Just got the new "Cereal Killer" Grain Mill

ArcLight said:

If using BIAB why do you need to condition your malt, because if the grain "explodes" its not a big deal.
Though with a 1.25 inch diameter, I can see the grains more likely to explode, instead of be crushed, and stay intact.

My question is if the metal is soft, how durable is it? How long until the knurls wear down?
Didn't one of you say the steel did not seem hardened?

I just saw this at Adventures in Home Brewing.
http://www.homebrewing.org/Cereal-Killer-Grain-Mill_p_2310.html?AffId=160

That handle does seem very short, how long would it take to grind 10 pounds?
I would imagine its hard to hold/rotate with such short strokes, and would have greater torque than a longer handle.

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Conditioning makes for a better and more uniform crush and also cuts down on the dust & keeps the hulls intact. In my opinion, the extra fluffiness of the grind makes for better better flow thorough the bag and the bag might even drain better after mashing so less squeezing. Since I recirculate during mashing, I think it improves the flow and I didn't have any problems with dough balls.

Unless you are grinding rocks, you'll never wear the rollers out. If you do, you will have long since gotten your $89 out of it.

The handle that they offer is useless. It will take a long crank, 12" at least, to get enough torque, it was working my air drill. As for hand crank time, I have no idea.

Just ordered this. Very good price and looks like people are happy with it.

Ordered my Cereal Killer for $89 and it was delivered to my door in 4 days. Set the gap a .035 using a feeler guage and crushed 16 lbs of grain for an IPA I am doing. Worked perfectly and got a great crush. I had been getting around 68% efficiency using my big mashtun and this time I got 73% with the crush from the cereal killer. I also used a Milwaukee 14.4 volt cordless drill on the slow speed with no problems at all. Very pleased so far.

I ordered mine and it arrived intact and looking ready to crush... except it has a tacky machine oil residue or corrosion resistant film all over.

Did anyone clean theirs off first or just start crushing?

Looks like mine isn't even going to ship until next month...

Hoppybeav said:

I ordered mine and it arrived intact and looking ready to crush... except it has a tacky machine oil residue or corrosion resistant film all over.

Did anyone clean theirs off first or just start crushing?

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Run a quarter pound of base malt through the mill, check the results for crush quality, and make any mill adjustments needed. Run another quarter pound of base through, verify the crush looks good, then toss the grain...

Cheers!

What kind of cleaning/maintenance does this mill require?

Melchizedek said:

What kind of cleaning/maintenance does this mill require?

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I'm also wondering this.

just got confirmation that these units which were out, are due to hit the US on Sept. 26, and will ship from homebrewing.org 11 days later. Bummer, I ordered mine two weeks ago and now have two more to go. I have a beat up barley crusher with a crooked drive shaft to hold me over though.

I have crushed two batches so far, yesterday did a ipa BIAB that was supposed to have a 1.059 OG ended up hitting 1.070 with the gap set at .040" (verified with a millwright .040 stainless shim). I really like it so far it's pretty damn nice for the price.

sr20steve said:

I have crushed two batches so far, yesterday did a ipa BIAB that was supposed to have a 1.059 OG ended up hitting 1.070 with the gap set at .040" (verified with a millwright .040 stainless shim). I really like it so far it's pretty damn nice for the price.

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What was your efficiency for each batch? Did you double crush or just single?

The Cereal Killer has met or exceeded all my expectations. I set the gap at .035" and with a single crush, consistent 75-80% efficiencies are the norm. For 90 bucks shipped, you can't go wrong. I highly recommend this mill.

Just used my Cereal Killer for the first time last weekend. Worked great and my efficiency did go up some but I have a question.

I have looked in about 6 different auto parts stores and cannot find "blade" type gap gauges that go to .040". Most only go up to about .030" and all that I have seen jump to wires style when they get as large as about .035-.040. For now, I've used Cajun ingenuity and after about 2 hours of searching through my shed with a digital caliper, I found a small section of sheet metal that measured .040" thick and used that. Problem is, I can't try a smaller gap without making another extended search.....

Question: For those of you that have blade type gauges, that range up to .040", where did you get them?????? Help please!

Guidry said:

Question: For those of you that have blade type gauges, that range up to .040", where did you get them?????? Help please!

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Usual practice is to get 2-3 blades with thicknesses that add up to the value you want (e.g., .025 and .015) and use them together. At least, that's what we used to do when setting spark plug gaps, hope I don't give any machinists a heart attack!

