Fs: Millmaster Mill With Custom Hopper Etc.

[Sammus]

Howdy, I just bought a Millmaster Mill with hopper and crank handle. I built onto the hopper and made a grain gear guard and all that jazz, works like a treat and isn't all that hard to work by hand. I crack 5-6kg of grain in 5-10mins, and get a good shoulder workout while I'm at it. I paid whatever retail is for the mill/hopper/handle, 350ish. I've got this terrible affliction that always makes me want to get something different after a purchase like this, and I'm considering getting a Monster MM3-2.0 3-roller mill. The only reason I didn't before is becase of the exchange rate (our dollar was at its recent low of 60ish when I was mill shopping), which made it more ridiculous than it already is.

Just looking to see if there are any interested peoples looking for a (near) new mill? As far a 2-roller mills go, it's the bees knees, and a hefty peice of kit (16kg give or take). I was hoping for around the 300-320 mark since its nearly new and I've since built a big hopper onto it. The hopper would hold 10kg easy, probably a tad more.



Obviously I can't ship it with the hopper, but I can pull it down and ship it without the hopper if you're interstate.

I can drop it off anywhere in Newcastle or Wollongong, or meet you somewhere in Sydney (since I drive through twice a week).

Cheers


Sam

 

[razz]

If I send you the $300 will you do something about the affliction? Seriously Sam, that is a bloody ripper of a mill, I've got one, don't sell it.

 

[Pumpy]

I have that Mill it it great what would you want from any other mill

Pumpy

 

[Sammus]

I just like the idea of a 3 rollers better than 2. True, I doubt I'd notice the difference, but in my head it would be different

 

[T.D.]

I just got myself a 3 roller Monster Mill. Freakin awesome bit of kit. The millmaster one may be fairly good, but I can't imagine wanting anything beyond this 3-roller jobbie!

 

[Sammus]

I was actually thinking about this one to crush grain to steep with my kits

http://www.famaker.com.au/Catalogue.aspx?ICode=00008007

or this one

http://www.famaker.com.au/Catalogue.aspx?ICode=00008013 - Might need a mash filter though.

 

[Pumpy]

I have been getting 85% efficiency since I owned the Mill Master what more do you want


Pumpy

 

[T.D.]

I was actually thinking about this one to crush grain to steep with my kits

http://www.famaker.com.au/Catalogue.aspx?ICode=00008007

or this one

http://www.famaker.com.au/Catalogue.aspx?ICode=00008013 - Might need a mash filter though.

SHould do the job... :lol:

 

[Sammus]

I have been getting 85% efficiency since I owned the Mill Master what more do you want


Pumpy

your brewery if that's the case.

But no, efficiency isn't why, there is no real reason, apart from my personal satisfaction of owning something I've decided I like the most.

 

[Ross]

Sammus,

Sounds like you're decided, but I previously used a 3 roller S/S Crankenstein, & it's performance is not a touch on the millmaster, for reliabillity or crush. I will be offering it up for sale shortly, but not going to lie about it.

cheers Ross

 

[pokolbinguy]

Yeh those millmasters look awesome. If I had the cash I would buy it off you...but I dont. I would say keep it...your crazy to sell it.

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

Lashed out recently and I will say that the picture on Ross's website does it no justice. One very f****ng heavy mill!! The parcel arrived at my place of work. Had to call a workmate in to help lift the bloody thing. All I have to do is now sift through the forum to work out the best pulley and motor system to run it. I do have a good drill but the thing it almost grew legs and ran when it saw what the mill looked like .

How about someone cut through the chase and give me the tried and true option on how to drive this baby. Motor and pulley that is.

BYB

 

[Sammus]

Yeah, I was reading monster mill reviews and one of them went on about how big and heavy duty it is, weighing in a whopping 7.5lbs! (3.4kg). The mill master weighs about 16kg!


It's an awesome mill, I'm really on fence on whether to sell it or not, I just really like the look of my ex-lhbs crush (MHB, still go there, but living in wollongong it isn't as often as it used to be) and cant emulate anything like it with a single pass on my 2 roller. Even crushing so coarse as to lose out significantly efficiency, getting chunks of kernal and no flour, I still get mostly shredded husks (as opposed to whole ones) and have problems sparging (SS False bottom). I've seen MHB crush and he does several passes adjusting the mill each time, there's a bit of flower, a lot of cracked kernals, and pretty much all the husks are intact. Thats a pita to do with the millmaster, I wish those little bolts were spring loaded or something there would be no issue - well, that and doing a second pass the grain doesnt get drawn into the rollers once its already crushed. takes for ever constantly banging the side of the mill with my hand to help it settle a bit and hope a bit grabs. I imagine with new grain being forced in from the top would kinda stop that happening in a 3-roller setup.

