Best grain mill

I am in the market for a grain mill for the first time and I want to collect some facts about as many mills as possible. I've read many other threads but none seem to have much as far as hard facts about each persons spacing, efficiency and so on. So please post what mill you have, what your efficiency is, how much grain/beer brewed with it without problems, spacing of rollers, how long it takes to crush 10 pounds of grain, how long you've had the mill for, and price paid. I really want to try and keep personal bias out of this. After I have some good data I plan on making a chart with averages for each.

Monster Mill 3 (1.5" diameter rollers), with stand, hopper and hand crank. Had it about a year and a half with no problems. 0.039" spacing. Single batch-sparge efficiency jumped from 70-75% to 85-90% over otherwise identical conditions but grain ground at LHBS. I now do no-sparge and get 70%. Takes me 5-10 minutes to hand-grind 10# grain (most people use a drill). Don't remember what I paid, got it from manufacturer at whatever the standard price is/was.

I love it, my only wish is that it would be easier to check and adjust the gap setting without removing the hopper.

I have the Monster Mill M3-20.. it has never let me down. You can see it in my milling station here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-new-milling-station-73570/

I recently got the smaller size (7 lb) Barley Crusher and did 15 lbs of grain in 6 minutes with a cordless drill. I've done 3 batches with the factory setting and had between 78% and 83% efficiency. I'm very happy with it. It'll be around for a long time.

This topic has been thrashed about a lot, but you are also asking some specific questions.

I own a BC and have run about 150 lbs of grain through it. I only do 5 gallon batches and my biggest grainbill was 16.5 lbs. I use a drill and keep the rpms low. It took about 5 or 6 mins to mill 16 lbs. I know others have complained about BC issues, but so far mine has been rock solid.

My first 5 batches were at the factory setting and I was getting about 70% efficiency. After tightening it up to .34 my efficiency jumped to 84%. I'm a happy camper.

My only thought is whatever you get make sure it is adjustable.

Monster Mill MM2-2.0 (with the hardened steel rollers) here. Gap set to about. 038" giving great crush. Depending on the amount of grain determines the efficiency I get. Normal batches (for me) are around 15-16# of grain. I get almost 80% this way which I'm more than happy with. Too high of an efficiency can be a bad thing. I use a drill to power my mill (got it direct with the base, hopper and hopper extension, giving me a 39# capacity) and go through 15# in a few minutes. I don't bother to time it though.

I expect this mill to outlast me.

1) Corona style mill.
2) My efficiency has ranged from high sixties to mid eighties.
3) I've brewed about 15 batches with it.
4) I have had no problems with it including the lower efficiency - I blame other things.
5) There are no rollers, the spacing between the plates is tight.
6) I can mill 10 pounds of grain in less than 10 minutes. It takes longer to weigh it out than to mill it.
7) My cost was $0, it was a Christmas present. But it was probably less than $35 including the shipping.

Great this the stuff I'm looking for. Hopefully some people with the rebel mill and malt mill can add info.

BC, .039 factory set. Great crush and no adjustments after about 300 lbs. grain. Use a drill to crank, I use compressed air to clean after each use.

I dont have it but what about the Rebel Brewer Mill? It looks like it is really well built and people seem to rave about it? I think a mill might be in my near future too. http://www.rebelbrewer.com/shoppingcart/products/Rebel-Mill-Grain-Crusher.html

I have the MM3, if I could do it again, I'd get the 1/2 shaft. This mill works great but is hard to set the gap. I'm at 75% I could make a finer crush, but 75% is a good place to be. I have a 12"pully vs 1 1/2" pully on a motor that runs 1075rpm and it mills slow. I could do a 50lb bag in 10-15min, I like the sound it makes. chook,,,,,,,chook,,,,,,,chook,,,,,,,chook,,,,,,,chook,,,,,,,chook,,,,,,,chook,,,,,,,

IMO the mill by Rebel is a MM wannabe that falls a bit short. Short in roller size when compared with Monster Mills. Especially when you consider how the MM rollers are 6" long and either 1.5" or 2.0" in diameter.

I like to get other things by/from Rebel but a mill isn't one of them.

Golddiggie said:

IMO the mill by Rebel is a MM wannabe that falls a bit short. Short in roller size when compared with Monster Mills. Especially when you consider how the MM rollers are 6" long and either 1.5" or 2.0" in diameter.

I like to get other things by/from Rebel but a mill isn't one of them.

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Keeping in the spirit of the OP though - saying it's a MM wannabe is not true. I do not own a grain mill YET...so I'm in the same boat as the OP but looking at the two models and what they offer in terms of specs not personal judgement.

