# Mill suggestions



## mrsupraboy (2/4/14)

What is a good mill that I should get. What do people think of this one 

http://m.ebay.com.au/itm/321308450688?nav=SEARCH


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## idzy (2/4/14)

You are probably best with a purpose built malt mill when talking about those sorts of dollars.

I did a lot of research recently and arrived at a Mashmaster Mini Mill. There are lots of different mills on the market and lots of people have about 3 or 4 different varieties - you can google "Grain Mill site:aussiehomebrewer.com" to get heaps of results. I went for the Mini Mill as apparently people believe the gear drive is a real advantage over other mills.

http://www.mashmaster.com/p/4571858/mashmaster-minimill-stainless-steel-grain-mill.html

Cheers,
Idzy


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## Ducatiboy stu (2/4/14)

Are you any good at DIY ?. If you can get some 2" knurled rollers made then the frame etc is fairly easy to make.

The mashmaster is as good you will get. For the little bit extra I would go the MM


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## sp0rk (3/4/14)

I wouldn't go the Keg King mill again
The bearings in mine are already gummed up and starting to get a little "grindy" (in less than 1 & 1/2 sacks of grain)
Might have to look at replacing them with bushes or maybe ceramic bearings


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## QldKev (3/4/14)

I'd stick with either the Monster mill or if you want s/s rollers the Mash master. My little MM2 never misses a beat, has crushed tonnes of grain for me and friends. The MM2 is $127 (+$5 is you want 1/2" drive) plus post.


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## dicko (3/4/14)

This is a relatively cheap one from one of our sponsors.... Cant vouch for the quality but it comes with a hopper which is a bonus

http://onlinebrewingsupplies.com/product_info.php?cPath=50&products_id=247


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## QldKev (3/4/14)

dicko said:


> This is a relatively cheap one from one of our sponsors.... Cant vouch for the quality but it comes with a hopper which is a bonus
> 
> http://onlinebrewingsupplies.com/product_info.php?cPath=50&products_id=247


Looks like the Keg King Maltmuncher.


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## lael (3/4/14)

Another vote for the mash master. Get an ozito drill to drive it. Stainless steel and geared. I haven't put that many bags of grain through mine yet, but it is excellent.


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## dicko (3/4/14)

dicko said:


> This is a relatively cheap one from one of our sponsors.... Cant vouch for the quality but it comes with a hopper which is a bonus
> http://onlinebrewingsupplies.com/product_info.php?cPath=50&products_id=247





QldKev said:


> Looks like the Keg King Maltmuncher.


You could be right there Kev.
I can't believe how cheap some mills are now if compared to 10 to 12 years ago. IIR Valley Mills and Barley Crushers were around the $200 mark without a hopper and not incl freight.
Ah! cheap chinese labour!


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## mckenry (3/4/14)

I have a mashmaster mini mill. With the teeth on the rollers, itll never slip. There are two negatives I believe. It only holds 1kg of grain in the supplied hopper and the drive wont take a standard cordless drill. Its too big. Using my 240V drill it rips it up too much. I crack by hand which is fine, but does take a while to get through 10kg due to these two points. I should really build a bigger hopper...


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## GalBrew (3/4/14)

+1 for the Mashmaster Mini. Fantastic mill, the only downside the the small hopper. I use the high-tourque Ozito spade drill to power it, got through 10kg of grain in about 5 minute.......GOLD!! 

Also set the gap to about 1.1-1.2mm got the most perfect crush, husks were 90% intact the rest crushed quite finely but mash tun still drained very quickly.


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## mb-squared (3/4/14)

I have a Barley Crusher. Works a treat and only $119 including a nice sized hopper (plus post) and it works great with my cordless. There are a couple OZ vendors for this mill, but their markup is bordering on scandalous IMO.


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## Ducatiboy stu (3/4/14)

GalBrew said:


> +1 for the Mashmaster Mini. Fantastic mill, the only downside the the small hopper.


Its not illegal to make a bigger hopper yourself.

The shaft is designed for pulleys and belts...not drills..