I guess if I keep changing my mind back and forth I probably should just stay where I am. Sorry to those who PMed.

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

Yeah, I was reading monster mill reviews and one of them went on about how big and heavy duty it is, weighing in a whopping 7.5lbs! (3.4kg). The mill master weighs about 16kg!


It's an awesome mill, I'm really on fence on whether to sell it or not, I just really like the look of my ex-lhbs crush (MHB, still go there, but living in wollongong it isn't as often as it used to be) and cant emulate anything like it with a single pass on my 2 roller. Even crushing so coarse as to lose out significantly efficiency, getting chunks of kernal and no flour, I still get mostly shredded husks (as opposed to whole ones) and have problems sparging (SS False bottom). I've seen MHB crush and he does several passes adjusting the mill each time, there's a bit of flower, a lot of cracked kernals, and pretty much all the husks are intact. Thats a pita to do with the millmaster, I wish those little bolts were spring loaded or something there would be no issue - well, that and doing a second pass the grain doesnt get drawn into the rollers once its already crushed. takes for ever constantly banging the side of the mill with my hand to help it settle a bit and hope a bit grabs. I imagine with new grain being forced in from the top would kinda stop that happening in a 3-roller setup.

I guess if I keep changing my mind back and forth I probably should just stay where I am. Sorry to those who PMed.

How bad is your efficiency with the millmaster? I have been using a mates old Valley Mill for over a year now. That is a two roller job and there is only adjustment on one roller on the one side as is typical with most except the millmaster. Efficiency is anything from 75% to a little over 80%. Quite happy with that.

Have never used a three roller so I suppose I don't know what I am missing.


BYB

 

[Frank]

How about someone cut through the chase and give me the tried and true option on how to drive this baby. Motor and pulley that is.

You could try one of these on eBay. Speed is a bit slow, but would make a nice crush, if you make your hopper big enough time would not be an issue,
or this store in Adelaide.

 

[mika]

......- well, that and doing a second pass the grain doesnt get drawn into the rollers once its already crushed. takes for ever constantly banging the side of the mill with my hand to help it settle a bit and hope a bit grabs. I imagine with new grain being forced in from the top would kinda stop that happening in a 3-roller setup.

I run two crushes on my millmaster, never a problem for the second run, that's the advantage of geared rollers. How's the grain pick up on simple knurled rollers ? That's why a lot of people run o-rings, or 'flick' the second roller to get going. To me it sounds like more of a problem with your hopper design

 

[mika]

You could try one of these on eBay. Speed is a bit slow, but would make a nice crush, if you make your hopper big enough time would not be an issue,
or this store in Adelaide.

I can't see those little worm drive boxes working, 0.18kW even with an 80:1 reduction is going to have it's ring out to drive the thing. You need to start looking at decent power to drive these things and the worm reduction gearboxes capable of that kinda grunt are going to get expensive real quick.
I run a 10" pulley, bored and keyed to suit the 12mm dia x 4mm keyway of the Millmaster with a 1.5" pulley on at least a 1/2"hp (or bigger, I forget now) electric motor. My motor's old, but I've still managed to stall it on hard grains like Rye and wheat. As the millmaster has larger rollers (69mm) than your average mill (usually 38mm) you need more torque to drive them. The pay off is a larger pinch angle which along with the geared rollers means it should feed the grain no matter what.

 

[Sammus]

I run two crushes on my millmaster, never a problem for the second run, that's the advantage of geared rollers. How's the grain pick up on simple knurled rollers ? That's why a lot of people run o-rings, or 'flick' the second roller to get going. To me it sounds like more of a problem with your hopper design

I use the millmaster hopper plus that extension in the pic. No problem drawing the grain when its uncracked, but once it's cracked it seems to stop being picked up as easily. How does the hopper design influence that?

My efficiency isn't bad at all that's not the reason I was considering changing, fwiw I get around 75%

 

[mika]

Didn't originally see the millmaster pre-hopper in your pics, same as I use. If the hopper side angles are too low (more than 120degs inclusive) the grain can hang in the hopper and thus won't reach the rollers. On real difficult materials it can 'bridge' across the opening and thus won't feed. Hopper design in true materials handling applications is quite a science... and quite a bit black art. Your hopper angles look steep enough, but also looks like you've got all sides angled, so maybe a combined angle thing. Other than that, don't know what's going on, I run every grain bill thru twice and never have an issue.

 

[NickB]

Sammus,

Sounds like you're decided, but I previously used a 3 roller S/S Crankenstein, & it's performance is not a touch on the millmaster, for reliabillity or crush. I will be offering it up for sale shortly, but not going to lie about it.

cheers Ross

BS