Why'd you pick the grain mill you did?

Great customer service from Randy on my Barley Crusher.

Had an issue with the handle being stuck and he sent me a new one within 3 days. Also sent me a UPS prepaid stick-on label so I could return the old at no expense.

I am getting a Barley Crusher for Xmas... my wife just does not know it yet! Then I am getting #55 of pilsner and #55 of wheat malt and making some serious Heffe!

The Crankandstein is the only way to go for me. Keep in mind i have never used the BC, but there is not need when right out of the box i get 75 to 80% Eff. with zero extra effort on my part. Sure I had to build a hopper but i enjoy little tinkering projects, plus i could make the hopper as large as i wanted too.

JeffNYC said:

Northern Brewer is out of them per their website. Serves me right for waiting...

Click to expand...

Order directly from the website using a Paypal account...mine will be here tomorrow. Very quick shipping.

BierMuncher said:

Great customer service from Randy on my Barley Crusher.

Had an issue with the handle being stuck and he sent me a new one within 3 days. Also sent me a UPS prepaid stick-on label so I could return the old at no expense.

View attachment 2819

View attachment 2820

View attachment 2821

Click to expand...

Wow! Is that how crushed grain is supposed to look? I just did my first AG last weekend and I bought precrushed grain from Austin Homebrew. It looked like it was barely crushed. I almost thought they forgot to crush it except for some "flour" on the bottom of the bag. Maybe I should start crushing my old grains. My efficiency was only 62%!!!

Hey BierMuncher...Did you adjust your mill, or is that a crush from the factory setting?

I bought a CrankandStein several years ago. I did quite a bit of research on mills in general. I ended up going with a 3 roller mill that cost about $150 and it is fully adjustable. That is one main thing that I was looking for in a mill. This mill is pretty fast (it can go through about 10# in a couple of minutes) with an excellent crush. True, you do have to have a hopper. I went to Fleet Farm (a store that carries just about everything) and bought a metal funnel that holds 10# of grain for about $10. It is the type used for pouring diesel in tractors and such. I used to use a Corona and it took forever to hand-crank to crush the grain. Now I hook up my drill and I'm off and running. Also, they offer a lifetime re-knurling of the rollers.

mr x said:

I bought the 3 roll Crankenstein because I like the idea of two crushes in one pass. Does a fantastic job.

Click to expand...

+1 Just ordered it tonight based on the reviews and reputation.

Just saw this if someone is still looking.

Crankandstien on eBay

my Barley Crusher and Oatmeal stout grains should be coming tomorrow (friday).

SuperiorBrew said:

Just saw this if someone is still looking.

Crankandstien on eBay

Click to expand...

I had hoped that no one would blow this up on here, so keep it quiet.

devils4ever said:

Wow! Is that how crushed grain is supposed to look? I just did my first AG last weekend and I bought precrushed grain from Austin Homebrew. It looked like it was barely crushed. I almost thought they forgot to crush it except for some "flour" on the bottom of the bag. Maybe I should start crushing my old grains. My efficiency was only 62%!!!

Click to expand...

That’s why people who get mills immediately report an increase in efficiency. Does the grain need to be THAT crushed? No.

I actually ran the batch through twice on the factory setting. Trying to close that gap too much on an initial run can be a little strenuous. I’d [refer to crush, examine and repeat if necessary.

I just wanted to see how far I could take the crush before experiencing a stuck sparge. For this batch, I did have a “slower” runoff but no where near stuck. I also got about a 78% efficiency. (5.2Ph Stabilizer is my next plan of attack.)

BierMuncher said:

That’s why people who get mills immediately report an increase in efficiency. Does the grain need to be THAT crushed? No.

I actually ran the batch through twice on the factory setting. Trying to close that gap too much on an initial run can be a little strenuous. I’d [refer to crush, examine and repeat if necessary.

I just wanted to see how far I could take the crush before experiencing a stuck sparge. For this batch, I did have a “slower” runoff but no where near stuck. I also got about a 78% efficiency. (5.2Ph Stabilizer is my next plan of attack.)

Click to expand...

Yeah, I was really unsure if my grain was actually crushed. After I saw some flour in the bottom of the bag, I assumed they did crush it. But, after seeing your crushed grain, I think I need a grain mill now!!!:rockin:

My first AG experience has already taught me many things. And cost me lots of $$$. It looks like a Barley Crusher is in my future.

I finally realized - the idiot that I am - why no homebrew shop, local or online, does a good job crushing their grain.

If they give you a bad crush, you end up doing one of two things.

1. You buy more grain to compensate for the low efficiency, or
2. You buy a mill from them and do it yourself.

BRILLIANTLY evil...

the_bird said:

Thanks, that sounds like my corded drill. It sounds like from the link Cheese posted (thanks, bro!) that the Crankenstein, while a bit more robust, needs a bit more OOMPH to power it.

Click to expand...

A decent drill takes care of that. My 18v DeWalt goes through 25# of grain on my Cranknstein in no time. Building a hopper was easy, too. I built one out of ductwork. I like the 5 gallon bottle idea, too.

