What did you get delivered today

I make it a point to visit the lhbs at least once a month. If half his clients did that, business would be just fine.
 
RoadRoach said:
@BarbarianBrewer , that's exactly why I'm considering getting my own mill and start buying grain in bulk. Though my LHBS is a completely independent business, I can see where keeping prices down with everyone raising theirs is going to drive him out of business. He sells to a lot of the local micros, but it's a matter of time before an Amazon business account wipes out anything he can offer competitively and they start buying 'direct' cutting him out as middleman. He's the only one within 100 miles of where I live, so going somewhere to pick up enough grain for a single recipe is going to be less than ideal for the hobby. I definitely don't want to store crushed grain, either. It will go musty long before I can use it, not to mention, will certainly attract rodents a lot more. Having my own mill makes things a little more convenient for making what I need when I need it, or even making sure I use what I have first. I have a 'spare' closet in my garage that's pretty much collected a lot of obsolete computer hardware and some electronics that "I'm gonna get fixed one day". Time to bite the bullet and purge that stuff (taking care to remove all media in the old computers, of course) and put some shelves in to store grains on. Already have a fridge that's supposed to be dedicated to my brewing/beer, so freezing hops and keeping yeast cool is easy enough. I've cleaned out a lot of stuff in the garage already, but thinking I'll still be smarter to do the crushing outside (sticky dust on everything) after measuring out what I need. It's just making more sense to make sure that I don't put myself at the mercy of the LHBS just deciding to close the doors and call it quits. It's more apt for a little Ma and Pa shop to disappear than the 'big boys', but so far he's still hanging on. Probably that part about being the only one within 100 miles (that I can find) keeps him going. It isn't a big worry, but it is a worry nonetheless to get neck deep in this hobby to only have it impacted by the LHBS owner having a bad week. His prices have certainly increased, a lot, and I'm not surprised at all. When gasoline is $3.50+ per gallon, everyone's gotta raise their prices. We have Amazon Prime, which normally includes free shipping, but their selection of grains is somewhat limited and very few things are offered in quantities above 5 pounds. Nearly everything I saw was in plastic bags. I'm suspicious of that being from re-sellers making very greedy profits on old grain.

The scary part of this is that some of the better micros around here are probably going to result to buying lower quality grains, and obviously lowering their quality standards to keep the best return/profits in their product.
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Buying in bulk really cuts down on cost. Up until now one of the things I loved about Northern Brewer being my LHBS was that I could buy sacks of grain from them and bring back a portion of that bag, add any specialty grains from the grain room, and mill it all there. If you can get the same kind of deal at your LHBS, might be a way to buy in bulk and yet put off buying a mill.
 
BarbarianBrewer said:
Buying in bulk really cuts down on cost. Up until now one of the things I loved about Northern Brewer being my LHBS was that I could buy sacks of grain from them and bring back a portion of that bag, add any specialty grains from the grain room, and mill it all there. If you can get the same kind of deal at your LHBS, might be a way to buy in bulk and yet put off buying a mill.
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That’s not a bad idea either. It saves the mill cleaning and maintenance., if that’s a big deal for someone with little else to do. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him bother about cleaning the mill, even after running dark malts through it. While I know it’ll have very little effect on flavor, it doesn’t take much Crystal 60 to really screw up color if I ever decide to try to match a style (for personal challenge, not competition). That’s sort of where I’m at in my learning curve at the moment, trying many styles to see if I can make the points. I’d like to think I’ll be a better brewer if I learn more about controlling my final product quality. Ever improving and learning. That’s one reason I started this hobby.
 
BarbarianBrewer said:
Because they are closing their retail stores, I picked up a Monster Mill MM3 (3-roller) yesterday. I went there expecting to pick up a Hull Wrecker 2 roller mill because it's cheaper. But all they had left was the Monster Mill MM3s. The 20% (in-store only) helped reduce the cost. But still hate that I had to buy one.
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You’ll never regret the 3 roller purchase, so fast great crush in one pass!!
 
