A story and pictures of a long ordeal building a grain mill for grinding malted barley.

The mission started simply; build a safe, dummy-proof grain mill that customers can use in a homebrewing supply store to grind their bulk grains. Really, I would have preferred to buy a finished product, but all I could find were stone grist mills that started around $4500. This was out of our budget.

I've created a diagram which allows you to quickly choose a substitute hop variety when the one in your recipe is not available.

There are many varieties of hops. Now imagine you have a beer recipe which calls for--say--Bramling Cross hops. You go to your local home brewing store and find they do not have Bramling Cross hops. How do you quickly choose a good substitution?

The store is coming along, and hope to open our doors very soon. I have been busy stocking the shelves, learning to use a POS (Point of Sale), pricing inventory, talking to vendors, and the list goes on. This has been a big jump into the business world for someone who used to be a physical therapist. I am having a lot of fun doing it, wondering how I manage it all with Adria (my one year old) running around the store.

Wanted to put up a Help Wanted message. I am looking for an employee to work part time in the store. If interested or know someone who is please send a resume to:

Hello this is Jocelyn. I will be writing a blog here on homebrewexchange.net about our new store and how the opening process is going. To receive updates as I write them, you have two options:

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