any expierience with Millars??

seems to be a barley crusher clone?? anyone own one?? I was going to go with barley crusher, but found this on Amazon.. have $50.00 gift card to Amazon.. very tempting as it would run me $40.00

http://www.millarsmills.com/index.php/grain-crushers

My only concern is the aluminum rollers. It might be fine but you can get SS rollers for the same price.

it seems from the description that the shell is aluminum and the rollers are "knurled Hardened Steel Dual Roller"

ALL NEW genuine ball bearing Shaft Bearrings for durability

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Looks really well made!

I wonder if the ball bearings will prevent the passive roller from stalling the way Barley Crushers do after grain dust builds up in the bushings that they use.

Anyone using one of these?

Wow! I've been looking for a mill and I have a $50 amazon gift card as well. Subscribing to thread.

Tava said:

it seems from the description that the shell is aluminum and the rollers are "knurled Hardened Steel Dual Roller"

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This is very nice!

The BC rollers are steel, but not hardened.

I have one on my amazon wish list right now, so if I get one for Christmas I'll report back here on New Years after trying it out.

if it was only on prime!!!

bink00 said:

if it was only on prime!!!

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There's a new review on amazon, it seems the buyer liked the mill and the customer service. I'm ordering mine tonight, will update thread when I get and test mine ..

I watched the video on millars' website... it looked well made enough. [ame]http://youtu.be/pmsdXr0Yxoc[/ame]

I too had a $50 amazon gift card, with shipping my total cost to me was $47...

I've had a BC for a few years, but for $39 figured that the extras that this mill advertises might make it worth buying and then sell my old mill.

Came yesterday. Nice fast shipping! First thing I noticed was no scoop. Went back to the Amazon website and saw that it says the price is lower because of not having it. Hmmm . . . don't remember seeing that when I ordered.

Dimensionally, this thing is a Barley Crusher clone. The things I really liked were the ball bearings and the hardened rollers. The bearings are on both rollers and turn much easier than the BC. I think this will be all it takes to prevent the stalling passive roller that haunts the BC. It would have been nice if the bearings were rubber sealed rather than a metal shield. I think that would have done a better job of keeping out grain dust, but only time will tell.

The other thing is the hardened rollers. I gave them a quick file test and don't think they are hard. My SIL has a rockwell tester, so I may have to check that out. I did send an email the manufacturer asking about the level of hardness and what material they are made from. Hope he has a reasonable explaination. I will say that the knurl is a nicely formed, sharp diamond and looks like it will work well.

Overall it looks like a quality product for the price. The plan is to motorize this with a gearmotor before I use it. I'll update here or in another thread.

That thing looks SWEEET

more of an option if I started working on 10+ gallon batches and suddenly had an incentive to buying 50 pound sacks of grain.
if you've got a use Id say to buy it, its looks pretty nice ^_^

I too am between this or a barley crusher. AnOldUR are the rollers as hard as the rollers on the Barley Crusher?

Got a chance to build a stand for my Millar's Mill and gearmotor today.
I came up with a simple tombstone design from three pieces of 1/2" X 6" aluminum.

Still have to wire it and put a coupling between the motor and the mill.

.

Nice stand!!

AnOldUR said:

Got a chance to build a stand for my Millar's Mill and gearmotor today.
I came up with a simple tombstone design from three pieces of 1/2" X 6" aluminum.

Still have to wire it and put a coupling between the motor and the mill.

.

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That stand is serious business!

I received my mill in the mail today - he shipped it priority mail with signature required (the lAtter being slightly annoying and required a trip to the P.O. But whatevs) ... The box looked like a forklift ran it over but all the parts were In the box and undamaged, I can't wait to assemble it. The mill is very well built that I can tell and all mounting hardware is included minus the board/slats.

Incidentally he charged only $8.99 to ship but his shipping costs with tracking and signature required were over $15, which is rather nice of him to absorb those costs.

I wrote to Millard about the hardness of the roller and got this back.

It's a cold rolled steel that has been tempered after its been knurled. We have never had a customer yet dull one or wear out a set of rollers.

Best regards
Todd Millar

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The trouble is that tempering is actually a process of softening steel after it's been hardened to reduce brittleness and the chance of stress fractures. I had one of my rollers Rockwell tested for hardness and found that the material is at the same level as stock coming from the steel mill. So, the claim of "Hardened Steel" is doubtful.