I thought about using multiple blades but I wasn't sure if the assembly could be taken apart. Are the blades removable?

You don't have to remove the "blades." Just take 2 that total up to .035" slide them in between the rollers, push the rollers together and you will have the perfect gap. Make sure that you use the gauge on each end of the rollers as you adjust. BTW--.035" is the perfect gap for this mill!

The handle is indeed useless, I don't know what they were thinking when they designed this. I found out that my drill had died when I went to mill my grain Fiday and thus I had to mill only using the handle. I'm not a small guy, but grinding around 9 pounds of grain took around 10-15 minutes and it was HARD. I had set the mill at .036" but it was such a pita that I reverted back to the factory setting. Still got 70+ efficiency though (with my LHBS, I used to get 60% on good days).

Well, I attempted to adjust my gap down from .040 to .035 and had a little trouble. When I would tighten the thumb screws down, the adjustment knobs kept jumping back to the .040 mark (I marked it for reference). Anyone else experience this?

Finally got it pretty close to where I wanted it though.

Oh, I also deteremined that a grain mill will not function properly with the drill/motor running in reverse! I use a cordless drill and apparently the last time I used it, I was removing screws. I was almost in a panic state trying to figure out what happened to my mill as it was just spinning and no grain being crushed....Then it struck me!

Hoppybeav said:

... except it has a tacky machine oil residue or corrosion resistant film all over.

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That sticky oil/wax coating is usually a dead ringer for "made in china" or at least made overseas and shipped in container by sea. It's there to protect steel parts from corrosion in the high humidity of a marine environment. Just go to Harbor Freight or any discount auto parts brand and touch anything and that looks like steel or cast iron you'll know how to id it.

It comes off really easily with carb cleaner, brake cleaner, or any half decent solvent. Just make sure you don't wash the lube out of the bearings as they likely have only dust caps and not good liquid tight seals in them.

Guidry said:

Well, I attempted to adjust my gap down from .040 to .035 and had a little trouble. When I would tighten the thumb screws down, the adjustment knobs kept jumping back to the .040 mark (I marked it for reference). Anyone else experience this?

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I did, what I ended up doing is measuring the error then compensating the adjustment by that amount so it tightened where I wanted it. In your case, set the gap to .030" and tighten so it ends up at .035. A cup point setscrew would probably solve the problem.

wow! i'm so glad i joined this forum ....... a cornicopia of infomation........

i just ordered the cereal killer from AIHB.

sale is still going strong & FREE shipping.....yea!:rockin:

mine order was shipped friday..12 oct

GD51

cereal killer arrived yesterday, 17th . packed very secure & assembled. quality describes what I see, best price out there on a roller mill. looking to mill some grain this week-rnd or sooner...thanx AIHB!

update:25 oct crushed just two lbs of grain today for my last extract/seepage recipe and the killer worked great!

sub'ed. seriously considering ordering one. off to count my pennies...

CS223 said:

I did, what I ended up doing is measuring the error then compensating the adjustment by that amount so it tightened where I wanted it. In your case, set the gap to .030" and tighten so it ends up at .035. A cup point setscrew would probably solve the problem.

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Do you happen to know, or can you easily measure, the specifics on these set screws? Otherwise, my method is trial and error.

Thanks!

Got the shipping notification. rock solid. Hopefully!

HarryGrowth said:

Got the shipping notification. rock solid. Hopefully!

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Me too!

Got mine yesterday. The bin is a bit flimsier than the barley crusher I have, but the rollers look good. Slightly different setup but I like the markings on the roller housing showing gap size. My bin was detached when it arrived. I just put it back on and tightened the screws, but the way it's designed the bin part is not all that securely fastened. Haven't milled with it yet, will try it out this weekend.

Still waiting for my shipping notice :/ let us know how your grind turns out!

Cheers!

Used it yesterday. It cranked through my grain bill better and smoother than my barley crusher! The only thing I noticed is that I'm going to need to check the gap manually. I think the default gap resulted in a little too fine grind.

I can now say that it's a nice unit, worth every penny. The flimsy bin is the only knock.

Sounds good, thanks for the feedback! Mine should be delivered tomorrow.

Woot! Just got my shipping notice. Here tomorrow. Will be ready to go this w/e. Testing with an IIPA. 20lbs+ should give a nice test.