Bernie Brewer said:

A decent drill takes care of that. My 18v DeWalt goes through 25# of grain on my Cranknstein in no time. Building a hopper was easy, too. I built one out of ductwork. I like the 5 gallon bottle idea, too.

Click to expand...

I bought the Crankandstein and am totally pleased. It comes pregapped with a hopper and wood base and is ready to go. Just hooked up my 1/2 in drill chuck to the crusher shaft with flats so it won't spin on the shaft and I got a good crush the first time. The crankandstein is a good choice if you do not want to fool around making hoppers.

Why did I buy the JSP (non adjustable) mill?
I had money in my pocket, and it was available at a great price. It paid for itself in less than 6 months.

the_bird said:

I finally realized - the idiot that I am - why no homebrew shop, local or online, does a good job crushing their grain.

If they give you a bad crush, you end up doing one of two things.

1. You buy more grain to compensate for the low efficiency, or
2. You buy a mill from them and do it yourself.

BRILLIANTLY evil...

Click to expand...

I have to disagree here. My LHBS doesn't crush the grain. They let you do it yourself, using the same mills that they sold me. (They have one mill for light grain, and one for dark).
If you don't like the crush, re-mill it.
Yes, I did buy the mill from them, but it allowed me to buy bulk grain instead of the overpriced 10 lb bags.
They saved me time and money, but made me a happy customer that keeps going back to them.

Isn't this the way things are supposed to work?

-a.

Silly question...I just received my Barley Crusher and it is beautiful. Why do the directions state to run half a pound of grain through the mill and throw it away if it is the first time the mill is used, or it has sat a while?

To get rid of the machining oils, mouse droppings, rancid grain residue, bacteria, dust etc.

-a.

Just ordered the barley crusher. I need to get a sack o'grain this weekend!

Are you guy's crushing your own grain out of need (freshness) or just because you can? I live rather close to midwest brewers supply and even closer to northern brewers, When I go in to purchase supplies, they always offer to crush the grain for me. I usually brew within a day or so of picking up my supplies. So either I'm just fortunate to live as close as I do to a supplier or could I be doing something different that will result in better brew? Any advise?

THe lhbs schedule doesnt work with my shedule. I hope to be able to keep plenty of grain and hops on hnd to brew whenever i need to without having to go to the hbs.

Seabee John said:

Are you guy's crushing your own grain out of need (freshness) or just because you can? I live rather close to midwest brewers supply and even closer to northern brewers, When I go in to purchase supplies, they always offer to crush the grain for me. I usually brew within a day or so of picking up my supplies. So either I'm just fortunate to live as close as I do to a supplier or could I be doing something different that will result in better brew? Any advise?

Click to expand...

John-

From what I understand, the LHBS doesn't crush well enough. Most (if not ALL) report an increase in efficiency when they crush their own grain.

All I know is that Santa has gotten nothing short of certified mail about a BarleyCrusher.

As a reference, I live 10 miles from MoreBeer (Probably one of the biggest LHBS'S IMHO) and they are quite knowledgeable. My eff is 65%

Seabee John said:

Are you guy's crushing your own grain out of need (freshness) or just because you can? I live rather close to midwest brewers supply and even closer to northern brewers, When I go in to purchase supplies, they always offer to crush the grain for me. I usually brew within a day or so of picking up my supplies. So either I'm just fortunate to live as close as I do to a supplier or could I be doing something different that will result in better brew? Any advise?

Click to expand...

My LHBS has an old JSP maltmill that has crushed so much grain for customers that I believe it has lost it's ability to produce the crush I am looking for. I went to another HBS and the crush was much better looking and my eff jumped up.

On Monday I ordered my Barley Crusher.

LHBS- 58% efficiency

Barley crusher- 80% effiency

and now i can use bulk grain

I went with the crankandstein package deal with the base and hopper. I love it. I never used a BC, but do not think I ever will have to. I have not noticed the issue BobbyM mentioned. Also, all things being equal, the drill burn out issue should be about the same for any mill assuming there is no flaw with the bearings or the drill.

Ryan_PA said:

I went with the crankandstein package deal with the base and hopper. I love it. I never used a BC, but do not think I ever will have to. I have not noticed the issue BobbyM mentioned. Also, all things being equal, the drill burn out issue should be about the same for any mill assuming there is no flaw with the bearings or the drill.

Click to expand...

I would recommend a corded drill regardless. It takes a lot of torque to turn wheat through there and that's unnecessary wear and tear on that battery. I want to keep my cordless running as long as possible.

Keep in mind that there is a huge difference in load between the two roller BC and CrankandStein and the three roller Crankandstein model. I can't see a cordless doing a fine crush on a three roller mill, I burned up a 5.2 amp corded. I'm converting to a motorized unit with a Bodine gearmotor.

Cheesefood said:

I would recommend a corded drill regardless. It takes a lot of torque to turn wheat through there and that's unnecessary wear and tear on that battery. I want to keep my cordless running as long as possible.