The Rebel Mill has 5" long rollers vs the MM2 6" rollers. Rebel Mill has 1" rollers vs 1.5" for the MM2. Bottom line here - you can crush more grain faster with the MM2 but has nothing to do with better or anything.

Hopper - SS welded hopper for the Rebel....galvanized riveted hopper for the MM2. Looks like the capacity is about the same for both w/o extensions..etc.

Base - MM2 is 12" x 12"...Rebel fits a 6.5 gallon bucket

Price - if you compare apples to apples...the MM2 with SS rollers will cost you $197....the Rebel will cost you $179.95


Bottom line - they are very close in terms of specs, price...etc. The question becomes - is it worth the extra $17 to get rollers that are 1" longer and 0.5" more in diameter. I don't know what that would really correlate to in terms of faster gristing...etc.

As for the barley crusher - flimsier hopper, smaller hopper (7 lbs), regular steel rollers vs SS rollers...rollers are 5" long, 1.25" diameter but the price is lower to - $115 or so.

Monster's hopper is NOT rivited. You put it together with screws and locknuts (provided). It's also HEAVY guage metal. I'd have to look up what the matal is but it doesnt look like galvy to me.

Also larger diameter rollers produce a better crush.

Get the Rebel mill if you want but don't delude yourself to thinking its as good as a standard Monster Mill. The MM2-2.0 and MM3-2.0 are also far above its league.

Golddiggie said:

Monster's hopper is NOT rivited. You put it together with screws and locknuts (provided). It's also HEAVY guage metal. I'd have to look up what the matal is but it doesnt look like galvy to me.

Also larger diameter rollers produce a better crush.

Get the Rebel mill if you want but don't delude yourself to thinking its as good as a standard Monster Mill. The MM2-2.0 and MM3-2.0 are also far above its league.

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It does have screws as you say (my goof...it doesn't say what it is on their site so I had to go off the picture - which isn't real close up) but IT IS galvanized steel per their own website. It's heavy for a reason...it's made with normal steel and dipped to make it galvanized.

BTW - I said I don't have either of them...actually no grain mill yet. All I was stating is the specs from their own websites. Both of them pride themselves in USA made mills that will last a lifetime but when comparing models and such...don't start out saying something is a wannabe of something you own. The OP wanted non-personal opinions here....that's all I was doing especially considering that I don't own a mill....I have no bias to go off of. I'm looking at both models...and even the barley crusher....it's flimsier than the other two but it's a fair amount cheaper too. Will it last forever...probably not...but it's also the most used mill out there...1000s of lbs of grain have been milled via them. The others are relatively new.

Bottom line is I just want an easily adjustable mill....that will last....produce great crushed grain...and not break the bank. Either of them should last a long time.

With each post, you will probably get a different answer of who likes what mill. To that end, I have had a CrankAndStein 3 roller mill for about 10 years now and really like how it crushes the grain. It is very adjustable and easy to clean/lubricate.

Golddiggie said:

Monster's hopper is NOT rivited. You put it together with screws and locknuts (provided). It's also HEAVY guage metal. I'd have to look up what the matal is but it doesnt look like galvy to me.

Also larger diameter rollers produce a better crush.

Get the Rebel mill if you want but don't delude yourself to thinking its as good as a standard Monster Mill. The MM2-2.0 and MM3-2.0 are also far above its league.

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I have the MM2-2.0 and wasn't impressed at all by their hopper. I'd be hard pressed to agree that it's a heavy gauge metal as it's 1/16 in thick sheetmetal and arrived with several spots severely bent from it's ride in transit. Not to mention one of the 1/4" bolts was snapped off as it was shipped partially threaded into the base

I was able to bend the hopper back out with simply needle nose pliers. Even now that it's all put together I can easily bend the hopper in widest parts by hand. Workable sure, but not what I'd call heavy gauge.

The mill is fantastic, but everything I've seen leads me to believe that the Rebel Hopper is much higher quality than the MM Hopper. In the end I'd buy the MM2-2.0 again, because the mill is the important part and a hopper can be made out of plywood if you felt like it.

Jukas said:

I have the MM2-2.0 and wasn't impressed at all by their hopper. I'd be hard pressed to agree that it's a heavy gauge metal as it's 1/16 in thick sheetmetal and arrived with several spots severely bent from it's ride in transit. Not to mention one of the 1/4" bolts was snapped off as it was shipped partially threaded into the base

I was able to bend the hopper back out with simply needle nose pliers. Even now that it's all put together I can easily bend the hopper in widest parts by hand. Workable sure, but not what I'd call heavy gauge.

