really worth getting a mill and possibly malting?
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Adam Preble <rockobonaparte@hotmail.com > wrote:
>I'm now trying to find a place to mill the corn malt I've produced after
>it has dried a few more days. Austin Homebrew doesn't want to try it so
>I'm looking at alternatives. St. Patrick's of Texas is discontinuing a
>mill and has it marked down considerably. I could get it, but I don't
>know if it's worth my investment.
How much larger are your malted corn kernels compared to
barley or wheat? If it's more like popcorn kernel size, an
adjustable homebrew mill should be able to handle it. If
it's more like feed/seed corn size, I'd worry that even at
the largest gap setting on some models you'd have trouble.
>It seems to me like it'd make more sense if I had to get all my
>grains in bulk in big trips to a faraway vendor. What is the
>economy of bulk grains, whether I'd have to malt myself or not?
Just as a comparison, one local shop sells malt in small
bags at more than $3 per pound for no-name domestic (US) malt,
whereas are club bulk purchases get domestic grains at around
40 cents per pound, imported at 65 cents per pound, delivered.
If it's just you, delivery overhead becomes more of an issue
(we get around a ton at a time).
>I don't use too many darker grains in my beer. I use a lot of 2-row,
>6-row, marris otter, and pale ale malt. I assume I could take care of
>those base grains with bulk barley easily. If I were to guess, I'd go
>through over 50# of those base grains in a year. Would it be a good
>call to get a $110 mill?
I certainly think so, but you can do the math based on
your own money savings, adding in the convenience factor
of being able to pursue your hobby better. (Do you have to
completely justify the cost of, say, woodworking tools or
kitchen implements?)
--
Joel Plutchak "Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and
plutchak@[...] sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea
is quite staggering." - Arthur C. Clarke
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Date: 19 Jul 2006 10:54:39
From: William Benz Jr
Subject: Re: Is it really worth getting a mill and possibly malting?
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"Adam Preble" <rockobonaparte@hotmail.com > wrote in message
news:x3jvg.1282$ST.472@tornado.texas.rr.com...
> I'm now trying to find a place to mill the corn malt I've produced after
> it has dried a few more days. Austin Homebrew doesn't want to try it so
> I'm looking at alternatives. St. Patrick's of Texas is discontinuing a
> mill and has it marked down considerably. I could get it, but I don't
> know if it's worth my investment. It seems to me like it'd make more
> sense if I had to get all my grains in bulk in big trips to a faraway
> vendor. What is the economy of bulk grains, whether I'd have to malt
> myself or not?
>
> The corn I've malted will probably come out fair. Not too many got the
> full acrospire length, so they're not completely modified. After
> kilning, they do smell like malt. I still have to dry some more in
> order to winnow the roots and everything off. I tried to malt too much
> at once, and probably would have done better going in 15 pound
> increments. I could live with the process if it would improve, I could
> get good barley, and it was inexpensive.
>
> I don't use too many darker grains in my beer. I use a lot of 2-row,
> 6-row, marris otter, and pale ale malt. I assume I could take care of
> those base grains with bulk barley easily. If I were to guess, I'd go
> through over 50# of those base grains in a year. Would it be a good
> call to get a $110 mill?
Adam,
When I first started all-grain brewing I was paying $1.40/lb for base malt
and up to $1.75/lb for specialty malts when buying per batch, plus an 18
mile round trip and thruway fines. Buying 55lb bags at the same LBHS for $
0.90/lb and cutting trips by two thirds is definitely worth it to me. Also,
if you have dry yeast on hand, you can brew any time you want.
Throw in with a few friends from the brewclub and buy by the pallet and it
drops to an average of $0.54/lb delivered.
It's not just a hobby, It's an obsession!
Bill
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Date: 20 Jul 2006 09:02:32
From: mike g
Subject: Re: Is it really worth getting a mill and possibly malting?
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Adam Preble wrote:
> I'm now trying to find a place to mill the corn malt I've produced after
> it has dried a few more days. Austin Homebrew doesn't want to try it so
> I'm looking at alternatives. St. Patrick's of Texas is discontinuing a
> mill and has it marked down considerably. I could get it, but I don't
> know if it's worth my investment. It seems to me like it'd make more
> sense if I had to get all my grains in bulk in big trips to a faraway
> vendor. What is the economy of bulk grains, whether I'd have to malt
> myself or not?
>
> The corn I've malted will probably come out fair. Not too many got the
> full acrospire length, so they're not completely modified. After
> kilning, they do smell like malt. I still have to dry some more in
> order to winnow the roots and everything off. I tried to malt too much
> at once, and probably would have done better going in 15 pound
> increments. I could live with the process if it would improve, I could
> get good barley, and it was inexpensive.
>
> I don't use too many darker grains in my beer. I use a lot of 2-row,
> 6-row, marris otter, and pale ale malt. I assume I could take care of
> those base grains with bulk barley easily. If I were to guess, I'd go
> through over 50# of those base grains in a year. Would it be a good
> call to get a $110 mill?
Since I have access to hard red spring wheat, for little cost, I have
been malting it and using it with success. I like the fact that you
can control the degree of modification.
I plan to try malting corn as well. I may try a Gluten Free brew, as I
know a few people with that condition.
I haven't located a local source of malting barley, or I would malt
barley as well.
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Date: 21 Jul 2006 22:09:51
From: Adam Preble
Subject: Re: Is it really worth getting a mill and possibly malting?
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mike g wrote:
> Since I have access to hard red spring wheat, for little cost, I have
> been malting it and using it with success. I like the fact that you
> can control the degree of modification.
Have you ever been able to find soft red winter wheat? I read that's
the kind traditionally used in Belgian Wit. I can't find it around Austin.
> I plan to try malting corn as well. I may try a Gluten Free brew, as I
> know a few people with that condition.
I've since gotten a mill and can tell you that a lot of the kernels will
probably need to be precracked to fit them in. But it works.
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Date: 20 Jul 2006 17:17:08
From: David Edge
Subject: Re: Is it really worth getting a mill and possibly malting?
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On Wed, 19 Jul 2006 05:04:29 GMT, Adam Preble
<rockobonaparte@hotmail.com > wrote:
>I don't use too many darker grains in my beer. I use a lot of 2-row,
>6-row, marris otter, and pale ale malt. I assume I could take care of
>those base grains with bulk barley easily. If I were to guess, I'd go
>through over 50# of those base grains in a year. Would it be a good
>call to get a $110 mill?
Quality yes, flexibility yes, cost maybe.
A mill allows me to keep a stock of a dozen or two malts and be
confident they're fresh when I use them.
Most convenient home brew shop is 2 hours away by 125mph train or
about USD10 and two days for delivery! We use about 150kg (330 lb) of
malt per year. It's just nice to wake up and decide to brew, say, a
rauch.
David Edge, Derby UK
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