Knurling on a Mashmaster Mini Mill

[dicko]

Have they changed the knurling on the rollers on the above mill.

I just recently bought one and it does not perform like others I have seen...it wont draw the grain through.
It does mill the grain but takes an eternity to do so.

The gap is 1.2 and the speed is 180 rpm.

A vid will tell a thousand words...I removed the hopper to see what was happening

View attachment Grain Mill Rollers.MOV

 

[Rocker1986]

I had the same thing happen with mine which I bought nearly 3 years ago. Funny thing though - it only happened with Simpsons Maris Otter malt. Took about an hour using the hand crank to mill a batch worth of it. :blink: Every other malt I've used has been perfectly fine going through it. Most recently Wey Bo Pils of the floor malted variety. Takes about 15-20 minutes all up for the whole batch worth of grains when they go through properly.

Is it certain malts not being drawn through properly or just any and all of them?

 

[Liam_snorkel]

Had mine for a few months, rips through the grain like crazy.
they had problems a little while ago and were replacing peoples roller I think. Might be worth shooting them an email
some discussion in this thread: http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/70875-millmaster-mini-mill-slow-after-adjusting-gap/page-3

 

[dicko]

Had mine for a few months, rips through the grain like crazy.
they had problems a little while ago and were replacing peoples roller I think. Might be worth shooting them an email
some discussion in this thread: http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/70875-millmaster-mini-mill-slow-after-adjusting-gap/page-3

Hi Liam_s

thanks for the link mate.... I had not seen that thread before.

I got mine from CB and I know that they are great with any problem that I have had in the past.

I'll give em a call to see what can be done.

 

[RobW]

Hi Dicko

Do you moisten the grain before crushing to give the rollers better purchase?

Cheers

Rob

 

[dicko]

Hi Dicko

Do you moisten the grain before crushing to give the rollers better purchase?

Cheers

Rob

G'day Rob,

Yeah mate i did that on the last lot I milled and it went through a bit better and that vid I took was dry so to get that last bit of grain to go through I got a "squirty bottle" and gave the grains a puff of water and through they went.

I have spoken and emailed the retailer and i am waiting for the manufacturer to get back to me.

Cheers

 

[huez]

Craft Brewer sent me a new mill when i had this issue. Frank from mash master also offered to send me new rollers. Both were great to deal with.

Had the new one a few months now and last weekend it seemed like it was starting to do it again, see how it goes next brew day.

Hi Liam_s

thanks for the link mate.... I had not seen that thread before.

I got mine from CB and I know that they are great with any problem that I have had in the past.

I'll give em a call to see what can be done.

 

[dicko]

Craft Brewer sent me a new mill when i had this issue. Frank from mash master also offered to send me new rollers. Both were great to deal with.

Had the new one a few months now and last weekend it seemed like it was starting to do it again, see how it goes next brew day.

Gee mate....that doesn't sound too good. :unsure:

 

[huez]

I'll be extremely unlucky if i got 2 from a bad batch! When they work properly they are brilliant though!

 

[dicko]

I'll be extremely unlucky if i got 2 from a bad batch! When they work properly they are brilliant though!

Yes huez, that is why i bought one, because i have seen them working over the last few years and I have always been impressed with the crush and the speed.
I think that there are a couple of HB shops around that use them as well.

I am sure that it will all sort out in due course.

 

[krausenhaus]

I had the same thing happen with mine which I bought nearly 3 years ago. Funny thing though - it only happened with Simpsons Maris Otter malt. Took about an hour using the hand crank to mill a batch worth of it. :blink: Every other malt I've used has been perfectly fine going through it. Most recently Wey Bo Pils of the floor malted variety. Takes about 15-20 minutes all up for the whole batch worth of grains when they go through properly.

Is it certain malts not being drawn through properly or just any and all of them?

Good to hear this, I did a batch with TF MO base with mine recently and it took about four times longer than normal. Didn't know why the hell it was happening and was googling about MO being tougher to mill but couldn't find anything.

I still don't feel like mine is performing as it should though, even with other base malts. It absolutely ripped through my first batch but since then it seems slower and not as fast as videos I've seen of others.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I doubt it's the knurling dicko, most knurling tools offer the same diamond cut, I am sure an old fitter like you would know the only purpose of the knurled face of the rollers is to get a bite on the grain,I would imagine that speed of the rollers plays a major part on the efficiency of the grind, if I try to grind mine on a fast speed it can't get a bite on the grain, go on a slower speed the grain isn't getting thrown back by the rollers.

 

[GABBA110360]

maybe the knurling tool used in production of the rollers is not producing a nice sharp clean knurl?
just a thought

 

[BJB]

maybe the knurling tool used in production of the rolas Ilers is not producing a nice sharp clean knurl?
just a thought

Too true, they do wear out and not give a good sharp knurl over time. I'll be surprised that Craft Brewer would still be selling these with the suspect rollers after the feedback here. Interested in the outcome as I maybe in the market for a new mill soon.

 

[Rocker1986]

Good to hear this, I did a batch with TF MO base with mine recently and it took about four times longer than normal. Didn't know why the hell it was happening and was googling about MO being tougher to mill but couldn't find anything.

I still don't feel like mine is performing as it should though, even with other base malts. It absolutely ripped through my first batch but since then it seems slower and not as fast as videos I've seen of others.

I normally use the TF Floor malted MO for my recipes with the exception of lagers. It may be a tad slower, but otherwise I haven't had any issues with it struggling to get drawn in to the rollers, certainly not to the degree of it taking up to 4 times longer to mill the grains like I experienced with the Simpsons one. I don't wet my grains either, thought about it after reading about it on here a few times but still haven't been bothered to do it. :lol:

 

[tavas]

Is the knurling full of flour?

