buzzardman

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I am in the market for a grain mill for the first time and I want to collect some facts about as many mills as possible. I've read many other threads but none seem to have much as far as hard facts about each persons spacing, efficiency and so on. So please post what mill you have, what your efficiency is, how much grain/beer brewed with it without problems, spacing of rollers, how long it takes to crush 10 pounds of grain, how long you've had the mill for, and price paid. I really want to try and keep personal bias out of this. After I have some good data I plan on making a chart with averages for each.

corax

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Monster Mill 3 (1.5" diameter rollers), with stand, hopper and hand crank. Had it about a year and a half with no problems. 0.039" spacing. Single batch-sparge efficiency jumped from 70-75% to 85-90% over otherwise identical conditions but grain ground at LHBS. I now do no-sparge and get 70%. Takes me 5-10 minutes to hand-grind 10# grain (most people use a drill). Don't remember what I paid, got it from manufacturer at whatever the standard price is/was.

I love it, my only wish is that it would be easier to check and adjust the gap setting without removing the hopper.

John Beere

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I have the Monster Mill M3-20.. it has never let me down. You can see it in my milling station here:

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-new-milling-station-73570/

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Beer-lord

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I recently got the smaller size (7 lb) Barley Crusher and did 15 lbs of grain in 6 minutes with a cordless drill. I've done 3 batches with the factory setting and had between 78% and 83% efficiency. I'm very happy with it. It'll be around for a long time.

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TrubDog

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This topic has been thrashed about a lot, but you are also asking some specific questions.

I own a BC and have run about 150 lbs of grain through it. I only do 5 gallon batches and my biggest grainbill was 16.5 lbs. I use a drill and keep the rpms low. It took about 5 or 6 mins to mill 16 lbs. I know others have complained about BC issues, but so far mine has been rock solid.

My first 5 batches were at the factory setting and I was getting about 70% efficiency. After tightening it up to .34 my efficiency jumped to 84%. I'm a happy camper.

My only thought is whatever you get make sure it is adjustable.

Golddiggie

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Monster Mill MM2-2.0 (with the hardened steel rollers) here. Gap set to about. 038" giving great crush. Depending on the amount of grain determines the efficiency I get. Normal batches (for me) are around 15-16# of grain. I get almost 80% this way which I'm more than happy with. Too high of an efficiency can be a bad thing. I use a drill to power my mill (got it direct with the base, hopper and hopper extension, giving me a 39# capacity) and go through 15# in a few minutes. I don't bother to time it though.

I expect this mill to outlast me.

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kh54s10

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1) Corona style mill.
2) My efficiency has ranged from high sixties to mid eighties.
3) I've brewed about 15 batches with it.
4) I have had no problems with it including the lower efficiency - I blame other things.
5) There are no rollers, the spacing between the plates is tight.
6) I can mill 10 pounds of grain in less than 10 minutes. It takes longer to weigh it out than to mill it.
7) My cost was $0, it was a Christmas present. But it was probably less than $35 including the shipping.

buzzardman

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Great this the stuff I'm looking for. Hopefully some people with the rebel mill and malt mill can add info.

isurf

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BC, .039 factory set. Great crush and no adjustments after about 300 lbs. grain. Use a drill to crank, I use compressed air to clean after each use.

worxman02

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I dont have it but what about the Rebel Brewer Mill? It looks like it is really well built and people seem to rave about it? I think a mill might be in my near future too. http://www.rebelbrewer.com/shoppingcart/products/Rebel-Mill-Grain-Crusher.html

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