Also, looking at the finish of the aluminum parts, they didn't look anodized as advertised. From what I know the process of anodizing would make the continuity of the aluminum read zero, but when I checked it that is not the case.

And from the metric stock and hardware, I'd guess the mill is made in China.

Functionally, this is not a bad mill. I'm just having trouble getting past the BS.
If I had it to do over, I would not make the puchase at any price.



note:
I did write back to Todd. If he has a reasonable explanation for any of this I will eat crow and post it here.

Are the rollers as hard as the rollers on a barley crusher? The issue I have with purchasing the BC is the rollers do wear out over time. Also please post how well this thing crushes for you.

Woops. Somehow wrong thread.

I never tested the hardness of the rollers on my Barley Crusher. Didn't have a reason to. All that BC claims is that theirs are 1018 CRS. The reason I tested the Millar's is that they advertise the rollers as being hardened steel and a file test led me to suspect they were not. The Rockwell test proved to me that they are not hardened to any significant amount.

That said, an unhardened steel roller is not that bad. I've used my Barley Crusher steady for a few years and it has held up well. The only exception is the occasional rock that makes its way into floor malted grains will leave a mark. It would have been nice to not have to worry about that, but that won't be the case with a Millar's Mill.

Got a reply from Millar's. To sum it up. They claim (but very doubtful in my mind *) that the rollers are oil quenched, but since they don't state the hardness, they are not responsible for them actually being hard. In a previous email he tried to get by with, "It's a cold rolled steel that has been tempered after its been knurled." What does that even mean? You temper steel after hardening, not after knurling.


And the part about anodized aluminum, well that's just absurd. I've been in metalworking for 40 years. If I gave a customer that line of crap, at best, I wouldn't get paid. At worse, he'd have me in court.

. . . I can tell you we have sourced our mill parts from suppliers that are
informed of our standards and we too have done testing on some of our mills
to make sure that it meets our specs. We have done testing on our rollers
and our tests have shown it is hardened using an heat treating process to
harden the metal (oil quench process). As you will notice We do not state
how hard or what process. As for the aluminum we understand that the
standard mill stock has a light chemical protective process to reduce
corrosion and it is indeed a form of anodized coating but not a secondary
extra heavy duty coating that would be performed after milling. If you feel
that you are not getting value or if you feel that you see a potential that
the mill might wear too early please do send the mill back for a full
refund. We in no way want anyone to own our mills to feel misled or unhappy
with their purchase.

Best regards
Todd Millar
www.millarsmills.com

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This guy is either ignorant of manufacturing processes or is using BS to hype his product.
Whatever, I'd recommend staying away from this mill.

Wikipedia said:

Anodizing is an electrolytic passivation process used to increase the thickness of the natural oxide layer on the surface of metal parts.

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. . . not a "light chemical protective process." Even if these parts were anodized as he says, doing it before machining would re-expose surfaces and be useless.





As for the rollers being "hardened steel", I've oil quenched myself and had it done by professional heat treaters. It will leave a scale that is either brushed off or is blasted off. There is a characteristic finish from the process that these parts lack. All I see is fresh machine marks, none of the patina you'd get from an oven heating process.

Try this test on your Millar's rollers:

Well that does not sound terribly promising. I called and got the oil quenched story verbally. He also stated he uses companies in china to produce the parts that are later assembled in the US. The guy I spoke to seemed fairly genuine and I really did not get the impression he was attempting to mislead me (I am very good at reading others via verbal communication) I asked if he could compare it to a barley crusher and he stated he has owned a BC for many years and it is very comparable almost to the point of being nearly identical. He spoke very highly of the BC product and did encourage me to look at the BC further as it is US made product and he was happy with the performance he got from the BC product for many years. Not bashing the competition in any way displays some serious class in my book.

Let us know what you think of the crush and ease of adjustment after you run some grain through it.

I just ordered mine. Ill update after I use it.

AnOldUR said:

Got a reply from Millar's. To sum it up. They claim (but very doubtful in my mind *) that the rollers are oil quenched, but since they don't state the hardness, they are not responsible for them actually being hard. In a previous email he tried to get by with, "It's a cold rolled steel that has been tempered after its been knurled." What does that even mean? You temper steel after hardening, not after knurling.


