Grainfather grain mill

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guypettigrew
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Grainfather grain mill

Post by guypettigrew » Wed May 04, 2022 2:27 pm

It's been out of stock for ages, but at last these arrived at Malt Miller. I've posted the following as a review on the MM site.

After a long wait my Grainfather mill arrived a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday was the first time I had a chance to use it.
It's a really solid, sturdy piece of kit and very well made.

Yesterday's brew had 4.5kg of Maris Otter. 2kg was already crushed from a previous order, the remaining 2.5kg was crushed the evening before the brew using the grain mill. The crushing process was so quick and easy I might leave it until brew day next time. The only thing which would have made it even easier would have been if the hopper could hold up to 6kg of grain, but that's a minor niggle.

Being motorised avoids having to attach a drill, support it and worry about setting the right speed, which is why I was willing to wait for these to arrive back in the country rather than buy anything else.

The last two brews using the pre crushed grain gave mash efficiencies (using Graham Wheeler's 'Beer Engine' calculator) of 88/89%. Using the mix of pre crushed and fresh crushed grain yesterday the mash efficiency was 98%, a huge improvement. Looking forward to the next brew which will have 100% of the base malt crushed on the day.

Definitely a worthwhile purchase. It's small enough to store easily and set up takes seconds.


Guy

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MashBag
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Re: Grainfather grain mill

Post by MashBag » Wed May 04, 2022 6:00 pm

Guy,

That is a cracking review. MM should be quite pleased. I have to say it is tempting. But equally it's a shame you can't try before you buy.

That is a very good design as well. Certainly sounds worth the wait.

guypettigrew
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Re: Grainfather grain mill

Post by guypettigrew » Wed May 04, 2022 7:46 pm

Why try before you buy? It's mail order. You have 14 days to return it if you want to.

Guy

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MashBag
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Re: Grainfather grain mill

Post by MashBag » Thu May 05, 2022 7:26 am

Hmm, not sure that fair on MM.

Couple of questions if I may.

How long does it take to get through say 4kg?

Can you taste the difference or is this purely a gain in efficiency?

guypettigrew
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Re: Grainfather grain mill

Post by guypettigrew » Thu May 05, 2022 7:55 am

MashBag wrote:
Thu May 05, 2022 7:26 am
Hmm, not sure that fair on MM.

Couple of questions if I may.

How long does it take to get through say 4kg? Just a few minutes. I only did 2.5kg and it was really fast.

Can you taste the difference or is this purely a gain in efficiency? Give me a chance--it was only mashed 48 hours ago!
Guy

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MashBag
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Re: Grainfather grain mill

Post by MashBag » Thu May 05, 2022 6:48 pm

48hrs come along 🤣 must be worth a taste 🤣

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Re: Grainfather grain mill

Post by MashBag » Thu May 05, 2022 6:49 pm

I was wondering if you could stand it on to of the BM20 and crush straight in..

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IPA
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Re: Grainfather grain mill

Post by IPA » Fri May 06, 2022 7:12 am

MashBag wrote:
Thu May 05, 2022 6:49 pm
I was wondering if you could stand it on to of the BM20 and crush straight in..
I very much doubt it. Even if you could how would stir the mash at the same time?
"You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on." Dean Martin

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MashBag
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Re: Grainfather grain mill

Post by MashBag » Fri May 06, 2022 12:12 pm

I was thinking with such a tiny hopper I could lift off and stir after each KG. Or perhaps reposition the mill slightly and pass my paddle shaft through the bamboo.

Tbh I can buy a lot of precrushed for £270, the question my become completely irrelevant 🤔🤔

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Re: Grainfather grain mill

Post by guypettigrew » Fri May 13, 2022 4:59 pm

Second time of using the Grainfather mill a couple of days ago. This time there was 5kg of uncrushed Maris Otter and Vienna malts, plus 400g of pre crushed chocolate and dark crystal malts. Milling was done about 15 minutes before mash in.

The 5kg took just under 3 minutes to run through the mill. I put the uncrushed grain in a plastic bag. 1kg in the hopper and then gently and continuously poured the remaining 4kg in. So incredibly easy to use, although a larger hopper would be wonderful!

The grain temperature was raised 0.9 C by the milling process. Worth knowing if you want to calculate the liquor strike temperature before milling.

Mash efficiency was, again, 98%. Quite astounding. And seems to suggest crushed grain begins to deteriorate very, very quickly after crushing. Anyone know anything about this? I've brewed with grains crushed by Malt Miller just a few days before use and never had this level of mash efficiency.

No idea if it affects the taste. Side by side experiments aren't possible so I'll just wait a while and several brews and decide whether or not there's an improvement.

Guy

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Re: Grainfather grain mill

Post by MashBag » Sat May 14, 2022 7:21 am

I have wondered if a simple plastic tube might serve as a hopper extension.

What is the diameter?

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