I took up brewing after my interest was piqued by a fascinating discussion about the beer brewing process with a mate of a mate. Blue eyed and bushy tailed I wanted a 'taste' of this whole experience for myself without too much capital outlay.
With the above mentioned blue-eyed-and-bushy-tailedness, I was horrified at the costs of some of the equipment. My first little all-grain batch, I kid you not, was done using a slightly modified tiny manual coffee grinder. 1kg of grain took me no less than 2 hours to mill.
With what seemed the insane cost of malt mills, and my product development background I endevoured to make my own mill, with simpler and more cost effective manufacturing methods. [Cos hey, everyone wants a proper malt roller] Initially it was just for myself, but I did get a lot of interest shown from others, and the typical "...if only I had/ could afford a proper mill..." comments. So the approach changed a bit to repeat manufacture rather than once off.
I began the process and since came across many forum discussions, both local and global, around the same venture. Typically these ventures/ discussions all came to a sudden halt or sudden silence. From my experiences, I suspect it is typically when the technicalities are encountered, such as nip angle; knurling, adjustability, concentricity, and machining costs.
Around the same time I was also playing around/ experimenting with practical bottle management/ bottle carrier systems which seemed non existant. These, together with the (WIP) mill development has evolved into a bit of a hobby/ sideline business.
The carriers have been moving, but the mill has reached the point of having cost quite a chunk of money, and still not finalised (because I am taking a fresh approach, a lot of experimenting has been required). So my eventual question from all this:
Do you guys think there is or would be a need/ demand for such mills, and it is worth carrying on with? I am expecting the cost would be somewhere between typical corona mills and typical existing roller mill costs, hopefully closer to corona mill costs. I will probably have a traditional dual roller version and also a roller-plate version.
And in the same vein, would the typical bottler likely be interested in 4-pack; 6-pack etc bottle holders/ carriers?
I would appreciate any feedback from you guys who currently mill your own malt (or plan/ want to) and guys who keep bottles.
With the above mentioned blue-eyed-and-bushy-tailedness, I was horrified at the costs of some of the equipment. My first little all-grain batch, I kid you not, was done using a slightly modified tiny manual coffee grinder. 1kg of grain took me no less than 2 hours to mill.
With what seemed the insane cost of malt mills, and my product development background I endevoured to make my own mill, with simpler and more cost effective manufacturing methods. [Cos hey, everyone wants a proper malt roller] Initially it was just for myself, but I did get a lot of interest shown from others, and the typical "...if only I had/ could afford a proper mill..." comments. So the approach changed a bit to repeat manufacture rather than once off.
I began the process and since came across many forum discussions, both local and global, around the same venture. Typically these ventures/ discussions all came to a sudden halt or sudden silence. From my experiences, I suspect it is typically when the technicalities are encountered, such as nip angle; knurling, adjustability, concentricity, and machining costs.
Around the same time I was also playing around/ experimenting with practical bottle management/ bottle carrier systems which seemed non existant. These, together with the (WIP) mill development has evolved into a bit of a hobby/ sideline business.
The carriers have been moving, but the mill has reached the point of having cost quite a chunk of money, and still not finalised (because I am taking a fresh approach, a lot of experimenting has been required). So my eventual question from all this:
Do you guys think there is or would be a need/ demand for such mills, and it is worth carrying on with? I am expecting the cost would be somewhere between typical corona mills and typical existing roller mill costs, hopefully closer to corona mill costs. I will probably have a traditional dual roller version and also a roller-plate version.
And in the same vein, would the typical bottler likely be interested in 4-pack; 6-pack etc bottle holders/ carriers?
I would appreciate any feedback from you guys who currently mill your own malt (or plan/ want to) and guys who keep bottles.
Comment