Under the not delivered, but found category:
I was looking at feeler gauge online so I could set the gap on my new grain mill. Then I remembered that have my late father-in-laws tool & die toolbox. I checked in there and found a really nice micrometer and some unlabeled feeler gauges. After watching a You Tube video on how to read a micrometer, I think this will work perfectly. I learned my credit card is exactly 0.035" (0.899 mm) thick.

micrometer.jpg
 
BarbarianBrewer said:
Under the not delivered, but found category:
I was looking at feeler gauge online so I could set the gap on my new grain mill. Then I remembered that have my late father-in-laws tool & die toolbox. I checked in there and found a really nice micrometer and some unlabeled feeler gauges. After watching a You Tube video on how to read a micrometer, I think this will work perfectly. I learned my credit card is exactly 0.035" (0.899 mm) thick.

View attachment 26261
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Great for measuring thickness, worthless for measuring a gap. You'll have to measure whatever you stick in the gap, but that works too. Just two measurements required. I reckon finding some shim stock about the same width as the mill is what I'm gonna try to do so that I can just drop it in, snug it up, and tighten the screws. Do the second stage of the 3 roll first (narrower gap) then the first stage with whatever seems to work best to make sure I get a consistent grind.
 
The 1st roller gap is fixed. Only the 2nd roller gap is adjustable.
I'll probably use the feeler gauge that I found in the toolbox. They are unlabeled and well worn. Some of them are a little twisted so they don't lay flat against each other. I have to stack them to get the right thickness. I'll play around and see what works.

PXL_20230811_011518084~2.jpg
 
BarbarianBrewer said:
The 1st roller gap is fixed. Only the 2nd roller gap is adjustable.
I'll probably use the feeler gauge that I found in the toolbox. They are unlabeled and well worn. Some of them are a little twisted so they don't lay flat against each other. I have to stack them to get the right thickness. I'll play around and see what works.

View attachment 26263
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I think I see the almost worn-off markings on some of them. But yeah, you have a micrometer, measure them. They are likely accurate to 0.0001", so you can check your mic technique. Remember that cleanliness counts – just a little bit of grease or dust will affect your measurement.
 
BarbarianBrewer said:
The 1st roller gap is fixed. Only the 2nd roller gap is adjustable.
I'll probably use the feeler gauge that I found in the toolbox. They are unlabeled and well worn. Some of them are a little twisted so they don't lay flat against each other. I have to stack them to get the right thickness. I'll play around and see what works.

View attachment 26263
Click to expand...
Use an old credit card or one you need to shred for the gap.
 
Bench capper from Anvil. I was always looking for one, but never pulled the trigger. Saw this on their website for ~$35 and seemed too good to be true. With a 5% online coupon and $8 shipping it was just over $40. Happily surprised when I opened the box. This thing is rock solid - very good quality. And folds up nicely. I’ll be testing it out this weekend. Turns out my deal probably was too good to be true. Went back on their website and now it’s $69! I’m guessing there was a pricing error.

IMG_3169.jpeg
IMG_3171.jpeg
 
Zambezi Special said:
I got a new CO2 cylinder, returnable.
Now to find out if my regulator fits ;)

And I got an address for filling my smaller one
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as long as it is CGA320 it will fit. anything else you will have to make an adapter. just make sure your adapter can withstand 1800PSI and has a burst disc.
 
Minbari said:
as long as it is CGA320 it will fit. anything else you will have to make an adapter. just make sure your adapter can withstand 1800PSI and has a burst disc.
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I suspect that CO2 cylinders might have a different standard overseas. But, there is a standard nonetheless
 
Minbari said:
2 of these today. 3500 watt 240vac. 1.5" triclamp.

Gonna replace the homemade one. Much lower heat density and stainless means easier cleanup

View attachment 26518 View attachment 26519
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Looks very similar to the one I run here 3300Watt 240V
Except mines not Tri Clover.

You gunna keep the electric stainless cover on the back ?
 
Trialben said:
Looks very similar to the one I run here 3300Watt 240V
Except mines not Tri Clover.

You gunna keep the electric stainless cover on the back ?
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After it is wired, yes. It has a water tight connector on it so you don't have to worry about getting zapped.
 
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