Monster 3 Roller Mill

[paulwolf350]

Is anyone using a monster MM-3 3 roller mill, is there any advantage or benefit over a MM-2 2 roller? is it worth the extra outlay?

Just wondering

Paul

 

[QldKev]

I just went through the same exercise my self. The best things I could get with the 3 roller expect a couple more points efficiency, and you can crush at a faster rate with it.
IMHO the faster crush rate is not worth it for a home user, not really an issue. If you are crushing for >100L batches maybe worth while.
For the extra efficency for the $, well I purchased the tried and tested MM2.

Out of interest Fred uses a mm3 for his own beer.

Hope this helps

QldKev

 

[Cortez The Killer]

I've got a 3 roller monster mill with stainless rollers - pictures http://hyperfox.info/webalbum03/

I think there was an argument that the first gap cracks the grain and the second crushes it - meaning less shredding of the husk - and only one run through the mill to achieve the same result

Also allows you to run the mill a little faster

I like using a three roller - but if budget were only to allow 3 roller mild or 2 rollers stainless - I'd go for a 2 roller

There was also an argument with larger rollers the 3rd roller becomes superfluous - but can't comment on this

Cheers

 

[T.D.]

I just bought an MM3 the other day. I got it to use on my bigger system (~150L), because using my Barley Crusher was getting a bit laborious. I went for the 3 roller option because I always crush twice and it meant that I could get the same job done with just one pass through the mill.

The Barley crusher is great for smaller batches (in fact it was doing quite well on the larger batches too, I am just lazy!), and if I was only doing ~20L at a time there's no way I would bother going beyond a 2 roller mill. Having said that, a lot of people do - as QldKev said, the 3 roller mill has advantages regardless of batch size, but you just need to decide whether those advantages are enough to justify the extra cost. For me, its so easy just to chuck 5kg through a 2-roller mill twice, if the double crush is what you want. Its not so easy to do this with a 25kg grain bill.

 

[paulwolf350]

Thanks guys, I cannot see me going any bigger than 10kg at a time, I currently only do 22L batchs. The cost is a bit of an issue for me at the moment so prob get a 2 roller

and for a complete noob question, how do I know if I need to run it through twice?

Paul

 

[Sammus]

not cracked enough? you can run it through once on a finer setting, this tends to tear up the husks a bit more, or you can run it through on a coarser setting to just press the grain and kind of soften it, then run it through a bit coarser - apparently this keeps the husks more intact which is better for a bunch of things.

I just do a single pass with my millmaster, because I hand crank and get a sore shoulder after a few kg and with having to unscrew 4 little nobs to change the crush setting its a bit more of a pain that the ones with detents (i image, not having used one).

 

[Vlad the Pale Aler]

I have a MM3 and I'm happy with the crush. One question for other owners, did you have any problems setting it up?
I had no end of agro getting the thing to work properly, it seems that the knurl is too smooth and the feed gap is too small, I have also had to put a slot in the end of one of the rollers so that I can "jump start" it with a screwdriver when it stalls during the crush.
To be honest I would'nt buy another one.

 

[Moray]

I have the MM 3 roller.
I can't comment on it vs the 2 roller, as it's the only mill I've owned.

However I'm very happy with it, it seems well made, and does a very good job.
I hand crank it and do about 10 kgs at a time, it usally takes a bit over 5 minutes.

I haven't had any issues with stalled rollers.

just my 2c

Moray

 

[Cortez The Killer]

No problems here at all with stalled rollers - are you feeding too much grain at once ?

Do the rollers spin freely when there isn't any grain ?

Cheers