Conditioning malt before milling

[johnrm]

What Mill has plastic cogs?

[armedcor]

the cog that connects the two rollers on the bulldog is plastic

[LordEoin]

I would have expected more for the price of them

[cruiscinlan]

Aye well, we live and learn, the mill is still usable, I just want to alert other people as inexperienced as meself.

[HomeBrewWest]

I would have expected more for the price of them

Eoin, these mills were tested for a year and redesigned several times. There are other mills out there with rubber bands connecting the rollers! Most don't connect them at all.

The plastic coupling has been heavily tested with hundreds of kilos crushed and it is an excellent and proven solution. Like any hobby mill, these shouldn't be used by a microbrewery for crushing tons of grain. But they should last as lifetime during normal use.

Bar the initial tight screw issue (we now loosen the screw before shipping), we haven't had a single problem with these mills. And we have sold over 100 of them.

At 100 euros, we think they are incredible value. There are still a couple available at 99.95 euros here:
http://www.homebrewwest.ie/bulldog-malt-mill-best-value-adjustable-roller-mill-by-a-mile-plus-malt-bucket-special-4883-p.asp

[Shanna]

Been reading this thread for a while now and tried this process of conditioning the malt for the 1st time this evening. All of my previous crush attempts using my drill and mill have been mediocre at best and terrible at worst. After adding around 100grams of water to around 4.5KG of grain from a spray bottle I mixed the grain by hand and then let it rest for twenty minutes. I must admit to being delighted by results. The grain looked like sugar puffs and while there was fair bit of flour (not a surprise given 45% of the grain was wheat) the majority of the grains were pretty much intact. I will definitely be adding this step to my brew going forwardsl.

Shanna

[armedcor]

Nice one. It really makes a lovely difference to the malt. Especially good if you're recirculating with a pump etc.

[Shanna]

Nice one. It really makes a lovely difference to the malt. Especially good if you're recirculating with a pump etc.

Have to say it also put to bed the problem I have been having with mill & my drill that I was unable to diagnose despite multiple attempts. I use a battery operated cordless & intermittently it would shred the grain or else not grind it all. I figured out that drill needs to have a freshly charged battery as otherwise it won't work at all. The water with the malt makes the malt softer & therefore easier to mill. I was astounded by difference it made. Normally I would have an unbelievable amount of flour & what looks like wheat germ around the bottom of my mill & loads of both in the bucket. This time there was little or none of either on the underside of the mill. There was still a fair amount of flour but I would expect this as it was approximately 45% wheat malt for a wheat beer.

The huge surprise for me was the malt husk was still visibly present & looked almost plump. The closest thing I could compare it to was sugar puffs. I would be confident that this technique will improve my efficiency & also decrease my chances of a stuck sparge, so much so I am going to give a botched Rye Ipa another go (will still use some oat hulls as insurance

Will post an update with my next few beers. Gotta love this site & NHC as its allowing me eventually figure out my mistakes but also fix them

Shanna

[molc]

Nice one. It really makes a lovely difference to the malt. Especially good if you're recirculating with a pump etc.

...  I am going to give a botched Rye Ipa another go (will still use some oat hulls as insurance

No no, not the rye IPA!

[Shanna]

Nice one. It really makes a lovely difference to the malt. Especially good if you're recirculating with a pump etc.

...  I am going to give a botched Rye Ipa another go (will still use some oat hulls as insurance

No no, not the rye IPA!

Don't remember you having the pleasure!!! Might start using my herms with as the grain bed + oat hulls should let it work. However I do promise also to scrupously clean my bottles in W5 + scrub inside before bottling beforehand, no more dishwashing going forward (& hopefully no more gushers )

Shanna

[molc]

Yeah I did my wit with 45% wheat using the herms and some oat husks - worked like a charm recirculating through a protein rest, conversion and mash out with nothing sticking. It really is the business.

[Shanna]

Nice one. It really makes a lovely difference to the malt. Especially good if you're recirculating with a pump etc.

Have to say it also put to bed the problem I have been having with mill & my drill that I was unable to diagnose despite multiple attempts. I use a battery operated cordless & intermittently it would shred the grain or else not grind it all. I figured out that drill needs to have a freshly charged battery as otherwise it won't work at all. The water with the malt makes the malt softer & therefore easier to mill. I was astounded by difference it made. Normally I would have an unbelievable amount of flour & what looks like wheat germ around the bottom of my mill & loads of both in the bucket. This time there was little or none of either on the underside of the mill. There was still a fair amount of flour but I would expect this as it was approximately 45% wheat malt for a wheat beer.

The huge surprise for me was the malt husk was still visibly present & looked almost plump. The closest thing I could compare it to was sugar puffs. I would be confident that this technique will improve my efficiency & also decrease my chances of a stuck sparge, so much so I am going to give a botched Rye Ipa another go (will still use some oat hulls as insurance

Will post an update with my next few beers. Gotta love this site & NHC as its allowing me eventually figure out my mistakes but also fix them

Shanna

I made a wheat beer out of the malt last night and I was pretty happy with the results. The wort flowed out of the grain bed on draining the first runnings and also with the sparge. I was super easy to do both and the recirculation was a breeze also. Unfortunately I messed up my mash temperatures and to compensate I put in extra hot water so I was about .5 of a point down on my OG & I did not have enough time to boil off the extra water added. Next time around I should get a better idea of what the impact is.

Shanna