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Mashmaster Mini Gap Problem

An old thread same subject from AHB, the object of the knurled rollers is to grip the grain, it will take a long time for the HSS cutters to wear down and I doubt whether the manufacturer would let his knurling tools wear down so much that they were not giving a good cut, they are cheap to replace and it is not as if they are mass producing the rollers for the mills.

 

[Liam_snorkel]

how is this thread still going?

post 1) hi, my mill rollers are fkd, see vid.

post 3) yeah, that manufacturer had a batch of faulty rollers and has been replacing them, give them a buzz. Here's a link to the relevant thread.

post 4) will do, cheers.

</thread>

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Not much else happening Liam, good job that Joe did well with the budget, that could have taken 5 or 6 pages if he hadn't.

 

[Liam_snorkel]

haha!

 

[dicko]

I doubt it's the knurling dicko, most knurling tools offer the same diamond cut, I am sure an old fitter like you would know the only purpose of the knurled face of the rollers is to get a bite on the grain,I would imagine that speed of the rollers plays a major part on the efficiency of the grind, if I try to grind mine on a fast speed it can't get a bite on the grain, go on a slower speed the grain isn't getting thrown back by the rollers.

Yep WEAL, when at trade school I got the highest mark in the class for knurling, be it for a tap wrench handle that we had to make, but back on topic.
I spoke to Anthony at CB and apparently there was an issue with the knurling tool being used in manufacture where over time they wear out and considering that these things probably made in China, quality control would be pretty much non existent.
The knurling wheels lose their edge over time but for a bowl of rice per week, the bloke on the lathe doesn't give a Fat Yaks Toss Bag.

how is this thread still going?post 1) hi, my mill rollers are fkd, see vid.post 3) yeah, that manufacturer had a batch of faulty rollers and has been replacing them, give them a buzz. Here's a link to the relevant thread.post 4) will do, cheers.</thread>

It is amazing how some of us continue on over a glass or two at the end of each day.

I'll be back....

 

[dicko]

I'm back......

So I spoke to Anthony at CB and he put me onto Francis at Mashmaster.

Francis is aware that there is a problem at times with the rollers and that he is onto it...apparently it does not affect all mills but he is currently working on an overall solution which sounds great.

Anyway, so to keep Liam happy and keep this topic as short as I can, :lol: Francis sent me two new rollers which I just fitted and have tested it with 5 kg of grain (Weyermann plus some Crystal) and it ripped through it like I would have expected it to.
I will be milling some grains for another brewer on Saturday so it will get a second test then.

Great service and back up from both CB and Mashmaster and Francis sent me a little gift for my troubles as well.

 

[krausenhaus]

Looks like I've got a dud pair of rollers too as it now takes me 20 min to do a 5kg batch of grain. I've only done six batches on it; first one it tore through but it's never been the same since then.

I got in touch with Frank but it looks like he's not giving replacement rollers out anymore until the new design is finalised, which will be a few months.

 

[Rocker1986]

Are you using a drill or some sort of power on it or just the hand crank?

I find 20 minutes is a pretty normal timeframe for milling a 5kg grain bill just using the hand crank, it's always taken me about that long ever since my first batch, but if you have a drill or such like connected to it then yeah I'd expect it should be done in a few minutes.

 

[krausenhaus]

Yeah it's on a drill. First batch only took a few minutes so something is definitely up.

 

[Rocker1986]

Yeah I would agree then, with a drill it shouldn't be taking anywhere near 20 minutes to mill 5kg of grain.

I did have one sack of Simpsons MO that just flat out refused to go through my mill, all other grains have been perfectly fine. However if you're experiencing this issue with all grains then obviously it's the mill itself that's the problem.

 

[Feldon]

Is it possible to see any difference between the good and bad knurled rollers with the naked eye?

Just thought that if people know how to spot the dodgy mills before buying it might save a bit of grief.

 

[Dan2]

I've been having the same issue - 6.2kg in 16.5 minutes a few days ago.
The points on the knurling are quite shiny and smoother than they should be, so I figure they're heading down the same path as others here.

I run mine with the Motion Dynamics motor with variable speed circuit.
Dialed it back to half pace (about 100rpm) yesterday and crushed 5kg in 5 minutes.

Hopefully others will find this helpful enough to get us through til the new rollers are available :icon_cheers:

 

[nala]

I must have the same problem...milled 5.950 kilos of grain this morning it took 1 hour 20 minutes.
The mill is about 18 months old and I think that the knurling is worn out.
Mill is powered my Ozito high torque drill on it's slowest speed.
I mean to try double pass milling, can't be any worse.
I appreciate that grain mills have to deal with the variables in grain size but this is unacceptable.

 

[Diesel80]

I must have the same problem...milled 5.950 kilos of grain this morning it took 1 hour 20 minutes.
The mill is about 18 months old and I think that the knurling is worn out.
Mill is powered my Ozito high torque drill on it's slowest speed.
I mean to try double pass milling, can't be any worse.
I appreciate that grain mills have to deal with the variables in grain size but this is unacceptable.

Holy **** that is a nightmare.
Just did 9.5KG (8.8 of it TF M/O) on Friday with a different mill in about 2 minutes - if that with a similar drill to you.
Totally not acceptable.

If I lived closer to you I would offer to mill for you. maybe find others brewers in your area that could help out? At least until you get a solution / new mill.

I know a AHB member on here helped me out a few times when I put the call out. Helpful bunch round here normally!

Cheers,
D80