Got My Cereal Killer yesterday.it arrived while i was at work, and didnt get a chance to check it out till close to 11pm. it looked good, upon closer inspection today one of the rivets on the bottom of the hopper closest to the "Dead" (not sure what else to call it) roller was missing. hopefully it shouldnt affect operation, and worse case scenario i can put a small stainless bolt in there, but has anyone else had this on the latest shipment of them? for me its not a major deal, and with how well it looks built (besides that one small issue) for $89 to my door, i wont complain.

Upon delivery of mine, the crankshaft was busted through the side of the box. Doesn't appear to have damaged anything. Hopper can distort and bend fairly easily which I expected. The "dead" roller wasn't being secured on the side opposite of the crank by the locking bolt. I had to mess with it and reset the roller before the locking pin would keep it from moving.

Haven't milled anything yet and might be a few weeks before I do....

Just received mine on Tuesday and immediately disassembled it down to the last bolt. Not much to it, but I was unable to get the active roller through one of the aluminum sides (the rod that the hand crank or drill attachment fits on would not pass through through the stainless steel bushing all the way).

Mine shipped with a little too much bearing grease packed in and it was all over the rollers and inside walls of the grain mill. A little dishwashing soap and hot water with a dish brush took care of that though. Before the cleaning, the active roller would spin a little bit (maybe 3 rotations), but now if I spin it it's like the Wheel of Fortune all up on that spindle. Any idea what would be good to lubricate these bearings?

I've been keeping an eye on this mill for a little while through a few of the other "sales" its had, and it definitely feels like they fixed a few - and detracted - a few things.

For starters, the bushings have been swapped from brass bushings to stainless steel in my model. I also don't find an issue with the construction of the hopper, only the hopper attachment to the actual mill assembly. Two small bolts for the 7lb hopper? What about if I had gotten the 15lb? Oh, that's the same two small screws.....I guess we'll have to see when I start milling grain.

Also, there was a model before that had "Made In Michigan" burned into the underside of the wood base piece. No more. It's just your basic average grade wood. You can tell they mass produced these things and the cut and finish on the sanding could have been better on both sides. The wood seems frayed on the underside in the roller hole of the wood and makes it easy to pick off small splinter pieces of the wood, giving it this uneven grain look.

For $89 bucks and free shipping? You get a very capable grain mill. I'm very happy with my purchase, and can't wait to try it out. The roller and mill assembly overall is great, but with the detractors being the hopper attachment and low-grade wood of the base, I can't help but feel that the best part of this mill (the pricing and quality of the rollers) is also the part that means the most.

there's a food grade grease thats used in the food industry.

where to find it may be problematic but i suppose anything can be found using the web.....

maybe a commercial food service store that sells restaurant equipment may have food grade grease.
if the bearings used had been seal shielded no grease would be needed.

GD51

Mine came Wednesday with the same problem Bricks had. Crankshaft had busted through the box. Could definitely use some bubble wrap in the box. It seemed to rotate good putting the drill to it though. Hopper seemed as good a quality as the Barley Crusher my LHBS stocks. Virgin run this w/e.

I use food grade lube for my espresso machine, to lubricate gaskets etc. So espresso retailers online have it for sure.

Changed up recipe at the last second but still ran 16 1/2 lbs through it with no problem. Used a 1/2" Milwaukee drill which turned it with no hesitation. Gapped it at .039 and had a very nice crush to the grains. Hit 75% efficiency so feel like it was spot on what I was after.

Received my Cereal Killer 10/17 and used it 10/22. I left it on the factory gap setting and got 77% efficiency, was planning on double crushing but my battery died for my drill, and I had to put a pair of vice grips on shaft and rotate by hand. The mill worked well, hopper could be a smaller gauge, and wood was damaged on the bottom, but still a steal at $89 shipped.

Sorry to post here as well, but I just tried mine. When it's gap is set to anything smaller than the factor notch saying .53, grain won't get crushed. The drill just spins the roller without grabbing any grain. When I up it, it will eventually pull through....

Suggestions?

Bricks41 said:

Sorry to post here as well, but I just tried mine. When it's gap is set to anything smaller than the factor notch saying .53, grain won't get crushed. The drill just spins the roller without grabbing any grain. When I up it, it will eventually pull through....

Suggestions?

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That is unusual. Mine works like a charm set at .035". A few questions to help diagnose: Do the rollers spin freely when you turn them with your finger? Is the gap set evenly from end to end? Is your drill turning in the correct direction?

And don't apologize for posting here--we like to help!!! Keep us posted!