MillMaster Mini Mill slow after adjusting gap

[Batz]

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but non-geared rollers only work by jamming grain in the roller gap to turn the non-drive roller and crush the grain, right? That's the only way grain gets through. This means some of the grain has to tear, rather than crush.

That's how I've always thought of it anyway.

That's correct, so the grain passes through between two rollers with a specified gap, thus crushing the grain. The same way a geared or un-geared mill works. Most mills are not geared (in fact I believe only one is) and un-geared mills have worked very well for many years and continue to do so.
It's just my personal belief but geared rollers or three rollers mills only true improvement is the sales pitch.

As I said before I'm very happy with the crush of my mill, and I also said I would like to see the old original MashMaster mills back on the shelves. Although it did have problems for a while with grain clogging the gears.

Anyway I'm over mills.

Batz

 

[Batz]

I am contemplating one of these. http://www.crankandstein.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=7

Might cost a bit more once you add in freight, but it least it will work and not **** the brew day from the start.

The Mashmaster mini mill has been the reason why I have not bothered brewing a few times because I know I am going to crack the ***** because it does not work as a mill should!

Send Tidalpete a PM, he has one of those.

 

[bradsbrew]

Thanks. Just placed my order, will make my own hopper.



Cheers

Looks like i bought mine in August 2012, rollers were replaced just over 12 months ago.

Cheers

 

[bradsbrew]

Send Tidalpete a PM, he has one of those.

Thats what prompted me to look at the crankenstein. If Pete didn't have any complaints it must be good.

 

[mckenry]

Well, after reading all 7 pages and a few other threads, i'll be buggered.
Maybe everyone is braumeister or BIAB these days?

After getting pretty poor efficiency last brew I decided to set the gap on my Mashmaster minimill to 1.2mm. Damn bucketload of flour in there I thought!

I have a 3V setup. After mash in, it completely stuck. So badly, no matter how much stirring, I couldnt get the ******* to recirculate for long. Just gummed up and stopped. I had to ditch the entire 11kg and start again. Bloody flour..

Set my gap out to 2mm and it worked ok. It was a big grain bill for an AIPA, so I expected it to be a bit thicker than a 1.050 beer.
I reckon I could have gone 2.2 or more for better recirculation.

Cant believe some in this thread are talking about 0.9mm and less! Surely, regardless of system, this must be giving huge amounts of flour?

 

[huez]

I use a herms system and i was milling at 0.9mm! only moved it out to 1.2mm when i started having milling issues. Admittedly i did have better flow at 1.2mm

 

[Smokomark]

I used to mill at 1.3 - 1.5 and get a **** load of flour. I've just done a 100 lt batch milled at .9 with the new fluted rollers. NO flour on top of the mash bed and efficiency is way up. Looking for 1.040 pre boil but got 1.053 I've brewed this one a lot and it is always within a point or two of the last one.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

You dont want lots of flour, about 20-30% is what to aim for

 

[Smokomark]

You dont want lots of flour, about 20-30% is what to aim for

Exactly Stu. The old rollers produced way to much flour and left a lot of husks untouched. The new fluted rollers give a way better looking crush. No untouched grains an no excessive flour.

And efficiency is thru the roof.

Just to make sure it's not a fluke, the second batch is mashing right now.

 

[huez]

Exactly Stu. The old rollers produced way to much flour and left a lot of husks untouched. The new fluted rollers give a way better looking crush. No untouched grains an no excessive flour.

And efficiency is thru the roof.

Just to make sure it's not a fluke, the second batch is mashing right now.

I'm planning on brewing tomorrow using the new mill for the first time. Had a lengthy discussion with frank and i'm expecting my efficiency to go up also but i wasn't expecting as much as you have gotten! Don't know if i should adjust or just wing it and see what happens. Post with your results after you finish this brew!

Frank has told me he has designed the rollers to produce a max of 10-15% flour when the mill is set to 0mm. I used to get excessive flour with the old mill, causing a heap of doughballs and always had flour on top of the grain bed causing some flow issues.

 

[bradsbrew]

Hmmm, going to be interesting to see what the results are like with 1 of each roller.