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## GalBrew (3/4/14)

I'm not overly fussed by the hopper size (just pointing it out), I am happy to just keep filling it up and let the drill work it's magic. The shaft fits fine to my Ozito spade drill.


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## lael (3/4/14)

OT: how many 'clicks' speed are you running it at?



GalBrew said:


> +1 for the Mashmaster Mini. Fantastic mill, the only downside the the small hopper. I use the high-tourque Ozito spade drill to power it, got through 10kg of grain in about 5 minute.......GOLD!!
> 
> Also set the gap to about 1.1-1.2mm got the most perfect crush, husks were 90% intact the rest crushed quite finely but mash tun still drained very quickly.


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## lael (3/4/14)

I made a hopper out of a water cooler bottle I bought. Holds appx 6kg grain. Works really well.


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## dicko (3/4/14)

At the end of 2004 I bought a 3 roller Crankenstein from the States for around $160.00. Back then it was very hard to get any US supplier to send to Ozz.

It is much easier now.
If I was looking to buy a mill and for some reason I decided to by Pass the MM2 then I would import again, seeing most US suppliers will now send to our beautiful country as we are no longer considered a "backwater" :lol: h34r: :unsure:


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## GalBrew (3/4/14)

lael said:


> OT: how many 'clicks' speed are you running it at?


The trigger lock it a bit shite on the drill at low speeds so I like to hold the trigger myself and run at at 3 clicks from the slowest speed available. Doesn't shear the husks, but keeps the mill going with a full hopper. Even easier if one of my many but flakey assistant brewers decide to help out and hold the trigger while I continually fill the hopper.


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## lael (3/4/14)

Thanks! Do you pre-wet / dampen or anything special?


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## GalBrew (3/4/14)

lael said:


> Thanks! Do you pre-wet / dampen or anything special?


Nope, just run it through dry.


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## pilgrimspiss (3/4/14)

GalBrew said:


> I'm not overly fussed by the hopper size (just pointing it out), I am happy to just keep filling it up and let the drill work it's magic. The shaft fits fine to my Ozito spade drill.


Just bought one of these instead of using the drill. Constantly have inconsistent speeds and burnt out a few drills doing the 'whoops pulled trigger to hard....whoops now its to slow....dammit! pulled trigger to hard again!!' Hard mount FTW.

http://www.motiondynamics.com.au/worm-drive-motor-12v-24v-200w-180-rpm-20nm-torque.html


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## spog (3/4/14)

MashMaster mill for me very happy with it powered by an old washing machine motor with a fan belt onto a 12 inch wheel turns at a nice slow speed.
Cheers....spog..


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## sp0rk (3/4/14)

spog said:


> MashMaster mill for me very happy with it powered by an old washing machine motor with a fan belt onto a 12 inch wheel turns at a nice slow speed.
> Cheers....spog..


Where did you get the 12 inch wheel from?
I've been looking for one for a while now


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## spog (3/4/14)

sp0rk said:


> Where did you get the 12 inch wheel from?
> I've been looking for one for a while now


The mill wheel comes from Adelaide pulley company it was a bulk buy organised by BYB a few years back can't remember the price.
They are in the phone book,try online yellow or white pages.
The belt I got from a machinery supply shop,I did a rough measure of the size got one as close as possible and mounted the motor at a height to suit.





The pulley came with a grub screw fitted for locking onto the flat face of the roller spline,but no " key" ? to lock the wheel onto the spline. ( this the groove in the spline which has a matching groove in the wheel/ pulley centre) I made one from a piece of metal which suited the groove width using a grinder.
The motor which has shit it's self was 1/4 hp 1450 rpm and the 12 inch or 305 mm wheel reduced the mill speed to 950 rpm. If I remember correctly.
Cheers....spog... On a side note in the third pic on the rhs you may see a small white package,this is silica gel usually found in electrical/ white goods packaging this helps keep moisture under control so the rollers are protected.


