Just got the new "Cereal Killer" Grain Mill

Rollers spin freely yes... Set as even as I could, pretty darn close... Drill turning in correct direction, yes.

I only put 1.5 lbs in to test, could the lack of weight on top keep it from getting started? With that said, the hopper was half full with only the 1.5.

I had that same exact thing happen to me. Panic set in, then frustration, THEN I realized my drill was spinning in reverse.

Mine was spinning in the same direction as it was when it started grabbing grain. Spinning roller down or clockwise.

Bricks41 said:

Rollers spin freely yes... Set as even as I could, pretty darn close... Drill turning in correct direction, yes.

I only put 1.5 lbs in to test, could the lack of weight on top keep it from getting started? With that said, the hopper was half full with only the 1.5.

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My 'Killer will even take a tight .020" gap and provide some very, very fine milled grain... almost like flour. If the rollers spin freely and the gap is set correctly, I could only figure that the rollers are spinning in reverse. The weight in the hopper is not important either-- it should work right down to the last few grains. For an experiment, try it with your drill turning the opposite way from which you first tried. Also, double check your gap with feeler gauges.

Ok well I'll give it another go... As I said, I have 24 lbs to get through

Rickochet said:

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!

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I have mine set to .036 and it crushes like a boss. If you're not spinning the wrong direction, then maybe your drive coupling is slipping i.e. drill chuck, pulley etc.

CS223 said:

I have mine set to .036 and it crushes like a boss. If you're not spinning the wrong direction, then maybe your drive coupling is slipping i.e. drill chuck, pulley etc.

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I'll look at it further in the next few days. It appears when it set to anything below .5 the grains "slide" against the rollers instead of being pulled through. It appears both the shaft and roller continue to move regardless of speed. Could it somehow be a torque issue? Of course its not an issue where the drill seizes up when grain goes through but I digress... perhaps I'll give it another go with another pound tonight to troubleshoot.

Bricks41 said:

I'll look at it further in the next few days. It appears when it set to anything below .5 the grains "slide" against the rollers instead of being pulled through. It appears both the shaft and roller continue to move regardless of speed. Could it somehow be a torque issue? Of course its not an issue where the drill seizes up when grain goes through but I digress... perhaps I'll give it another go with another pound tonight to troubleshoot.

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I just ran a pound through mine to try to see what may be happening to yours. Mine works slick as a whistle. Again a few questions:

• Have you checked the gap with feeler gauges?
• Does both of the rollers have at least .005" end play?
• Have you tried to mill in reverse of your initial try?

Still need to get feelers, but I'm absolutely positive I'm rotating it in the right direction. Describe "end play".

End play is the movement from side to side for each roller. If I was heading over your way soon, I'd sure stop by to take a look. I spend some time in Columbus from time to time for work.... AEP. Don't hold that against me! Can you do a video of the operation?

I like mine. Factory setting seemed too big, so I ratcheted it down. The factory didn't have the adjustment knobs on the same, so the indicators point to two different sizes is my only complaint, but I wouldn't trust the markings much either way. Get some gauges.

I'll see what I can do!

Ok well I've been able to get grain to start to pull but apparently my drill sucks ass... great. Not enough torque to crush... Time for an upgrade :/ Serves me right for buying a dinky 7.2v for the sake of being in a pinch...

How many of you have it drill operated? What power of drill are you using? 12, 14.4V, 18?

I use an 18v because I had one. I would bet that a 14 would work fine.

If you want to save money, Harbor Freight sells some cheap corded ones.

Bricks41 said:

How many of you have it drill operated? What power of drill are you using? 12, 14.4V, 18?

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120V

I tried a 12v Dewalt to see what it would do. On low torque setting it made it through about 3lbs on a full battery with a gap of .039 before it was drained. With my 1/2" 120v Milwaukee it went through the grain like fresh picked corn

If there's anyone without feeler gauges you can use a credit card to get the gap to around .036

I was wondering about a standard credit card, thanks! I'll be stopping to get probably an 18v tonight and see how it goes. Thanks guys!

Just Got mine cleaned it with mineral spirits and oiled bearings with 30w motor oil, replaced all screws with metric cap screws and lock tight, added nylon washers to nondriven roller, set gap with credit card, and ran 11# like a champ

I hope to have the same success lol... staring at 25 lbs for Saturday's deliciously huge RIS.

How freely is the second roller supposed to spin? My moves with difficulty even after spraying with lubricant.

Bricks41 said:

How freely is the second roller supposed to spin? My moves with difficulty even after spraying with lubricant.

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It should move easily when free of debris...

Cheers!

1 bearing on the adjustable roller does not spin very well... How do I take it out?

Bricks41 said:

1 bearing on the adjustable roller does not spin very well... How do I take it out?

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Does it grind ok? If so I would not worry about it.

dbrewski said:

Does it grind ok? If so I would not worry about it.

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No which is part of problem. Was able to get the roller to move a bit smoother but the one side still doesn't move well.

cgherrington3 said:

Just Got mine cleaned it with mineral spirits and oiled bearings with 30w motor oil

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Anybody considered using mineral oil (aka castor oil) to lubricate their bearings? It's food-grade, so it won't contaminate your crush and it won't turn rancid like vegetable oil. Just a thought, I have no idea how appropriate it would be in this application.

I was able to get it set better in the housing last night and after a few tweaks, it is rolling okay. I just used a dash of wd40. Nothing is on the exterior of the rollers so I'm not really worried about contamination.

Fully charged new drill last night, popped a small amount of caramunich III in the hopper this morning... chewed through it with no issue!! Just need to recheck gap tonight and grind away!

