Grainfather Electric Grain mill

[Leon103]

I bought a 2 roller mill the other month £74 Amazon US but with free delivery to Uk. Very impressed with how solid it is. I get through 5/6kilo of grain in about 3mins slowly hand cranking. Iv got a couple drills but just don’t see the point, what’s 3mins. If you’ve got the money fair enough but seems a OTT bit of kit .

Got a link?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I'd like to know how well it works, that hopper is built for a dolls house brewery. Would drive me mad.

 

[Deadhead]

Ahhh, sadly since I got the Grainfather Conical and Glycol Chiller recently, I'm not 'allowed' to buy any more brew equipment for a while. Maybe I can start working on Santa now!

 

[nibber]

Will let you know it performs , the small hopper will not be a problem for me i will just top it up with pre-weighed out grain from a large plastic kitchen mixing bowl whilst it is busy crushing, the specs suggest it can crush1.7Kg a minute

 

[Dazzelknight]

Got a link?

Not letting me link or maybe I’m doing wrong but it’s this one.. solid bit of kit. Will need to get 4 M6 bolts to lock it onto a base plate.

 

[Braufather]

Normally a couple of times every year I consider getting a grain mill but decide against it. This is tempting though.

currrently I order pre crushed recipe kits 3 brews at a time so it’s gets used within a couple months and is fully sealed.

For those that already mill fresh, will I notice any benefits with flavour milling my own?

 

[MickDundee]

I used it for the first time today and it is great. Practically no dust, no louder than a food processor, fast and the crush looks great, much better than my current mill.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

Mmm and a nice bit of space on that board for some cheese and biscuits.

 

[nibber]

Looks good,
Gonna fire mine up in the next couple of days

 

[St00]

After buying a pumped RO system (which I haven't set up yet), I was convinced I didn't want anything else UNTIL NOW!!!!

Oh I want the shiny....

 

[darkbright]

It’s a great bit of kit. Much better than my current bulldog mill. Grain crush was a little too fine on 6 for base malt so went with 7.

 

[nibber]

What kit have you got? The Malt Miller recommends setting 6 for all base malts

 

[MickDundee]

It’s a great bit of kit. Much better than my current bulldog mill. Grain crush was a little too fine on 6 for base malt so went with 7.

Funnily enough it was a Bulldog I upgraded from too - I found it difficult to set and wrecked the gears with my drill, the Grainfather seems much better. I started on 5 to test it because the instructions said 5-6 for base malts but I believe MM got best results on 6.

 

[darkbright]

Funnily enough it was a Bulldog I upgraded from too - I found it difficult to set and wrecked the gears with my drill, the Grainfather seems much better. I started on 5 to test it because the instructions said 5-6 for base malts but I believe MM got best results on 6.

Yes our set ups are very similar. Even the outside brewing and the furniture!

6 just looked a bit too fine. It may well just be the specific grain, which this time was pilsner.

It’s so easily adjustable that I just ground a tiny handful and then altered it depending on the crush.

It’s not cheap but it well worth it.

 

[MickDundee]

Yes our set ups are very similar. Even the outside brewing and the furniture!

6 just looked a bit too fine. It may well just be the specific grain, which this time was pilsner.

It’s so easily adjustable that I just ground a tiny handful and then altered it depending on the crush.

It’s not cheap but it well worth it.

Mine was MO. I don’t usually use it because I mainly do American/German beers but I got 25kg dead cheap a couple of months back and another 25kg free with the mill. It looks wonderful on 5.

No doubt when I go back to the Crafty Maltster stuff I’ll need to check my crush setting again.

 

[Griff097]

Is the main advantage of milling your own grain, control of grain crush or cost savings by buying bulk bags?
I like the time savings of MM crushing, weighing and packing kits to my specs and wondering what the advantages are to doing this yourself.

 

[darkbright]

Is the main advantage of milling your own grain, control of grain crush or cost savings by buying bulk bags?
I like the time savings of MM crushing, weighing and packing kits to my specs and wondering what the advantages are to doing this yourself.

I always had problems with the MM crush, just seemed too fine for me. Always had stuck mash/sparges. The bulldog mill started off well but broke quite quickly and is a pain to get the crush right. Always had to get the power drill out to run it.

The cost of uncrushed malt is definitely a benefit, but the main thing for me is convenience and control of the crush so the day goes smoothly.

 

[Griff097]

I always had problems with the MM crush, just seemed too fine for me. Always had stuck mash/sparges. The bulldog mill started off well but broke quite quickly and is a pain to get the crush right. Always had to get the power drill out to run it.

The cost of uncrushed malt is definitely a benefit, but the main thing for me is convenience and control of the crush so the day goes smoothly.

How much of a saving are we talking for uncrushed?

I have had to use a healthy amount oat husks wherever the crushed grain comes from, did you get better efficiency when you controlled the crush?

 

[darkbright]

How much of a saving are we talking for uncrushed?

I have had to use a healthy amount oat husks wherever the crushed grain comes from, did you get better efficiency when you controlled the crush?

I'm probably not the one to ask about cost as I don't pay that much attention to it. A quick look MM, it does seem to be cheaper. I'm sure someone will know the numbers in depth.

I definitely started to hit my numbers consistently when I went to crushing my own.

 

[dave_77]

How much of a saving are we talking for uncrushed?

I have had to use a healthy amount oat husks wherever the crushed grain comes from, did you get better efficiency when you controlled the crush?

I currently buy recipe kits from MM in the same way you do. I buy 3-4 months crushed kits at a time just to save on delivery costs and have brews on hand.

I have been thinking about buying a mill and buying grains in bulk for a while, and I do like the look of this mill because of the ease of changing the settings more than anything.

From my understanding of buying grains individually rather than buying the kits the cost saving comes from buying in bulk not being crushed or not.

The cost increases with MM are when buying smaller amounts of grains(below a kilo) and the bagging costs of the recipe kits. I think the per kilo price on the recipe generator is more to take into account the labour of weighing out the grains and hops etc.

If you buy the base grains in 25kg bags and the speciality/crystal malts in 1kg plus amounts this is the cheapest way to buy. Looking at MM site 25kg of crushed malt is the same price as uncrushed.

If you have the Mill and the grains are uncrushed they will store better for longer which would be useful for speciality grains that you may not use as quickly as base grains.