Monster Mill 2-2.0

Well I just pulled the trigger on a Monster Mill 2-2.0 the other day, cant wait to get it, this was after reading just about every thread I could find about every mill.
It seemed to win out for several reasons, 1= longevity I wanted a mill that would out live me
2= very adjustable I want to be able to crush corn if I get the notion, without having to purchase another mill.
3= 1/2" drive shaft, beefy is better lol and the local hardware store has 1/2" pulleys in stock.
4= 2" rollers, once again the beefy thing, I read several post about people having some issues with 1 1/2" rollers not feeding the grain on some mills (didn't want to deal with that)
5=Its overkill for me, I like overkill
Edit; 6= Im hoping to go to all grain batches soon (BIAB) and Im tired of crushing grain by hand on a cookie sheet with a 32oz beer bottle.
Please feel free to post why you got a Monster Mill 2-2.0 instead of a 1 1/2" roller mill or any other mill, or if you have had feed problems with your mill, I thought Id edit after seeing 33 views and not any reply's.

I hope this post helps someone else out that is thinking about getting a mill, I will update after I use the mill.

Cheers

Okee Dokee then, no one? not one reply? OK so my grain mill was delivered today, I was a bit concerned seeing as the box was beat up quite a bit, I unpacked it and everything faired quit well, read the instructions (very unlike me to do so), checked the gaps, 45 thou and 47 thou, I re-gapped it to 44 thou on both sides, put the base on, assembled the hopper and installed it onto the mill and made sure the rollers turned free, chucked up my 1/2" cordless drill, dumped in 1/2lb of grain, and my drill wouldn't turn it, the battery was low lol, changed battery and presto it was eating grain like IDK what? so I added the crushed grain with another 1/2lb not crushed, and had my wife dump it all in while it was running and it stopped my cordless drill, I was trying to run it way to slow, 2nd try was quite a bit faster and it crushed the grain very nice, very little flour, every grain crushed, I cant wait to use it this weekend with about 6 lbs of grain (partial mash).

I have to say the MM2-2.0 mill is quite a fine piece of machinery, I was pleasantly surprised to say the least, now I have the urge to crush everything I can find, anyone live near Mohave Valley that needs a 50# sack of grain crushed? free of corse.

Ill let you know how it go's after I use it this weekend.

Cheers

Anyone else have anything to say?

I want one.

I have a mill and just run it with an electric drill. To be honest I didn't pay attention to the roller size and never thought about issues with corn and other grains. I don't recall what I have off the top of my head, but it seems to work well. My only issue is with setting the gap. I turn these knobs on either side of the mill, which then adjusts that side of the roller. One side always moves more than the other and I have a hard time getting both sides equal.

I shot for .032 gap. I also have a hard time with the feeler gage as I'm not sure if it should slip in with a little pressure or not.

Got the 1.5 at the recommendation on the people at Monster Mill themselves. I told them the frequency (6-10 batches a year) and amount (each batch 15-30 lbs of grain) I'd be crushing and they said to go with that one. I set my gap for .038 and double crush (run it through twice). Love that mill. I batch sparge in a cooler...

buzzbromp said:

I shot for .032 gap. I also have a hard time with the feeler gage as I'm not sure if it should slip in with a little pressure or not.

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The gage should slip in with a little pressure...

I have a motorized MM3 2.0 that chugs along at 157 rpm. If you're not getting increased efficiency and decreased lauter times; it is not the mill's fault. You made a great purchase, sir!

cheers

ps - can someone explain what a stuck sparge is?

jammin said:

ps - can someone explain what a stuck sparge is?

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It's where the wort won't drain from the mash tun due to fine material clogging the screen/manifold.

ShinyBuddha said:

Got the 1.5 at the recommendation on the people at Monster Mill themselves. I told them the frequency (6-10 batches a year) and amount (each batch 15-30 lbs of grain) I'd be crushing and they said to go with that one. I set my gap for .038 and double crush (run it through twice). Love that mill. I batch sparge in a cooler...

Click to expand...