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## pk.sax (3/4/14)

Crankendstein with ss rollers. My hopper is ghetto and effective to the point I'll probably never upgrade it. Some day someone will make a water bottle larger than 4L that fits into a standard juice bottle cap and that'd be it. It's had a few rebirths, just chuck the bottle when moving/packing/damaged and get another again. Holds about 4 kg of grain each run, I use the ozito spade handle drill too. Have got the speed setting just right and simply power it on.


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## aussiebrewer (3/4/14)

sp0rk said:


> I wouldn't go the Keg King mill again
> The bearings in mine are already gummed up and starting to get a little "grindy" (in less than 1 & 1/2 sacks of grain)
> Might have to look at replacing them with bushes or maybe ceramic bearings


I have the keg king mill. Had it for about 18months. Probably done about 400kg of grain so and still going strong. Maybe you got a dud... For the price I really couldn't pass it and hopefully the next mill I buy is a commercial one. 


Cheers 
Matt


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## Helles (3/4/14)

Pretty ghetto hopper on a keg king mill 
Mill has been awesome never missed a beat 
Run it with a drill for now ready to rig up to a motor
Hopper is just screwed to hopper that came with mill and screwed together 
Took me about an hour to do hopper


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## Ducatiboy stu (3/4/14)

Just few things.

All miils are different

Different grains mill diferent

Speed can affect your crush

Roller diameter and finish affect your crush

Dry /moist/wet grain will affect ctush

There is no proper mill roller gap

You need to get the feel for YOUR mill. Spend time playing with it.

The same grain from the same supllier will vary from each batch

You will find your self adjusting your mill over time.


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## Ducatiboy stu (3/4/14)

.


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## Camo6 (3/4/14)

idzy said:


> You are probably best with a purpose built malt mill when talking about those sorts of dollars.
> 
> I did a lot of research recently and arrived at a Mashmaster Mini Mill. There are lots of different mills on the market and lots of people have about 3 or 4 different varieties - you can google "Grain Mill site:aussiehomebrewer.com" to get heaps of results. I went for the Mini Mill as apparently people believe the gear drive is a real advantage over other mills.
> 
> ...





lael said:


> Another vote for the mash master. Get an ozito drill to drive it. Stainless steel and geared. I haven't put that many bags of grain through mine yet, but it is excellent.





mckenry said:


> I have a mashmaster mini mill. With the teeth on the rollers, itll never slip. There are two negatives I believe. It only holds 1kg of grain in the supplied hopper and the drive wont take a standard cordless drill. Its too big. Using my 240V drill it rips it up too much. I crack by hand which is fine, but does take a while to get through 10kg due to these two points. I should really build a bigger hopper...





GalBrew said:


> +1 for the Mashmaster Mini. Fantastic mill, the only downside the the small hopper. I use the high-tourque Ozito spade drill to power it, got through 10kg of grain in about 5 minute.......GOLD!!
> 
> Also set the gap to about 1.1-1.2mm got the most perfect crush, husks were 90% intact the rest crushed quite finely but mash tun still drained very quickly.



I love this mill. Did all my research first and the extra $40-50 outlay outweighed awaiting delivery from the states or having to reinforce the frame or having a lazy roller. Being Australian made was a bonus but not the final selling point.
The hopper is a piece of crap however. Do not buy! It's not very durable and mine was cracked before I'd even put grain through it. For about $30 and a couple of hours mucking around I had a decent MDF hopper made that'll handle 10 kilo of grain.
The drive is 1/2" from memory and won't fit in most drill chucks. I bought a 1/2" drill press chuck from bunnings for sweet FA and used it as an adaptor for a 3/8 chuck. Saves marking the input shaft every time you do up the drill chuck too.
I ended up attaching a wiper motor to mine and while it's damn slow to crush, it produces very little flour and runs off a 12v car battery that hasn't been recharged in a year and a half. And it's extremely mobile.
Here's some pics of probably my favourite brewery addition:


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## idzy (3/4/14)

lael said:


> Another vote for the mash master. Get an ozito drill to drive it. Stainless steel and geared. I haven't put that many bags of grain through mine yet, but it is excellent.


