Crankandstein Arrived Surface In 2 Weeks

[roach]

For those that are considering getting a mill from the US. CrankandStein dispatched my 2S via surface mail on 14 September and it arrived today. 2 weeks to get to suburban Adelaide via surface is pretty darn good.

will be making a hopper out of an inverted water cooler bottle with the base cut out and will be cracking in no time. :lol:

 

[nonicman]

Roach, what was the total cost?

 

[wee stu]

how much has she cost you, all up Roach??

 

[roach]

140 Aussie landed

 

[wee stu]

where did you get it, have you posted the details already on another thread, I need to know more!!

 

[roach]

Wee Stu,
Details of the mill can be found on http://www.crankandstein.com/

email Fred Francis who is very responsive and will gladly answer any question '[email protected]'

you have to make up your own base and hopper(unless you want to pay extra for theirs). In the package they include simple instructions and drawings on making these things. However I reckon just having the old water bottle as the hopper would be dead easy and just have it sitting on an old mayo bucket.

Cheers
Roach

 

[roach]

Oh and Fred will try to upsell to a better model but i reckon the base model i got for $69US plus $27US postage will do anything i want.

Would love the 3 roller indent adjutable model but couldn;t justify the price.

the crankensteain 2s is prolly the cheapest off the sehfl mill goin around. the alternative is the margo in which others have had success, but i preferred one laready tailored for the job. it gets down to budget i suppose.

 

[Jazman]

thats a good price it looks simaliar to a bc and nearly the some price i got mine for and i had some one bring it back from the us for me

 

[roach]

Jazman,
yes i was going to get the bc which is $105US + $31US for surface shipping. that was until crankandstein dropped their prices about a month ago and made it a no brainer at $96US all up.

cheers
Roach

 

[sintax69]

He tried to up size me from the 2s and also went on about the inscurance did you go for this

sintax

 

[Justin]

The 2S is adjustable too fella's. Should be a nice mill. Roach can you tell me how severe the knurling is on the rollers? Is it a really aggressive knurl or a nice smooth one. It'll be interesting to see how it goes. Great work.

Cheers, Justin

 

[roach]

sintax69 - not surprised he tried to upsize you. he didn't push the insurance angle at all actually. on the USPS customs dec they quoted an Insured No. and amount. So whether insurance is inclusive as part of the surface rate I do not know. As stated previously I just paid the retail price plus the surface rate Fred Francis quoted. Although I paid $27US for the surface rate, the actually price as on the customs dec was $25.40US.

Justin - the knurling on the net looks severe, however in the flesh I would say that it is a little more deeper than smooth, if that makes sense.

I am away with the family to the Grampians this weekend and so won't be able to get around to fabricating the hopper and testing it out. Will let you know once I give it a run next week.

 

[Justin]

Fred's a good bloke. He was really helpful when I was looking, and like you guys he tried to upsize me to the 2a (in fact 3 of them! ).

Interesting on the knurl Roach. My BC has a pretty savage knurl, much more savage than I thought from the website and everyone that sees it comments on the depth and aggresiveness of the knurl. The cranksteins looked a bit better but I'm guessing they are pretty much the same. Just a drawback of small diameter rollers not having enough nip to grab the grain. Having said that I'm really happy with my efficiency and sparging so it's not an issue.

Anyway, enjoy it.

Cheers, Justin

 

[roach]

the barley crusher is 1.25" diameter X 5" length

the crankandstein 2S is only 4" length(about the legth of a pen!!) but 1.5" diameter.

will be interesting to see how efficiency compares with the home made mill i have been borrowing that uses 10inch ss rollers. I got a quote from a local engineering firm for the same rollers and it worked out to nearly $400 - just for the rollers!!! yikes!!

 

[Justin]

Roach your right. I could have sworn my rollers were 1.5" though. I'm going to check tonight because I'm sure mine were 1.5" but as you say the website says they are 1.25". I wonder if they changed them.

Very curious now. Must find out.

JD

 

[Gough]

Great news on the 2 weeks Roach, and the price has just about convinced me too. I've looked at the Crank... website quite a few times but with my ignorant low tech brain am struggling to understand how to adjust the crush with the 2s. That is my only worry now really, so could you explain it clearly for us S-L-O-W types please Does it come 'pre-set'? If so to what? Is it a major drama to get a finer/coarser grind? It talks about pulling the whole thing apart to adjust it - is this as easy as they make it sound? Any instructions come with it?

I've just about decided to go with this mill now. I've tried all the Aust. options I can think of with no luck. I missed out on the Grumpy's ones and the Grain and Grape Phill Mill2's are $295 before postage :blink: I think the Crankandstein model you ended up with sounds like a goer.

Thanks for any help you can offer,

Shawn.

 

[Asher]

I see in the options you can get them with larger roller diameters....

The ultimate would surely be the three roller model with 2.5" diameter ss rollers!... Wonder what the $$$ would be for that baby!

Asher for now....

 

[roach]

Hi gough,

The crank 2s comes prest. It is adjustable but you have to take it apart as you suggested. I am hoping the preset will be suffcient without mucking around with it, and if a little too wide I can always put it through twice. with a drill this is no big deal. The extra $$ for one that adjusts more easily just isn't worth it IMHO. I wonder how many people regularly adjust their valley mill or barley crusher?? I would see that I might need to adjust it once - but that would be it


Below are detailed instructions that come with it for adjusting. To quote the paperwork:

"this mill is designed with a gap that can be set as the mill wears or for different crush characteristics. To set the gap you need feeler gauges and some means of pressing the bushings out of the frame. The best way to press the bushings out would be a vice with protected jaws and 2 sockets of the correct size, one that is appropriate OD of the bushing to press against the bushing, and a second that is larger to press the bushing into the vice. make sure you mark the radial location of the bushings b4 you press them out and that you loosen the setscrews b4 attempting to press out the bushings. Once they are out you can rotate them to make the gap wider or narrower, partially press them back in and trial assemble your mill on the bench to check the gap. adjust as necessary. then reassemble and tighten."

 

[Gough]

Thanks a lot for that Roach. Sounds a bit of a drama to adjust, but like you say, it isn't something you should be needing to do too often. Just need to talk to 'Santa' now about a Xmas purchase...

Thanks again,

Shawn.

 

[Doc]

I wonder how many people regularly adjust their valley mill or barley crusher??

I have a Valley Mill and I adjust mine just about everytime I use it.
I run the grain through twice and generally I run it though on the 2nd to closest setting first as sometimes I find on the closest setting it doesn't pull the grain through. On the second run through I adjust it to the finest setting.
Also I used to mill wheat serperately to other grains with the wheat on the finest setting and the other grains at second to finest.

Beers,
Doc