Bricks41 said:

I was able to get it set better in the housing last night and after a few tweaks, it is rolling okay. I just used a dash of wd40. Nothing is on the exterior of the rollers so I'm not really worried about contamination.

Fully charged new drill last night, popped a small amount of caramunich III in the hopper this morning... chewed through it with no issue!! Just need to recheck gap tonight and grind away!

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Glad that you are getting it rolling as it should. These bearings are sealed and really should not need any lubrication. If you still have any concern, contact the vendor and I bet they will quickly send you a replacement bearing.

Happy Milling!!!!!

Thanks! I did contact the vendor 2 days ago and so far no response.

Fully charged 18V battery can only get through about 20 lb of grain before it dies lol. FYI

It looks like the mill is ay $99 w/free shipping at the moment.

http://www.homebrewing.org/Cereal-Killer-Grain-Mill_p_2310.html?AffId=160

I'm still seriously interested. cgherrington - I like what you did. Sounds simple and effective. Maybe replace the rivets with lower profile screws, also.

cgherrington3 said:

Just Got mine cleaned it with mineral spirits and oiled bearings with 30w motor oil, replaced all screws with metric cap screws and lock tight, added nylon washers to nondriven roller, set gap with credit card, and ran 11# like a champ

Click to expand...

Easily_Distracted said:

It looks like the mill is ay $99 w/free shipping at the moment.

http://www.homebrewing.org/Cereal-Killer-Grain-Mill_p_2310.html?AffId=160

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This is only a pre-order. They expect their shipment to arrive mid-late November.
I got in on the pre-order last week, but not getting my hopes up on seeing it on my doorstep until mid-December.
By the way...if you place a pre-order, they will charge your card that day.

Grannyknot said:

By the way...if you place a pre-order, they will charge your card that day.

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Good to know.

My wife just gave me mine for our anniversary yesterday... At the moment, I only have two complaints: 1. Two of the three wooden pegs on the wood base were busted off (no biggie... I'll drill them out and replace with slightly larger ones) and 2. I'll probably have to repay the gesture by gifting my wife with something that sparkles.

Hope to grind and brew this weekend or next and will report back.

Tightened up the gap, got the roller spinning better and just finished brewing.

13 lbs of grain - All said and done - OG 1.072 with 5.5G in the fermenter - approx 78% eff

Quite happy!

Has anyone heard any new shipment information on the cereal killers?
I noticed they stopped taking pre-orders.

Not heard anything, so bought a Monster Mill Friday. More expensive but at least I will be grinding grain by this Friday!

Robert
GypsyBrew

I heard on Reddit that they had quality issues and refused some of their latest shipment. This is 3rd/4th hand information though...

I have purchased items from "Adventures in Homebrewing" and have always been very pleased with their service. I sent Jason from Homebrewing.org an email asking him what the delay was for the Cereal Killer Grain Mills. He responded within 10 minutes. Please see his note below.

The email from Jason:

"Rick,

Thank you for your e-mail. The mill parts are made over seas. When an item is imported, it can be inspected by customs. These parts have been stopped for an inspection. Inspections can take 24 hours or inspections can take six months. This is done by the federal government and we, as a company, can do nothing about this. The best part is, they charge us $100 for every day it is held for a "Storage" fee. The longest I have had to wait is thirty days. This shipment is getting very close to that.

I set the dates for imported items two weeks out from the expected date. The reason is to avoid any confusion on when the items may ship. I have a second shipment due in on December 15th- at this rate, I may see the second shipment before I see the first. I have not even listed these for Christmas because I know we will not be able to guarantee them before the holiday.

Why do we not order more? This mill is still going through upgrades. When we have made our final version, ship times will not be an issue. The past issues are noted on sites like Homebrewtalk.com- We want to order in small enough quantities to have each version of the mill tested by the homebrew community.

For anyone with concerns, they are welcome to ask for a full refund. I truly apologize for any delays but cannot do anything about the inspection of items entering the United States.

Finally, when should they be available? The honest answer is, I do not know. They are here. I could show up in Ann Arbor on Monday and have a truck sitting at the door full of grain mill parts. This may also take another 4 months. Obviously, I believe we are closer to any day rather than four months but I can only guess at this point.

Yeah, I do not think anyone ever questions our speed of shipments- it is the rare case when we get the delay on products. We have over 3000 items that ship daily with no hiccups. Then you get one product that gets all of this attention.

Importing this time of year is a nightmare. Everyone wants items to arrive by Christmas. I am sure the Walmarts of the world have people at the loading docks ensuring their products do not get stopped. I am sure the government has a quota of shipments to check. The small businesses are going to be inspected at the ports and this is just another hurdle we have to jump to compete with corporate America.

If it was all easy, I would not enjoy it nearly as much

Thanks for asking, sorry I do not have a better answer.

Cheers!

Jason"

In the quest for consistency and ease, I motorized mine.

This is how it waits for brew day:



I just used some old shelving for the base. I looked for a used motor, but got in a hurry and ended up buying a new one for about $90. It is a 1/3 hp motor which runs at 1725 rpm. That is why the 14" v-belt Pulley to drop the rpm's down to about 200. The pulley I got off of eBay for about $55. I got it with a 1/2" bore and a 1/2" bushing to get it to work on the mill shaft.

Notice the holes in the board as they line up with the pegs on the bottom of the mill.

So I just set it on two buckets, put the mill into the holes, put the belt on and it is ready to go.



Someday I'd like to put it in a rolling cabinet, but this is pretty handy.

Steve

Would like to eventually motorize my mill also. I noticed you said you "geared" it to run at about 200rpm. Is that considered a good speed for milling? I have no clue. I use my cordless drill on the "driver" speed.

Thanks