Marga Mill

[King Brown]

Inspired by this craftbrewer stimulus thingy I've decided to order some new gear. as I'm yet to get into all grain (but doing partials atm and planning to make the move over the next year) I've been thinking about what equipment to order.

Deciding its too expensive to buy everything at once, and that I can probably build my own manifold and chiller out of copper pipe, adapt an esky into a mash/lauter tun, and just boil small batches on the stove, the one thing I'm gonna need is a grain mill. Anyone here used this mill? comes with a manual crank (but can be upgraded). Feedback would be appreciated greatly before I place my order.

 

[technocat]

Yep nothing wrong with the Marga if you are only doing small crushes typically 5-12Kilos. Can be motorised it is well made but it is a small mill and needs some mods for grain.

1 You need to get adjustment knob off to drill more locating holes to give you better flexibility crushing different grains
2 Tray only holds around 300gr so the bottom plate needs taking off and and a 4mm Aluminium plate substituted with an elongated square hole cut out to let crush through into a container of your choice.
3 You will need to fix a plastic rainwater head to existing hopper as the original is to small. Also the slot in the original hopper needs to be widened and elongated with a file as the grain tends to choke in the opening.
4 If you intend to do big crushes the I would suggest a mashmaster as the rollers are bigger as the mill itself.

Ross at Craftbrewer can give you all the details on the hopper conversion. Hope this helps.

Cheers

 

[Gavo]

Plenty of info Here.
There is a lot of good feedback on these.

Cheers
Gavo.

 

[jbirbeck]

1 You need to get adjustment knob off to drill more locating holes to give you better flexibility crushing different grains

I haven't done this, I found the locating hole just off the two worked best for me...whatever floats your boat.

2 Tray only holds around 300gr so the bottom plate needs taking off and and a 4mm Aluminium plate substituted with an elongated square hole cut out to let crush through into a container of your choice.

I got rid of the tray and got some cardboard to make a 'slide' of sorts. I attach the mill to a table let the crushed grain run off into a bag.

3 You will need to fix a plastic rainwater head to existing hopper as the original is to small. Also the slot in the original hopper needs to be widened and elongated with a file as the grain tends to choke in the opening.

Plastic rainwater head isn't necessary but probably better than my fab cardboard and sticky tape model attached to the original hopper.


I do anything up to 8kg in mine, hand cranked. Depending on how often I am interupted by my daughter who wants to crank, then 7kg would take around a half hour I guess. The things works a lot better if the grain is slightly moistened before the crush.

 

[sav]

At this time you should get craftbrewer to crack it for You ross dosent charge and I can see the conveinance for a patial as you can do a recipe up and it will be sent,save your money for ag gear cause it adds up.

cheers sav

 

[JonnyAnchovy]

Heya,

I just got one of these and have so far been very impressed. The mods are very easy to do (built a larger hopper, widened the hole in the hopper a little, and last night did the mod to the handle, which was very easy, even for a clumsy tit like me). Moral of the story, don't be put off by the modifications - they are super simple, and you end up with a cheap, reliable mill.


-Jon

 

[King Brown]

Yeah, was intending to build the rainwater hopper and attach it to a large bucket I have. My LHBS will crack for me but this way I can order grain online for slightly cheaper. I don't think I will be doing super huge crushes (at least not at first) usually do 19-23L batches atm, and I only do partials at present.

Looks like I'm getting one of these babies courtesy of Unkie Kevin!

 

[BennyBrewster]

Just another quick ? for others using a marga for an extended period, does it last a long time or will I eventually need to upgrade?

Millmaster + crank handle $320 delivered - although I thought they were cheaper originally
Marga Mill $150 delivered

At the moment I brew double batches max 10kgs of grain, think its worth the extra coin?

PS: do I need a handle for the millmaster or can I use a drill straight up? I refuse to setup a motor and belt drive as I don't have the room for large permanent setups.

 

[technocat]

Like I said before if you are into large crushes the marga is a might to small and the millmaster would be the way to go.
If you want to cut out the cost of a handle no reason not to use a drill at around 150 revs a minute. One draw back with motorizing a mill is any foreign material in the grain can do quite a bit of damage to the rollers. I struck a small nail head in a bag of Bairds MO and by sheer luck I was hand cranking my mill at the time. Out of a half a dozen or so 25Kg bags of grain that I have used while doing AG this is the first and only time so far I have had this, so I guess it doesn't happen often but beware.


Cheers :icon_cheers:

 

[QldKev]

Just another quick ? for others using a marga for an extended period, does it last a long time or will I eventually need to upgrade?

Millmaster + crank handle $320 delivered - although I thought they were cheaper originally
Marga Mill $150 delivered

At the moment I brew double batches max 10kgs of grain, think its worth the extra coin?

PS: do I need a handle for the millmaster or can I use a drill straight up? I refuse to setup a motor and belt drive as I don't have the room for large permanent setups.

Have a look a the thread
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=32483

Monster mills rock!, find someone to share postage, ended up costing $AUD356 for 2 delivered to my door.
(Another $US21.50 if you can't share postage)

$178 (posted price) makes this very good value.
I built the box/hopper for under $30.
I run it using my 18v cordless. (you do need some decent torque to spin these)

Mills 5kg grain in 1-2 minutes.

QldKev