Grain crushing cost benefit?

[11amas]

+1 on freshness, I have heard that crushed grain should be used within a week or two to get the best freshness. Ever seen a hard core coffee lover that grinds a few months of coffee in advance? No, they grind right before it is brewed. I imagine grain would have some of this benefit. The goodness in the grain doesn't have the chance to oxidize that it would pre-crushed.

+1 on flexibility, with a bit of grain around and some dry yeast in the fridge I can wake up one morning, check my recipe, and brew whatever I want. I made some lagers this year, had the hops, they were almost all pils, and was able to pick away at a sack of german pilsner malt all winter. It is liberating not needing to order stuff online and wait or make extra trips to the LHBS.

++1 awesome toy, my mill has a 10" set of rollers, it tears through grain like nobody's business, my mill is nicer than the one they have at my local shops.

Crushing wheat should be done at a lower gap (from what I hear) than barley so if you want to crush malted wheat you need an adjustable mill.

[codewritinfool]

I bought a Barley Crusher locally for $119 new. Last time I bought Maris Otter it cost me about $44 for 55 pounds (Warminster, floor malted), no shipping charge.

Didn't take me long to recoup the cost of the Barley Crusher.

[11amas]

No shipping charge??? From where Code?

[ApresSkiBrewer]

+100 on freshness. Crushing your grain the day of your brew is ensuring the freshest grain possible (as long as you are storing your grain well/using it up as well).

+100 on adjustability for malts/efficiency/whatever.

+100 on brewing whenever. I keep at least 2-3 liquid cultures in rotation in the fridge, ready to go at the drop of a hat so I can rock out a brew at any moment.

[codewritinfool]

No shipping charge??? From where Code?

Locally-organized bulk grain buy, happens nearly every month here in STL.
You could probably organize something similar in your area; I see ads in BYO about it often.

[Lars]

No offense... but really??? If you are worried about the cost of a pint, go buy a sixer of bud or coors and call it a day. For me, I don't worry about the cost of my beer (within reason, I wont overpay if I can avoid it). What I am most concerned about it producing a pint of beer I want to drink. If that means I crush my grains right before I brew, than so be it. Stale 2 week old previously crushed grains does not make beer I enjoy.

Bottom line, I crush my own grains because I feel it makes better beer, not to save $$

[Cliff]

Few reasons:
Bulk grain buys with a club - much cheaper

OK Great. Help me out here:
What is "much cheaper"? Gotta compare apples to apples, so if your brew club is buying a generic 2 row I'll have to go find a comparable 2 row bag elsewhere.
For example the cheapest bag of 2 row I can find is a Canadian at $32.45
If you brew club is going to purchase a load of grains what - exactly - are they buying?

Then there's the issue of when you use it.
How much ya gotta buy to be in on the group purchase?
Is it even a base grain you want to use? Remember it's a group choice so one's personal preferences are edged right out of the room.

Brew whenever you want(if you have dry yeast)

Not sure how dry yeast has an edge here bot OK. Yeast is so cheap tho'
I mean cheap cheap cheap.

Consistent crush helps with consistent mash efficiency

Yah, I know. This is true. you can pre-condition your grains etc,etc.. But from where I sit, I have rejected efficiency as a valid consideration. IT's just not an exercise I see as worth my time.
Pursuing efficiency is a fine thing for the guy who has an artistic issue about maximizing the production of his grain bed. I won't knock those guys. Efficiency, for them, is a meaningful part of the hobby. Hobby's don't have to make sense. But, I think efficiency is a waste of effort (like collecting postage stamps). I can get the same, or better, result with a few more pounds of grain. So, I can't factor efficiency into the reason to crush myself.

If you can store your grain in a air tight container or bag it will stay fresh for a LONG time.

Ya see? You prolly take pleasure in packing your grains away. I'd see it as a tiresome chore that is consuming resources I'd rather put elsewhere.

I use Ziplock Big Bags. They can hold 40+ #'s of grain. I also use large zip lock bags and 5g buckets with the lids that have seals.

And the cost. Those bags are not cheap. Have you factored that into your end cost? And the cost of the larger container or fridge and the power to run it? Cost, cost, cost: every little thing adds up.

I suppose one might make the same argument about brewing in the first place.
Look at the ridiculous cost I have just to make beer:

$999.00 for a 14.5 gallon water jacketed conical
$362.00 for two 80 QT pots
A few hundred on plumbing parts (SwageLok is expensive)
A few hundred for electrical controls
Glycol Chiller and pipes tubes pipes and more tubes
Electrical sub panel #4 copper wire $10 copper wire yadda yadda yadda~!!
Capper, Bottles, Hydrometers , thermometers, Filter bags, buckets , sanitizers, time effort yadda yadda yadda~!!!
It all adds up pretty fast.

But, as I said above, hobbies don't have to make sense. I enjoy the process, I enjoy building things that work and are pretty, and the result (better beer than I can get anywhere at any price) is really where all my interest lies.
The grinding grains part will have to make serious economic sense for me to undertake it. As it is, I can't see away clear to that requirement.

But just because I have to get crushing into an economically feasible model doesn't mean you have to. It's a hobby, right?

[Cliff]

No offense... but really??? If you are worried about the cost of a pint, go buy a sixer of bud or coors and call it a day.

Yah I hear ya but, My beer is better than anything I can get anywhere at any price.
I can not tolerate the gluey mouth feel and greasy crappy taste of commercial efforts by companies like Stella, Coors, Sam Adams, or any of the Belgians in the US. My beer is miles above every single commercially made beer anywhere. It is so very superior that it has made it impossible for me to enjoy a commercial beer anywhere. I end up ordering a pricey French White or just water when I go out.

Bottom line, I crush my own grains because I feel it makes better beer, not to save $$

I can't wrap my head around that proposition. I am unconvinced that there is a meaningful distinction between what I buy from houses like Midwest and what I'd end up with if I had a barrel of grain sitting around. I rather suspect that the stuff I get from Midwest is far fresher. The Hops I get from them (expensive as they are) are far, far, far superior to the hops I got from "Freshhops" Who sent me last fall's stale hops in a cheap poly bag that was not even vacuum sealed. So I can't get on that page with you. The grains I get are as fresh as any others, maybe fresher.

And of course freshness in grains for the homebrewer is a questionable proposition unless that home brewer is buying direct from the field and malting himself. I suspect that a large supplier like Midwest is getting malted grains as fresh as humanly possible and they move so much that my order comes to me as fresh as it is possible in any sense.

Really, I think the only argument that can be made is the one that speaks to efficiency issues and how one can precondition the grains to achieve a better crush and I have eliminated that from my calculus. I'll pay a couple dollars more for a few more pounds of grain and not give efficiency a moment's thought.