Click to expand...

Agreeeeeed

My BC arrived today!

I guess I need to get a starter going for Saturday.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Crankandstein-2...ryZ38172QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

that + a piece of plywood a drill and a bucket for a hopper? Probably do it for ~$75

I bought a corona mill because it was cheap and I quickly figured out why... It's very tough to control the size of the crush.

I just ran the numbers on 10 gallons of Ed Wort's haus pale Ale I brewed today. I got in the lower 90's for eff with the barley crusher! :rockin:

What a beautiful crush. I did notice that the fly sparge was a little slower than with the crush I got at the LHBS. I like the results.

Bobby_M said:

I have the cheapest Crankandstein that is still adjustable. I'll say that this might be an isolated case, but I found that the bore for the bearings wasn't made perfectly perpendicular to the side plate (or maybe the bottom edges of the end plates are not squarely cut). The reason I suspect this is when I mounted to an absolutely flat base, the rollers got really tight. When you bow the base by pressing on the side, the rollers spun free. I triple checked that it was indeed a flat surface and it was. I basically had to shim the side plates of the mill to make it spin free. Not so great.

Click to expand...

I bought one too and the quality was great!!! Call or write them, they stand behind their products. You should not accept bad quality. You paid the price!

Does anyone know of where to get a decent mill in the UK? The Barley Crusher seems to be great, but there's only one place in the UK that seems to sell it and it's listed at £150, over twice as expensive as buying it in the USA! Other mills I've seen seem to go for £200. Anyone know where to get something in the £70 range (equiv to $140, which seems to be what they are going for in America).

Ryan_PA said:

Also, all things being equal, the drill burn out issue should be about the same for any mill assuming there is no flaw with the bearings or the drill.

Click to expand...

Remember that 2 gap mills require much more torque than a single gap mill. I solved my burnout problems this way:

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=9amxsi&s=2

cnbudz said:

I bought a corona mill because it was cheap and I quickly figured out why... It's very tough to control the size of the crush.

Click to expand...

I bought a Corna Mill and have done two AG brews and have just ordered a BarleyCrusher.

Besides being slow and not getting the right size of crush , it makes a helluva mess. It spits the crush with alot of flour out the side. I guess I could have MacGyvered something but I just said F'it and ordered a proper crusher.

Word to the wise, a Corona Mill might work for PM's or Extract&Grain but if your even thinking about AG get a proper crusher to start with.

Or ah.. I mean no. (putting on best Jon Lovitz as President of the Liars Anonymous voice.) Corona Mills work great. You wanna buy mine.


Rudeboy

Well, my head was spinning after just a couple of pages. For posterity’s sake, here is my summary of this thread. Feel free to correct me on anything I missed or got wrong and I’ll edit the chart. The price and the throughput is from the Mfg websites.
While there was quite a bit of hypothesis on the diameter of the rollers, there was not much mentioned about the length. That would seem to clearly increase throughput.
I did not have a column for adding a drill or motor since that seemed pretty easy across the board (at least for the folks here ). Also, my general impression is that 3 rollers makes for a lot more resistance in cranking, but may provide a higher quality grind. In general, efficiencies and lauter speed seemed pretty comparable and probably has more to do with other factors from brewer to brewer.

Good shopping,
Jeremy

Rudeboy said:

Besides being slow and not getting the right size of crush , it makes a helluva mess. It spits the crush with alot of flour out the side. I guess I could have MacGyvered something but I just said F'it and ordered a proper crusher.

Word to the wise, a Corona Mill might work for PM's or Extract&Grain but if your even thinking about AG get a proper crusher to start with.

Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that you didn't have much success with your Corona Mill, but there are quite a few of us that use them and get over 80% efficiency with our AG brews. They work surprisingly well. See here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=32437.

Here was my solution to reigning in the mill, which took about 30 mins to construct from some scrap wood:


If you are patient, you can adjust the crush pretty fine. It may not be ideal, but these mills work fine for AG, especially if you are batch sparging.

FlyGuy said:

Sorry to hear that you didn't have much success with your Corona Mill, but there are quite a few of us that use them and get over 80% efficiency with our AG brews. They work surprisingly well.

Click to expand...

OK maybe I was a bit hasty. Yours seems a bit better than mine I don't have that metal hub cap thingy over the stone that yours has.

I'm just cheesed off because I made a Robust Porter for my second AG whose grain bill was somewhere north of 16 pounds and it took me forever.

Also the same mill I paid 40 bucks for is in the Princess Auto flyer for 18 beans.

If I was good at MacGyvering I'd make a proper hopper (mines smaller than yours too.) And a proper collector. Also my first two AG's got good efficiencies and no problem with stuck MLT's or turbidity. And tasted pretty good out of the primary and into the bottles. :rockin: (If I can count those chickens before they're tapped.)

Still I stand by my statement if one is thinking of going AG get a good crusher to start with you will more than likely be looking to upgrade at some point.

Rudeboy