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Author Topic: grain mill advice with a slight new twist  (Read 3211 times)

Offline morticaixavier

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grain mill advice with a slight new twist
« on: November 30, 2011, 12:31:35 pm »
So my wife and I are buying ourselves a grain mill for xmas. We will use it not just for brewing grsit but also for making flour so an adjustable gap is a must.

any ideas on adjustable gap mills?
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narvin

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Re: grain mill advice with a slight new twist
« Reply #1 on: November 30, 2011, 12:45:29 pm »
I'm not sure you're going to have a lot of luck using the same mill for crushing grain and grinding flour.  Flour mills are designed for the small, hard raw wheat berries and generally have two plates that grind the grain between them.  They aren't great for brewing since they tend to shred the barley husk.



Grain mills for brewing have adjustable rollers but I doubt you'd be able to set the gap close enough to grind raw wheat finely without getting stuck.

Offline tschmidlin

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Re: grain mill advice with a slight new twist
« Reply #2 on: November 30, 2011, 12:58:36 pm »
What narvin said mirrors everything I've heard from mill makers too.  I was hoping for a dual purpose one, but no luck.

If you want to BIAB though, consider a corona mill - that will get you flour for either application.
Tom Schmidlin

Offline euge

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Re: grain mill advice with a slight new twist
« Reply #3 on: November 30, 2011, 12:59:52 pm »
IIRC a Corona mill can do flour and grain grist. Here's a start on a quick search:http://www.wisementrading.com/grainmills.htm
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Offline tschmidlin

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Re: grain mill advice with a slight new twist
« Reply #4 on: November 30, 2011, 01:02:44 pm »
IIRC a Corona mill can do flour and grain grist. Here's a start on a quick search:http://www.wisementrading.com/grainmills.htm
I haven't been impressed with the grist from a corona mill, but my friend does BIAB so it seems to be less important.
Tom Schmidlin

Offline morticaixavier

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Re: grain mill advice with a slight new twist
« Reply #5 on: November 30, 2011, 01:31:16 pm »
from what I have read you can make flour, although it will be a courser grind than traditional, with a roller mill. You may have to put it back through a couple of times with the harder grains but it is suppsed to work. We will see. I will call some manufacturers and see what they have to say as well.

euge - you say that you use a corona for your brewing grains as well?

at any rate, favorite adjustable mills?
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Offline denny

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Re: grain mill advice with a slight new twist
« Reply #6 on: November 30, 2011, 02:57:05 pm »
I use a JSP adjustable.  I've had it for 12+ years and thousands of lb. of grain.  I'd advise you to heed the advice here....there's not one mill that will do a good job for both brewing and flour.  That's like saying "I don't want to buy a hammer so I'm just gonna use my screwdriver to pound nails".  It'll work, but not very well.
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Offline euge

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Re: grain mill advice with a slight new twist
« Reply #7 on: November 30, 2011, 04:12:35 pm »
from what I have read you can make flour, although it will be a courser grind than traditional, with a roller mill. You may have to put it back through a couple of times with the harder grains but it is suppsed to work. We will see. I will call some manufacturers and see what they have to say as well.

euge - you say that you use a corona for your brewing grains as well?

at any rate, favorite adjustable mills?

I have a barley crusher. But I started with my old clamp on multiuse grinder. One that does a better job at grinding meat. Anyway it took a lot of effort to run even a pound though.

Get a 100% adjustable tri-roller. Lol
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Offline morticaixavier

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Re: grain mill advice with a slight new twist
« Reply #8 on: November 30, 2011, 04:34:40 pm »
I use a JSP adjustable.  I've had it for 12+ years and thousands of lb. of grain.  I'd advise you to heed the advice here....there's not one mill that will do a good job for both brewing and flour.  That's like saying "I don't want to buy a hammer so I'm just gonna use my screwdriver to pound nails".  It'll work, but not very well.

Well the brewing mill is higher priority so we will head in that direction for now. I imagine it's a scale issue but from my research all commercial flour production is done using roller mills with multiple steps to remove germ and bran and remill larger pieces of grist. But I appreciate your advice and will not hold my breath for a good result with the roller mill for flour. Maybe it will mean another kitchen aid attachement for flour. shucks ;)
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Offline Gribble

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Re: grain mill advice with a slight new twist
« Reply #9 on: December 04, 2011, 11:56:06 am »
Barley Crusher is the way to go.
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