I also called Monster Mill before I ordered and asked a lot of questions, the gentleman on the phone (Im assuming was Fred) was very helpful and very patient, He asked me how often I brew and amounts of grain,
He recommended that I also get the 1 1/2"=2 roller mill, He said that it would be more than enough mill for my needs.
When I mention to him that I would like to have the capability of crushing corn too and I asked if the 2"=2 roller mill could do that, he said yes it would.
In all honesty I don't know if I will ever crush corn, but just incase, its nice to be able to with this mill.

Cheers

Hello, Last night I used my mill on about 8 lbs of grain, the mill ate it up like nothing, but my ryobi 2 speed cordless drill 1/2" drive, set on the slower RPM setting, would not run this mill if I loaded the grain first, so what I did was slowly pour in the grain while the mill was running, it worked but next time I will be using my 1/2 drive milwaukee corded drill, as soon as I can get the pulleys and a motor I will be building a milling cart/table, that way I don't end up killing my good milwaukee drill lol, I was kinda surprised at how much torque it required to turn the mill even with pouring the grain in very slowly.

Any of you guys or gals have any recommendations on a source for motors and or pulleys and what HP should I be looking for ? I have an old washing machine would that motor work?

Thanks and Cheers

Most 110v electric motors run at 1725 rpm. 1/2 HP is a good size to look for.


If you use this 1.5" v-belt pulley:
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/CONGRESS-VBelt-Pulley-3X892

and this 44" v-belt:
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/DAYTON-V-Belt-3L440

This 10" pulley will net you 190 RPM's:
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/CONGRESS-VBelt-Pulley-3X934

This 12" pulley will net you 157 RPM:
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/CONGRESS-VBelt-Pulley-3X938

Monster Mill suggests mill speed in the range of 150 - 200 RPM.


I use the 1.5" / 12" combo. Works well even with condition malt or wheat.

WileECoyote said:

5=Its overkill for me, I like overkill

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Like I always say, you can never have too much overkill!

jammin said:

Most 110v electric motors run at 1725 rpm. 1/2 HP is a good size to look for.


If you use this 1.5" v-belt pulley:
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/CONGRESS-VBelt-Pulley-3X892

and this 44" v-belt:
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/DAYTON-V-Belt-3L440

This 10" pulley will net you 190 RPM's:
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/CONGRESS-VBelt-Pulley-3X934

This 12" pulley will net you 157 RPM:
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/CONGRESS-VBelt-Pulley-3X938

Monster Mill suggests mill speed in the range of 150 - 200 RPM.


I use the 1.5" / 12" combo. Works well even with condition malt or wheat.

Click to expand...

Thanks jammin, that is some great info, Im going to have to get the motorizing done soon so I don't put it off getting side tracked with other things.

Cheers

Hello, I thought I would give an update my opinion on this mill, ITS FREAKING GREAT !.

This mill rips through grain, I have the hopper that Monster Mill sells, it will hold 12 lbs of grain 13 lbs if it is almost overflowing.

It is so heavy-duty, its made the way I would make one if I had a mill and lathe, I like overkill.

The crush is absolutely the same every time.

I have had to tighten the thumb screws just a hair tighter than I can tighten them with my fingers, to get the adjustment to hold, not a problem in my opinion.

I have not used or owned any other mill, so I really can't compare, but after having and using this one, I would purchase another MonsterMill without hesitation.

I would very highly recommend, to anyone thinking of getting a mill, purchase the Monster Mill, you will not be disappointed.

I just wanted to update this thread, because I seeing when others update their threads after a while.

Cheers

I get drug into helping numerous peole crush their grain because I get much better efficiency with the settings on mine than the LHBS. I kind of hate not having went hardened roller instead of the Stainless I went with but I figure I can just buy a second two roller setup hardened and mount them as a 4 roller setup with none of the potential claimed drawbacks of the 3 roller and just use the Stainless if I'm doing a wet crush.

Accidic, can you explain why you would have preferred the hardened over the stainless you did get?

Stainless Steel is ROUGHLY equivalent strength-wise to the standard rollers. When I originally bought it I expected I'd go through 5 or 6 hundred pounds of grain a year at best. I did a rough calc on what I ran through it over the last year and it's been closer to 2,000 pounds as I've gotten drafted to run more than a few people's grain through as well. Granted I don't have to of course but I usually get free beer out of the deal so it's not all bad.

