Mills

I've been looking at the Millars Mill on amazon. It will prob be my Christmas present to my hobby brewery. It's seems to be a good combination/compromise of $, function, and longevity.
+ stainless rollers, + 7" long rollers, + bearings instead of oil impreg bushings

http://www.amazon.com/Millars-B3-Barley-Crusher-Grinder/dp/B009601M4I

 

I have a 2-roller Monster Mill MM-2. It is well built and has given me no trouble at all. I drive it with a 120-V old Black and Decker drill. With base and hopper, it is $167 from the manufacturer's webiste. I don't recall where I got mine. I fabricated the base; the hopper is well worth the money as I can't imagine making anything nearly as nice. I use it with a gap setting of 0.035" (using a feeler gauge). With this setting my mash efficiency (fly sparge) is typically better than 85% and often over 90%.

 

I've used the same cheapo Barley Crusher for years without any problems. I try to take it apart once a year or so to clean it. Also, I should mention I hand mill my grain . . . I'd imagine there would be more wear and tear if I used the mill with my drill.

 

Lots of homebrew places are probably doing an annual grain sale right now too. You generally save 10-15% on buying a sack, and you generally save an extra 10-15% this time of year. For me, I had to buy a beefier drill, a Barley Crusher, and some Tupperware to hold grain. The startup price is close to kegging.

The perks are fresh crushed grains, cheap grains, and grains crushed when you want them. I don't regret buying my BC, but I'm having a hellovatime trying to get the feelers set straight again after the first through cleaning. I think I did too good of a job cleaning it.

I'm pretty sure you can get the 7# hopper for under $150 still. If you want to put a Homer bucket on top of that (with a hole in the middle for grains) $153.

 

I also have the 2 roller monster mill. Would love to upgrade to the 2.0 for the easier roller adjustment...but it is a great mill. I built my own hopper and stand and use my milwaukee 1/2" magnum 8amp drill. The drill gets hot when I get above 25lbs, but never had any problems with it. Been wanting to convert an old garage door motor to drive it...but still in the planning phase.

 

Save a few extra bucks and get the MM3. With base and hopper its 215. Shipping a bit extra. I love mine, I usually run 50 lbs through it at a time.

http://www.monsterbrewinghardware.com/mm-3.html

 

I love my barley crusher. Regarding cleaning I've been using my air compressor fitted with one of those narrow tipped air jets never thought to take it apart I must not be getting it clean enough

 

I bought my Cereal Killer from Adventures in Homebrewing when I started with AG this summer. I'm very pleased with it so far. Seems decently built and does what I need it to do. Also, it's $99 and ships for free; that helps.

 

@jbakajust1

Did you ever spring for a mill?

After this extremely terrible looking crush, and subpar efficiency I got using some bulk grain milled from MoreBeer, I've decided to get a mill myself.

My LHBS has a prototype Monster M3 ( monster is made here in atlanta ), and the crush is friggin awesome on it. However, I hate driving over there, and may as well buy grain in bulk, since I by hops in bulk.

I'm eyeing the MM2-2.0 or the MM3.. Trying to decide if the extra roller is worth the $10 bucks savings over the larger diameter MM2-2.0, which could get the job done faster.

 

Love the cheapy barley crusher. Works fantatstically. Highly recommended. Perfect crush at factory settings(or if its not set dead on their recommended settings are perfect), and if you go down .4 for the gap you can can have a nice fine crush! Had mine for 2 years. Get ya one!

 

I've got a MM3, but if I were you I'd spend the extra $10 for the larger diameter rollers on the 2.0. The etra roller does little to actually achieve a better crush from what I've seen. Just be ware that bigger mills require more torque. The drill I used to power my old barley crusher (which was an old, fairly heavy duty, corded craftsman drill) couldn't handle the job when I got the MM3.

 

Friend of mine bought a mill from the LHBS, not sure the model number, but we took the handle off and hooked a drill up to it as well, worked like a charm. Did around 25 lbs in about 5-7 minutes

 

I have also been thinking about milling my own grain. Do you find the 2.0 versions of the Monster Mill that much easier to adjust/clean? Was looking at MM2-2.0. Does the MM3 double crush or is that even necessary?

 

I love my barley crusher. Didn't think about the fact that using the drill beats up on it more. In any case I always run the drill on a very slow speed when milling, if I get five years out of it I'm happy!
I clean mine with the air compressor as well, works great.

 

Hrm... So you think the two roller, with the larger dia. rollers is better than getting the 3rd roller?

$10 bucks is change, so I'm trying to see what will be more efficient and give a good crush. I know the 3 roller works, and my system is somewhat dialed in.. I wouldn't mind some better efficiency, but I'm good where I've been.. Minus the weak more beer crush.

 

I sprung for a mill the other day.. Got the Monster MM3, decided to keep it what I was used to, and dial in my crush that way. My system was set up with what I was used to at my LHBS, and I might try and tweak it.

Anyways.. got the MM3, with the base and hopper and the whole nine for $225 shipped, so wasn't a bad deal I thought.

Now I need to find the best place to buy a sack of 2 row, pilsner, wheat, and munich... And then get some 10 pound bags of various stuff like roasted barley, chocolate malt, some crystal malts and thats about it.

 

Why's that? Mine seems to be holding up just fine with an old drill I had to seat brushes to get to work again. Hand grinding...I don't think so