Grain Ginder - cheap but good!

[Journeyman]

I've mentioned previously what I use for grinding grains. It's the Sunbeam EM0480 burr coffee grinder. It works very well, on whole grains or even for evening out the pre-ground stuff from the shop. I have a pic somewhere of the grinds I tried with it and it is clearly more consistent than what came from the shop.

I took the hopper off, removed the grind mechanism and removed the spacers under the burrs, Then once back together wound it right out to coarsest setting and Voila! Great grinds for mashes.

I mention it because I just ground 350g of crystal - the hopper will actually take about 500g I think - was only 2/3rds full. That took a bit over 1 minute to grind into a 2L ice cream container under the hopper spout. Note the rubber addition on the spout can be removed as can the group handle holder. 

And I doubt grains could stress the machine at the level it is designed to take with coffee beans. 

So I am figuring it wouldn't be at all difficult to grind an AG load (say 6 kg) in 10 minutes. And a 480 grinder you can buy, brand new, for maybe $160 instead of $400 for a MillMaster. Look around and you could get a 2nd hand one for far less.

Now there may be some of you AG'ers gleefully rubbing your hands together and thinking, "Hee hee, here comes another one down our branch of the rabbit hole" but I'm here to tell you, still no plans from me - just posting this for others who may not have the wherewithal to buy a MM but who would like to get into grains a bit.

[Journeyman]

Well, that was easier than I thought...  

Here's the grind pic - on the right are the original 'milled' grains from the shop, and on the left the same batch after processing through the 480.

[kmar92]

46 minutes ago, Journeyman said:

I've mentioned previously what I use for grinding grains. It's the Sunbeam EM0480 burr coffee grinder. It works very well, on whole grains or even for evening out the pre-ground stuff from the shop. I have a pic somewhere of the grinds I tried with it and it is clearly more consistent than what came from the shop.

I took the hopper off, removed the grind mechanism and removed the spacers under the burrs, Then once back together wound it right out to coarsest setting and Voila! Great grinds for mashes.

I mention it because I just ground 350g of crystal - the hopper will actually take about 500g I think - was only 2/3rds full. That took a bit over 1 minute to grind into a 2L ice cream container under the hopper spout. Note the rubber addition on the spout can be removed as can the group handle holder. 

And I doubt grains could stress the machine at the level it is designed to take with coffee beans. 

So I am figuring it wouldn't be at all difficult to grind an AG load (say 6 kg) in 10 minutes. And a 480 grinder you can buy, brand new, for maybe $160 instead of $400 for a MillMaster. Look around and you could get a 2nd hand one for far less.

Now there may be some of you AG'ers gleefully rubbing your hands together and thinking, "Hee hee, here comes another one down our branch of the rabbit hole" but I'm here to tell you, still no plans from me - just posting this for others who may not have the wherewithal to buy a MM but who would like to get into grains a bit.

I think that a problem that you may run into with that, for large grain bills the grinder probably only has a relatively short duty cycle so you may run the risk of overheating it and buirning out the motor.

[Journeyman]

49 minutes ago, kmar92 said:

I think that a problem that you may run into with that, for large grain bills the grinder probably only has a relatively short duty cycle so you may run the risk of overheating it and buirning out the motor.

Maybe, but even for (say) 5kg, at 500g per hopper load it's just a minute or so then a pause while I deal with that grain batch and then pour the next one in. 

But it's something I'd be checking if it ever gets to me doing BIAB.

[Hairy]

I had one of those grinders for my coffee; great unit. I now have a Breville one which is even better.

But for 5kg grain? You have more patience than I do.

I went for years buying milled grain from the LHBS. It works out great if you plan ahead.

But buying grain in bulk is so much cheaper that I recouped the cost of the mill in about a year or so.

But in the end you need to work within your budget.