Hardened steel would be overkill for my personal use as it would literally outlast me. With friends joining in to use my mill as well it would eat through theirs and likely outlast all of us even still. It's also cheaper than the stainless upgrade was. The downside is the potential for rust so I'm thinking about ordering another with the Hardened and using it primarily and only using the Stainless roller version either for wet milling or possibly to toy with a 4 roller setup (one above, one under a table and it'd be perfect). The only complaint I've ever seen about Monster's 3 mill setup is the possible jamming of grain at the bottom roller and it not spinning. If I double up I can link them and run simultaneously if I set it up right for the best of both worlds. It's of course a little more expensive but to be fair I didn't anticipate even possibly ever wearing out the stainless roller model I bought in the first place. Some people still swear by the soft light press to separate the husk from the endosperm and then pressing then running them through a finer gap without shredding the husk while also getting a finer crush on the endosperm part.

It's not really a requirement for me to do this. It's just something I've been bouncing around in my head to make sure I don't wear out my SS-2.0 mill. I've been extremely happy with the mill itself though and I've been happy with Fred's support as well so I figure what's the worst that can happen... I waste a little money to aid in keeping a homebrew tool supplier in business? It's just sort of like spending a little more at your LHBS when you could order online and save a buck. Even if it proves to be overkill where's the harm?

I hear you! I live only a few miles from MoreBeer's showroom in Concord. Granted they're one of the big fish of the internet-mail-order sea, but the store itself feels like a tiny business. I see the same 2-3 people working there I always see, and it feels like a small company. They aren't the cheapest, but it's convenient, I like them, and I get good service, so I want them to stay.

I'm pricing and looking at mill options myself. I ultimately decided on a Rebel Mill only to see (not sure how I missed this) that they are out of stock for the foreseeable future while they seek a new manufacturer who can keep up with the demand. So now I'm looking at Monster Mills, and wasn't sure what the benefit was on stainless vs. hardened. Stainless is more expensive and won't rust, but it sounds like it's less durable than the hardened steel... does that sound about right? For someone who is only going to run 800-1000 lbs max a year through it, the lessened durability of stainless won't really impact the life expectancy of the mill, will it?

Thanks!

Stainless will still rust but it's less likely if you take care of it than either the plain steel or hardened.

I'm going from memory but I think Fred quotes about 15,000-20,000 or more pounds for the estimated lifespan of the standard steel rollers.

I *THINK* the Stainless were a tad stronger than plain steel but they're much more forgiving for wet rolling. If you toast your own grains then there is probably a good chance this could come in useful for you. Example, you spread out a pound or two of base, spray it down with water several times over the next couple hours (or even days) so that it absorbs some water, then you throw them in the oven @ ~300 or so for 20-25 minutes. This will reduce the enzyme content of the grain mind you, but it'll also caramelize some of the contents albeit not to full blown crystal. Some suggest letting them sit for a week or so for volatiles to dissipate but personally I prefer the taste as is. Crush still moist and run with it. Other examples are soaking your grain for quite some time and then crushing it. You can supposedly crush it at insane levels without shredding the husk by doing it this way and the extraction is allegedly fantastic (never tried this route).

Finally you have the hardened rollers. Going from purely memory I think he said they were rated to wear out somewhere around 50k-70k pounds but don't quote me on that. It's something roughly that absurd though.



Basically I'd say if you're not planning on going wet then the standard rollers might be adequate. My thinking on those is that the 2" rollers would last the longer side of that weight rating and you'd probably be closer to the max usage before they wore down and even then they shouldn't stop working, it would be the "teeth" that would wear down. Again, bigger rollers = less necessary pull so the 2" would probably still be pretty solid. That said, I've been happy with the one I have and I don't have a lot of heartburn about blowing ~$200 bucks on something I don't necessarily really need purely for the sake of making my overactive imagination settle the heck down. Plus, I'm intrigued by the dual roller possibility (I was EXTREMELY conflicted over whether to get the 2 or 3 roller system which has pushed this idea in my head even further). In truth, you probably can't possibly go wrong with the standard steel rollers unless you're insanely hardcore, the primary crusher for your homebrew club, or a store. And really the last one is probably the only real one who *NEEDS* the Hardened but even then I find myself going... "I WANT IT I WANT IT I WANT IT!!!"