Vouch for the drill too. Very good, slow speed, high torque.

http://www.ozito.com.au/ozhd1050wa


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## idzy (3/4/14)

pilgrimspiss said:


> Just bought one of these instead of using the drill. Constantly have inconsistent speeds and burnt out a few drills doing the 'whoops pulled trigger to hard....whoops now its to slow....dammit! pulled trigger to hard again!!' Hard mount FTW.
> 
> http://www.motiondynamics.com.au/worm-drive-motor-12v-24v-200w-180-rpm-20nm-torque.html


Have one of these too, yet to build it however, waiting for the right table/bench/trolley to build onto. The trigger too hard/soft/fast/slow thing is combated by the adjustable knob on the trigger, it is like a cruise control to set the speed/torque the unit operates at. That is the reason this 1050W drill is so good, many other drills are too fast and not torquey enough.


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## pilgrimspiss (3/4/14)

sp0rk said:


> Where did you get the 12 inch wheel from?
> I've been looking for one for a while now


Try a local ag machinery type place or local engineering place. They tend to carry a lot of pulleys for farm machinery.


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## Yob (4/4/14)

Ain't nobody mentioned the poor old marga mill 3 roller yet, mine came second hand with my first ag rig (thanks Mario) and hasn't failed me yet after years of faithful service.. Got one of those 10l water bottles with the base cut off for the hopper... Aldi Taurus drill to drive it. Cheap as chips and ghetto as Detroit but it's not meant to win prizes for aesthetics, I did note that it wasn't quite as fast as the malt muncher at the last swap though and it's metal will surely be tested at the next one


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## spog (4/4/14)

A point to consider about a hopper is if you have a large one  maybe try to fit some kind of shut off gate so if the power fails or any other disaster you can lift the hopper off the mill without spilling too much grain.
I think a member here did this and posted pics years back.
Cheers...spog..


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## mrsupraboy (4/4/14)

Hey guys thanks for the comments been reading all of them and following. I'm surprised no one has put a diy thing on making the hopper. And catch bag for the grain. What is the difference the mm2 and the new one. And the mm3 etc

Thinking I'm gonna get the mm2. And maybe building up with mdf. Tho wondering how you would clean the mdf up. So may look into something else.


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## spog (4/4/14)

I use a cut down water fountain bottle these work well and come with a built on handle.
Mine won't hold a full crush as it had to be fitted under the mill and there wasn't much room so I have another which I transfer into then carry on crushing.
As for your hopper maybe use some ally sheet held together with small section angles a and rivets then it can be washed if need be.
Practice getting the hopper size and cuts right by building it out of cardboard first,getting a got fit and not stuffing up good ally sheet.
The ally sheets can be found in hardware shops
..


Cheers...spog...


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## mrsupraboy (5/5/14)

Hey guys so for bringing this thread back. I've decided to go the monstermill. Was wondering what was better the mm3 or the mm2. Is the mm3 gonna do the grain 2 much or is it the better way to go


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## QldKev (5/5/14)

Mm2 and mm3 are both great mills. The mm3 allows you to crush faster and is supposed to give marginally better crush. The mm2 gives a great crush and after using AndrewQld's when I first got into all grain, i went the same way. I thought the extra money for upgrades to 3 rollers, etc was better spent elsewhere in the brewery, such as a dedicated motor to run it. I'm still happy with the mill about 5 years later.


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## Kranky (5/5/14)

mrsupraboy said:


> Hey guys so for bringing this thread back. I've decided to go the monstermill. Was wondering what was better the mm3 or the mm2. Is the mm3 gonna do the grain 2 much or is it the better way to go


I got a three roller a few years back when I first started brewing. I never got the gist of how to use it properly and I had more than one **** attack trying to use it. 

Maybe I completely missed something I dont know. Basically each side of the adjustable roller fitted into an orbital knob on either side. Once out of sinc I could rarely get back into sinc, so milling was very difficult. There was nothing on the side knobs to indicate what position they were in.

