Before I make another terrible mistake.....

[marko47]

A couple of months back I made a schoolboy error (see here for details) where I used whole grain rather than crushed. I've still got a stack of wholegrain left and put a little bit into a nutri-bullet and blasted it for a few seconds. Before and after pic below

Gut feel says its too fine and will just get clogged up during the mash and sparge. However, I thought I'd ask you chaps for your advice.

 

[Agentgonzo]

Remind us of what your mash process is? If you do Brew in a Bag, then I think you'll be fine (I don't BIAB, but I've heard of people crushing really fine with that). If you do a traditional mash bed and a sparge, then you're almost certain to get a stuck sparge with that crush.

Do you have a homebrew shop near you, or any other members (there is a forum map somewhere) who have a mill you could pop around and use?

 

[marko47]

Remind us of what your mash process is? If you do Brew in a Bag, then I think you'll be fine (I don't BIAB, but I've heard of people crushing really fine with that). If you do a traditional mash bed and a sparge, then you're almost certain to get a stuck sparge with that crush.

Do you have a homebrew shop near you, or any other members (there is a forum map somewhere) who have a mill you could pop around and use?

Cheers! I’ve got muslin bags so could easily do BIAB.

As for helping hands, I live in the arse-end of rural France so I’ll have to source a mill myself.

 

[Braumeister]

IMHO, you’re better off buying some crushed grain or a mill to crush the grain you have, rather than pulverising grain in a nutribullet.

Pre-crushed grain would be your best option but might not be readily available in France. A corona mill are the cheapest option for crushing grain and can be found on the internet for about £30. They’re not ideal but would be better than what you have.

 

[Polcho]

This is interesting. I grew some Barley last year and malted it. I’ve been waiting for the hops to to come ready to make smash.

I need a way to crush the grain. Are these Corona’s any good? What is the drawback with them, in case I fancy getting whole grain in the future?

 

[White Rose Al]

Brilliant review and demo of grain size by BrewBru here, might be worth a watch

 

[Braumeister]

This is interesting. I grew some Barley last year and malted it. I’ve been waiting for the hops to to come ready to make smash.

I need a way to crush the grain. Are these Corona’s any good? What is the drawback with them, in case I fancy getting whole grain in the future?

I’ve never used one myself but I’ve seen them being used on YouTube.

This is one of my favourite videos, you can see a Corona in action within the first minute.

I think the crush is not consistent and it has a small hopper but is a cheap option compared to most mills. You get what you pay for with this type of thing but is might be a decent short term option.

 

[Polcho]

Thanks, I’ll get one of those, I have just a few kilos of grain, so it will complete the whole process for me.

 

[clib]

I love my Corona mill.

 

[Polcho]

How big are your batches?

 

[Cwrw666]

This is interesting. I grew some Barley last year and malted it. I’ve been waiting for the hops to to come ready to make smash.

I need a way to crush the grain. Are these Corona’s any good? What is the drawback with them, in case I fancy getting whole grain in the future?

I've been using one for years. Yes they work well and I wouldn't voluntarily go back to buying crushed grain as my efficiency is so much higher grinding my own. I do biab so a fine grind is ok.

 

[Cwrw666]

Thanks, I’ll get one of those, I have just a few kilos of grain, so it will complete the whole process for me.

Really looking forward to seeing how your beer turns out, that is proper homebrew!

 

[clib]

How big are your batches?

Good question. Around 15 litres in recent times. I wouldn't want to be hand milling 5kg every brew. It becomes a chore.

And I buy crushed base malt sometimes to reduce the effort. The main benefit for me is storing a variety of other grains that I can crush on brew day.

But people attach drills to Coronas to make it quick and easy. Ive had mine 10 years now so they keep going.

 

[JaggersBrewingCo]

How fine of a mesh is the bag that you have access to, it may be a little finely crushed.

I have one of those Coronas Mills and a Two Roller Mill. I get a much better grind with my Two Roller for sure.

I did do an experiment with growing and malting my own grains. The Coronas excelled at grinding the Corn that I malted.