BrewZilla 65L

[wide eyed and legless]

I see so the grains " stay floating " with the braumeister, wheras they are sinking and being washed down with the Brewzilla types. Thank you must look it up.

The pump is pretty powerful on the BM the grains are all forced up against the top plates, every 15 minutes the pump stops (pump break) which displaces the grain letting the grain drift down. The pump starts again and all the grain is forced back up to the top plates, effectively stirring, by the movement.

Exactly as described on my Brewzillia Dunc, hence I have to stir and scrap the bottom during the mash to stop compaction. Doing a Hazy Daisy NEIPA today and all is going well. 30 minutes into the boil! Got the Dunc's Dam fitted, going to be interesting to see how it works.

I would be interested to know if the dam effects the boil, I don't have any problem getting clear wort just using 2 helix. What is left in the kettle I pour into a jug let it settle and put into 1 litre passata bottles after boiling, for using as a starter.

Even though it looks clear there is plenty of cold break in the fermenter, just cant see it unless you cool it further, put a glass of wort in the fridge and you can see it.

 

[Cloud Surfer]

I use about 3 litres per kg, I have started to use Glucanase enzyme instead of oat hulls if there is going to be lots of sticky adjuncts, it doesn't add volume to the grain bill. Head retention etc seems fine.
I do find that I have to start off slow with the flow but come the end of the mash the pump flow is flat out.
My mill is set to 0.9 mm but it is a Maltzilla and that doesn't force a lot of flour out of the husks.
Still getting 76% efficiency but tempted to go narrower at least for part of the milling to see if this improves efficiency and slows the sparging down.

Not sure what Mark is referencing pumped from bottom to top, isn't that what happens with the brewzilla?

Do you like your Maltzilla? I was about to buy one.

 

[Malted Mick]

Hi WE&L. The dam did not effect the boil, but it was no improvement on my previous set up. The silicon tube is a seal for the bottom of the dam and sits on the bottom of the vessel. Two helix's may be the go, I can fit a second to the top outlet and give the dam a miss.

 

[duncbrewer]

Well I've had the Maltzilla for about 8 months now. Got the version with all metal rollers. I think there is or was a version with plastic rollers covered with diamond grit.

I haven't owned a mill before this and my only experience was with shop milled grain which I found quite variable.

I ordered the 24V power supply with it, this promptly blew up on first turning the maltzilla on. Luckily it came with some crocodile clips and an andersen plug connector. So I just used it by clipping it to an 18v battery which is fine ( see below ) .
I got a refund on the psu so no worries there.

So to usage, I do precondition the grain, just put the grain in a 30 litre storage bin and then spray and mix 2.5% by weight of water. I leave this for about an hour with the bin lid on and have left it longer then mill it.

The hopper is from a 12 litre water bottle and works well, its good that it is easily removed after use and so makes it compact to tidy away.

I cut a hole in a wooden board to mount the maltzilla. The board is bigger than another 30 litre rectangular storage bin so it rests on top of it. I have it so the motor is on the top of the board it can be mounted the other way up if you want. I would need a deeper bin to do that, it would be a bit quieter inside the box, but overall it is much quieter than drill powered mill or the brewshops SS brewtech mill.
The good thing about the board and mill on box is that it's sealed with the grain falling into the box so no dust, so I use it indoors without worry.
When finished I just flip the mill over and it is inside the box and the "hopper" fits next to it all safe on the shelf.

So does it work, yes, I don't think that the adjustment of the gap doesn't correlate that well with the markings. I'm using it set to 0.75mm which the gap measured appears to be 0.9mm . This is giving a good crush, the grains are really flattened and not chopped up at all. The grain contents are really powdered up but contained, I get a bit of flour but not much.
When you adjust the gap you adjust it on both sides of the wheel to ensure the gap is uniform across the rollers, I understand this has been an issue with other mills showing a different gap across the rollers which can't be adjusted.
The mill seems to only adjust in 0.25mm increments the way it's intended to be used and is a feature of the adjusters notching and locking with nuts. You can adjust it without taking it apart or using any tools though so you can tune as you go. To get inbetween gaps requires you to use the locking screws on top of the adjuster nurls which is a bit more fiddly, I haven't had to do this though. I'm getting a good extraction and flow on the mash 76 percent brewhouse efficiency and will try a finer gap to see how this affects things.

Occasionally I did get the situation where the non powered roller got stuck due to grain/flour on the roller preventing it turning. I just reversed the polarity of the power which made the roller reverse and this allowed it to clear. Then back to normal. It was more of a problem when I was using a NiCd 18v battery that was very end of life and lacked grunt and I had the gap a bit too wide.

If I was going to improve it I would supply some instructions, fit a small brush on the underside of the roller ( non powered one ) to knock off any accumulations and have a gate on the hopper so that it could be removed or inserted with grain in.
But I'm happy with it, it's quiet works well, is solid and does the job at a good price unattended so no drill holding etc.

Portly gentleman has a review on his youtube of the Maltzilla .

He also has a video of making a 24v power supply for the Cannular which is much cheaper than the kegland option.


He just uses the battery method as he likes to mill outside ( cordless ) . I certainly don't need the grain to mill any quicker than it does at the moment with the 18 v battery though I believe it would work quicker.
Think it's cheaper than some of the other mills supplied with a motor. Coincidentally as I'm typing this Genus brewing have a review of the Blichmann pro mill ( not sure if they bought it so could have bias).




Portly gentleman reviewed the SS brewtech mill and panned it and then returned it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua8OUQESAgE

 

[Cloud Surfer]

Oh man, you get the award for post of the year. That’s a lot of info and work you went to. Thanks so much. So I’ll be happy to go get a MaltZilla I think. I’ll come back to this post when I get it. Thanks again.

 

[duncbrewer]

My pleasure let me know how it goes or if I can help.

Just noticed I didn't put the link in to Portly Gentleman review of Maltzilla. What a fail by me, back to B+.