Eventually one of the knobs on the side became firmly wedged into the side wall so I tried to smash the fucker out with a shifter. Goodbye mill. The rollers are still in good nick though. They're in a box somewhere in my shed.

I think they may have mad some improvements since I got mine but I wont ever get another.

I got a mashmaster mill next. Much, much easier to use but somehow I managed to snap the 3 pins holding one of the rollers in. A mate of a mate fixed it.


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## mje1980 (5/5/14)

I must be old school. My barley crusher has lasted at least 5 years and I've never oiled the rollers ( I kept meaning to, but the rollers have never felt sticky. Ain't broke etc ). It just keeps going.


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## dicko (5/5/14)

Kranky said:


> I got a three roller a few years back when I first started brewing. I never got the gist of how to use it properly and I had more than one **** attack trying to use it.
> 
> Maybe I completely missed something I dont know. Basically each side of the adjustable roller fitted into an orbital knob on either side. Once out of sinc I could rarely get back into sinc, so milling was very difficult. There was nothing on the side knobs to indicate what position they were in.
> 
> ...


The way to readjust the rollers so that the gap is the same uniformly along the length of the roller is with a feeler gauge.
But it appears that this gem of information may be a little too late. :lol:


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## Kranky (5/5/14)

dicko said:


> The way to readjust the rollers so that the gap is the same uniformly along the length of the roller is with a feeler gauge.
> But it appears that this gem of information may be a little too late. :lol:


Yep lol. I just had a look at their site and it looks like the new model may be a lot easier to use.


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## dicko (5/5/14)

I've got the 3 roller Crankenstein which I believe may have been the predecessor to that mill and the detent on the adjustment knobs are very weak and it is easy to adjust them unevenly unless you are very careful.
I haven't moved mine now for about 9 months and although it is not difficult I really don't intend to move them again.


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## mrsupraboy (5/5/14)

Just ordered the mm3


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## mckenry (5/5/14)

mje1980 said:


> I must be old school. My barley crusher has lasted at least 5 years and I've never oiled the rollers ( I kept meaning to, but the rollers have never felt sticky. Ain't broke etc ). It just keeps going.


Good to hear mje1980. I was the public defender of the Barley Crusher. I looked after it for years and it worked well for so long, but it eventually slipped, just as Nick kept telling me it would. I couldnt get it to grab even with a hand crank eventually. I still have it, but bought the Mashmaster Mini mill and love it.


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## dicko (5/5/14)

A good machine shop should be able to re knurl the rollers for you.
When I bought my 3 roller Crank' Fred told me that after a few years the rollers can do with re knurling and he offered at that time a change over service for them or at least he would re do them.
The USA is a long way away to get knurling done.


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## mje1980 (5/5/14)

I keep wondering if mine will need to be redone. As I mentioned, I've had it easily 5 years and it just keeps going. It has slipped once or twice over the years, but I just backed it off, re adjusted it, and it's worked. Cracks wheat like a boss.


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## scrimple101 (8/5/14)

Some have stainless steel rollers others have steel. Is it important to have stainless steel?


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## Wilkensone (8/5/14)

SS shouldn't rust I would assume, plus who doesn't like some more bling B)


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## spog (8/5/14)

scrimple101 said:


> Some have stainless steel rollers others have steel. Is it important to have stainless steel?[/quote
> S/S rollers yes,they won't rust like steel ones you don't want rust contamination mixed in with the crush.
> No matter how careful you are rust will happen,s/s rollers are easier to clean and if you want to crush moistened grain ( a topic some time back) the s/s rollers are the best choice and value for your money.
> Cheers...spog....


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## dicko (9/5/14)

spog said:


> scrimple101 said:
> 
> 
> > Some have stainless steel rollers others have steel. Is it important to have stainless steel?[/quote
> ...


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## Online Brewing Supplies (9/5/14)

You will find most rollers while not being stainless are not mild steel either and are not prone to rusting unless you treat it like a canoe.
At least thats my finding, three mills non stainless and not a sign of rust.
Nev


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