anybody bought this mill?

[heyhey]

I had one very similar from Keg King. It only lasted less than a year. Nothing but problems. Never fed well as the lazy roller wouldn't roll (yes, ballbearing model), one of the screws holding the body together was stripped and fell out, the body flexes quite a bit causing rollers to jam because the sheet metal side supports are inadequate.

 

[BJB]

I had one very similar from Keg King. It only lasted less than a year. Nothing but problems. Never fed well as the lazy roller wouldn't roll (yes, ballbearing model), one of the screws holding the body together was stripped and fell out, the body flexes quite a bit causing rollers to jam because the sheet metal side supports are inadequate.

OK so have you bought another that's better?

 

[indica86]

I have the Chinese knock off and got it for $135 delivered.
Smash through 6 kgs of grain in no time with a drill.
Love ut.

 

[Diesel80]

Monster Mill 2.0 SS rollers 1/2in drive.
Destroys 10Kg grain bills driven with a Ozito Spade Handle Drill.

With the poor exchange rate these probably less atrractive than when dollar was near parity with US.

cheers
D80

 

[welly2]

I enjoy milling the grain. Gives me something to do while the water is boiling! There's something quite satisfying about milling grain manually with the handle, and probably less noisy. It makes me feel responsible for crushing each one of those individual grains and pretending they're past bosses/employers makes it all the better.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

My original Tony mill has 50mm knurled stainless rollers,,,no way I want to hand crack with it... motor chews 5kg in under 1min with around 30% flour.. gets 78% efficiency with the odd 80% depending on the recipie

Dont forget that all mills are different, grains are different, mash methods are different, brewers are different. Regardless of the mill you buy you will need to play around with it until it suits YOU. This takes time, so also take note of how others set theirs. There are no hard and fast rules so when you make changes, keep note and only make 1 adjustment at the time and make them very fine. Surprising how 1/8 of a run turn can make a big difference some times



As an side topic

Try wetting your grain first

 

[NealK]

If it is not an original Barley Crusher then ignore my comments.

 

[butisitart]

re: mill gap - had an interesting observation the other day.
got some milled organic 2 row from my hbs the other week and mashed in my gf. very little residue on the floor of the gf at the end of brew and a pretty clear ferment. compare this to a vienna malt dunkels that i did which left a pile of burnt on the bottom and still cloudy at 6 weeks conditioning.
turns out vienna is a larger grain than your average and organic is much smaller (no steroids pumped into it, according to hbs). so at the same width milling (shop doesn't change its gaps for different grains), the littler organic mills perfectly, while the larger gets powdered up a lot more.
so my theory (tell me if i'm wrong) is that different grains need different gaps to crush at optimum. my guess is that most grains are similar size, but there is also a top end and bottom end.
which is a big part of why i'm up for a mill. on my guess, the hbs is milling for a pretty varied audience and with different grain sizes so they can't be expected to nail it perfecto for all rigs.
at first taster bottle, can recommend the organic, by the way.

 

[butisitart]

I enjoy milling the grain. Gives me something to do while the water is boiling! There's something quite satisfying about milling grain manually with the handle, and probably less noisy. It makes me feel responsible for crushing each one of those individual grains and pretending they're past bosses/employers makes it all the better.

it's the 21stC. you can get modern clinical tests for your condition.

 

[butisitart]

why wet the grain??
and then, would this potentially rust the rollers, given that it gets recommended to lightly oil the mill if not used constantly.
which then leads to the question of what does oil do to a mash if you have just rolled 5kg grain through a lightly oiled mill?

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

mashed in my gf. very little residue on the floor of the gf at the end of brew and a pretty clear ferment.

Phew....I read that all wrong for a minute

 

[Alchomist]

Bought that exact same mill a few weeks back when eBay had the 15% off sale.

I've done about 8 brews with it & it works really well.

 

[manticle]

why wet the grain??
and then, would this potentially rust the rollers, given that it gets recommended to lightly oil the mill if not used constantly.
which then leads to the question of what does oil do to a mash if you have just rolled 5kg grain through a lightly oiled mill?

Look up malt conditioning. It involves lightly moistening the husks as opposed to just 'wetting the grain' and controlling the amount and application of the water is very important.

 

[NealK]

I have been warned that Gladfield malt is fatter and will need some adjustment when milling but I haven't used it yet.
As far as wetting the grain, I believe that this is done for milling on a commercial scale to keep the dust particles in the air to a minimum to protect the health of the staff and to reduce the dust that gets everywhere in the building. I am happy to be proved wrong but it does not seem necessary for home brewers.

 

[technobabble66]

...
at first taster bottle, can recommend the organic, by the way.

Any specific differences in taste you can report?

 

[technobabble66]

I'm a recent convert to wetting/conditioning the grain.
It certainly reduces dust but the real reason I now always do it is because it vastly increases the amount of intact (but empty) husks. So it now looks like I've thrown a few handfuls of rice gulls into the milled grain every time I do a crush.


Edit: if you're interested, it's about 10mL per kg of grain. I normally spray and mix, spraying as I pour from one bucket to another. Let it sit for 2 mins, then mill it.

 

[heyhey]

OK so have you bought another that's better?

Yep, I've got a Millmaster now. Love it

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Edit: if you're interested, it's about 10mL per kg of grain. I normally spray and mix, spraying as I pour from one bucket to another. Let it sit for 2 mins, then mill it.

100ml per 5kg.

 

[real_beer]

100ml per 5kg.

DS you can't just leave it there. What type of water? Tap water? Boiled water? Rain water? Spring water? Soda water? RO water? Is a blend of different waters okay? These questions are going to come mate. Oh, and what about the temperature of the water? :lol:

 

[Matplat]

why wet the grain??
and then, would this potentially rust the rollers, given that it gets recommended to lightly oil the mill if not used constantly.
which then leads to the question of what does oil do to a mash if you have just rolled 5kg grain through a lightly oiled mill?

I am also interested in the answer to this question, I have made up some rollers to make a mill, however I probably won't get it running until after christmas. In the mean time a film of surface rust has started to appear....

you could also ask the opposite question, what does a bit of surface rust do to a mash if you didn't oil your rollers?