Looking at getting something to crush the grains at home. Saw this on amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Premium-Quali...iewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending anyone have any recommendations for brands, etc? I heard Corona was pretty solid. Thanks!
My concern with that style is that it doesn't have a very big hopper and I feel like the counter-rotating plates like that one has doesn't work as well as two parallel rollers. I have this one: http://espressoonline.com/products/barley-mills/product/view/27/105 The price is about half of similar ones I've seen, shipping was free and almost immediate. It works great. The only thing you'll have to do is to attach it to a board or something.
I have a Corona and I think it works fine if you're just crushing specialty grains for 5 gallon extract or partial-mash brewing. But if you're going all-grain, you'll want a mill that's designed for barley like this one that I now use. Also, the rollers do a better job of separating the husk, while the Corona mill kind of chews up the husks.
Yeah, i just do partial mashes on 5 gallon batches, so I'd be grinding up 5 lbs at the most. Is a chewed up husk detrimental to the efficiency?
You would regret buying something that just isn't built for the job. Save your money, and then buy a proper malt mill. You won't regtret buying the real thing. Until then buy it pre-milled.
If you're doing all grain, the husk is important for lautering to act as a filter bed. With my roller mill and grain conditioning I'm able to crush finer and get better efficiency. Also, I've read speculation that the chewed up husk can contribute some astringency, but I was never able to verify if that was happening for me or not. I'd say that for what you plan to use it for a Corona will work fine, and a big $130 roller mill would be a waste of money unless you're planning to switch to all grain brewing sometime soon.