 

[Rocker1986]

Hmmm, going to be interesting to see what the results are like with 1 of each roller.

Yes, I'm interested to hear this too, I'm waiting on a single fluted roller to arrive to replace one of the knurled rollers on my mill. Probably take a bit of playing around to get it set where I want it I guess.

 

[Liam_snorkel]

Well, after reading all 7 pages and a few other threads, i'll be buggered.
Maybe everyone is braumeister or BIAB these days?

After getting pretty poor efficiency last brew I decided to set the gap on my Mashmaster minimill to 1.2mm. Damn bucketload of flour in there I thought!

I have a 3V setup. After mash in, it completely stuck. So badly, no matter how much stirring, I couldnt get the ******* to recirculate for long. Just gummed up and stopped. I had to ditch the entire 11kg and start again. Bloody flour..

Set my gap out to 2mm and it worked ok. It was a big grain bill for an AIPA, so I expected it to be a bit thicker than a 1.050 beer.
I reckon I could have gone 2.2 or more for better recirculation.

Cant believe some in this thread are talking about 0.9mm and less! Surely, regardless of system, this must be giving huge amounts of flour?

How are you even cracking grains at 2mm?

This is 1.2mm with fluted, all grains cracked, no flour:

 

[BrissyBrew]

That's correct, so the grain passes through between two rollers with a specified gap, thus crushing the grain. The same way a geared or un-geared mill works. Most mills are not geared (in fact I believe only one is) and un-geared mills have worked very well for many years and continue to do so.
It's just my personal belief but geared rollers or three rollers mills only true improvement is the sales pitch.

As I said before I'm very happy with the crush of my mill, and I also said I would like to see the old original MashMaster mills back on the shelves. Although it did have problems for a while with grain clogging the gears.

Anyway I'm over mills.

Batz

Batz I have tested the mill with and without gears, and also at different gear ratios such as 1:1 and 1:1.25. I can tell you that no gears both the crush distribution on ASBC full sieve set and feed rate were negatively effected. There is a thread on ABH where somebody has removed the gears and tested it for themselves, they prompty put the gears back on. Its not a sales gimmick, the gears are there to get consistent milling and better feed rate.

The new flutes rollers also have a more stable grist distribution across a larger RPM range 230-520RPM (yeah I put a tachnometer on my mill for testing) I would lay to brag that it was all apart of my genious design but it was pleasant by product of the new fluted roller design that crush is less RPM dependent, actually at hand crank speeds at sub 80RPM flour went up a little (talking 1-2% on the pan and #100 mesh sieve). I think basically because less cutting action of the flutes and more crushing action at really slow speeds. If the gears didnt perform we would have removed the gears and passed on the savings to our customers (the gears have consquential costs like gear guard, hopper feeder, and additional roller length larger frame etc) this all adds up if they didnt do a job I would have removed them.

I do agree Batz regarding the three roller mills. I dont sell a three roller mill because I have prototyped and test a three roller mills. Both roller gaps adjustable, all 3 rollers geared, 2 roller geared and no rollers geared. I have even tested it with the first set having a back edge on back edge like a commerical roller and the second pass back edge on cutting with fluted rollers, also tested knurled rollers as well. Sieve test showed no improvment and actually worse on average grist distribution (more flour pan and #100 sieve) and visual inspect of the husks looked more damaged. Only with no gears did the extra roller help, in that it was required to make the mill feed grain. The final grist distribution and husk damage was greater in all configurations of the three roller mill. Only if you move to 4 roller mills and shaker sieves in between roller pairs then you get the extra performance from the extra pair of rollers. My conclusion is three roller mills are a combinatin of sales pitch and or a necessity when the rollers are not geared.

I still get customers asking about the old mill with the bigger diameter rollers on occasions if I will be bringing it back, besides it costing more the grist distribution is no better than new fluted rollers. I have not prototyped the same diameter rollers in fluted though.

I dont sell hand cranks anymore even though I get requests for them because the vast majority of customers that purchased hand cranks motorized their mill. So it is kind of wasteful both money and environmentally. It is why I decided to put an additional three sided drive shaft on the new fluted mill to allow easy motorization with a drill that has a 3/8th chuck, which is still the most common motorisation method.