And the part about anodized aluminum, well that's just absurd. I've been in metalworking for 40 years. If I gave a customer that line of crap, at best, I wouldn't get paid. At worse, he'd have me in court.



This guy is either ignorant of manufacturing processes or is using BS to hype his product.
Whatever, I'd recommend staying away from this mill.





*
I've oil quenched myself and had it done by heat treaters. It will leave a scale that is either brushed off or is blasted off. There is a characteristic finish from the process that these parts lack. All I see is fresh machine marks, none of the patina you'd get from an oven heating process.

Click to expand...

There are several types of anodized aluminum, Type I, II,and III. I believe that Type I is primarily used for corrosion resistance, not electrical insulation. Being that this is the oldest form of anodize, I would venture to guess that your findings are correct, i.e China. You are probably communicating with a wholesale distributor who is not completely knowledgeable of the product.

Get me the dims on those rollers so I can make my own.

Wanting to keep my mill purchase in the bargain basement area of $130 or less and the headaches with the barley crusher due to the knurling on the rollers wearing out I decided to go ahead and buy the Millars mill. I'll run some grain through it soon.

Toga said:

. . . and the headaches with the barley crusher due to the knurling on the rollers wearing out . . .

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From the Rockwell test I did on the Millar's, I don't think you'll be seeing any difference in wear between the Barley Crusher and this mill.

If all you care about is saving a couple of bucks, buy the Millar's. You'll get the same crush with either mill. If you'd rather purchase an American made product with a lifetime guarantee from a supplier with integrity, Barley Crusher is a better choice.

Barley Crusher website: said:

. . . the Barley Crusher is a hand-made American product of quality craftsmanship. We will not take shortcuts . . .

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edit to add:
Just took a picture of my Barley Crusher rollers.
Grain from over 125 batches of beer have gone through them.
Not sure where you got the information about the Barley Crusher rollers wearing out.

A local brewpub/supply shop I frequented until they closed up was using a BC. They ended up having to replace the rollers due to the common lost grip issue about every 6 months. Cleaning did not take care of it. From what I read and the experience of the store their customer service is awful as well. Email only and good luck getting them to reply to an email. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/barley-crusher-customer-service-297352/

The Millars cost me $8 with shipping after using a $100 Amazon gift card. It should last me at least a few years. When it finally dies I will not out of pocket much and can justify the purchase of a monster mill.

Just an update. My mill arrived last week. I finally put it together on Friday and mounted it to a bucket lid. I crushed 45 pounds of grain with it the other day and am quite pleased so far. Easy to adjust and only took a couple minor adjustments to dial in the crush where I want it. It seems like it is built fairly well. The drive roller spins easier than any mill I have played with even when filled before spinning the drive roller. This is likely due to the bearings.

My only complaint was how funked up it was with oil when it arrived. I understand they do not want it to rust but it was a bit excessive. A ton of scrubbing with alcohol and a small brush took it off. I ran a couple pounds of grain through and discarded it after cleaning.

All in all I am pleased with my purchase.

I have used my mill twice now and love it. The first was a 5 gallon batch and we got 85% efficiency on it, in comparison to the 70% I was getting on my Corona mill.

The next batch was a big batch for the homebrew club, chewed through 113 lbs of grain with no issues at all. Took about 25 minutes to go through 113 pounds having to stop every couple minutes to empty the bucket I was milling into. I am not sure what efficiency we got, but I know we were aiming for 45 gallons of 1.064 wort, and we ended up closer to 49 gallons of 1.064, so we did get over 70% efficiency on this large scale.

Just picked mine up today (weird that he sent it certified and had to go sign for it). Packaging wasn't beat up as others have experienced. Looks pretty solid, can't wait to try it out...after cleaning. It does have a light coating on it, from the stories I was expecting it covered in thick oil, doesn't look too bad.

Used mine for the first time today. I mounted it to a piece of 2x2 I got at lowes for 98c and cut it in half.
I set my rollers about halfway between the .25 and the .50 setting and I got 85% efficiency out of my grist batch sparging. It worked flawlessly, really pulverized the grain (actually I think a little too well, I was worried about a stuck sparge with the grist being so fine and having rolled oats in the mash) so I added some rice hulls i had on hand.

It's money well spent, considering I had amazon gift cards to burn.