The mill is fantastic, but everything I've seen leads me to believe that the Rebel Hopper is much higher quality than the MM Hopper. In the end I'd buy the MM2-2.0 again, because the mill is the important part and a hopper can be made out of plywood if you felt like it.

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Not sure when you got your mill, but I got mine last year. Hopper arrived completely disassembled so there were zero issues for me. Also arrived without extra bends or any kinks. Did you order direct or from someplace else? I got mine direct from Monster.

When comparing the Monster hopper to what BC sells, its night and day. The one from BC is not even close to the thickness.

I don't have any tools to make a hopper from anything, so that's simply not an option for me. I do plan on motorizing my MM2-2.0 after I've moved (getting closer there) so that it's easier for me. I intend to continue to use the hopper due to its high capacity (39#). I have one recipe that will be brewed soon after moving that could exceed even that capacity. :rockin:

I've got the JSP MaltMill. I love this thing. I can only compare it to the barley crusher: the MaltMill is a better mill. The MaltMill is wider and faster and just appears sturdier than the barley crusher.

I've run (literally) 1500 pounds through it. And, I got it used. It had been the only mill at my LHBS (Southern Brewing in Tampa), which is a very busy shop. I just ran (30 minutes ago) 40# of grain through it, full speed with my drill attached.

The hopper is a simple chute made of some sort of fiberboard. It looks a bit "homemade" but damn this thing just runs flawlessly every time.

The Monster Mill look like great mills. I have no comment for them, except that they look very nice. Good luck with whatever mill you get.

Golddiggie said:

Not sure when you got your mill, but I got mine last year. Hopper arrived completely disassembled so there were zero issues for me. Also arrived without extra bends or any kinks. Did you order direct or from someplace else? I got mine direct from Monster.

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I've had my mill for 15 days now, ordered directly from Monster.

My hopper also arrived completely disassembled but there were definite bends in the sheet metal. It was all in the lower portion of the hopper where it meets the base and must have happened during transit.

The worst part was the vendor shipped the mill with the 4 1/4" bolts half way threaded into the top of the mill, and one snapped off during shipping. I was relieved that only the bolt broke and didn't mess up the threading in the mill, but all in all that was a stupid way to ship when they should have just thrown the four bolts into a zip lock bag.

Golddiggie said:

When comparing the Monster hopper to what BC sells, its night and day. The one from BC is not even close to the thickness.

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Fyi, I was comparing the Monster hopper to the Rebel hopper, not the BC That being said, I don't see how any hopper could be thinner as mine is literally made out of 1/16th inch sheetmetal.

I LOOOOOOVEEEEEEE my Barley Crusher. You definately want to hook up a drill to it though.

Here is a pic of how I mounted it to a table I built.

I spent several months going over the various mills and settled on the Rebel Mill. I felt that for the price, it couldn't be beat. Having it for a couple months now, I feel my prior research has been spot on for the Rebel Mill. I have been getting Mash Eff. of 80 to 90% and the crush has been as good as one could exspect and far esxceeding the LHBS.

+1 for the Rebel Mill. Used mine for the first time, worked great. Seems very well built for the price.

I got a non-adjustable JSP MaltMill used off CL. At first I was worried about not being able to adjust it, but I get 70-80% no problems. My only gripe is the hopper, which holds ~3#, but as others have said, its easy enough to build a bigger hopper.

I run the Monster Mill MM2-2.0 (stainless) with a .0365 gap presently. I ran a batch through it this weekend and the crush looked pretty great with a huge amount of mostly undamaged barley husks (hulls?) and mashed it along with about 3.5 pounds of sticky pumpkin flesh with no rice hulls and didn't have the first issue with any kind of stuck sparge or otherwise. The people reporting the best results seemed to be between .035 and .039 on here typically. If you're willing to condition the malt first you can also go much smaller apparently with even more success. I didn't notice a difference from .039 to .038. At least no calculatable difference anyway. I saw a small gain @ .0365 (never tried right on .037 to be fair). I do get a fair bit of flour out of it at that gap but the intact husks make it a largely moot point in my experience. I'm thinking about trying to squeeze that down further to the 0.035 range for my batch this weekend as I did find a couple of the smaller pieces of malt slip through uncrushed but part of that might have just been them being rather small and fell at just the right angle.


I was extremely conflicted over the hardened/stainless question and eventually just went with the Stainless. Fred basically pointed out that plain steel would have probably been fine for 95%+ of my need/use but I couldn't bring myself to not boosting it slightly for only a tiny bit more $$ on something that you don't really purchase everyday. Honestly though, unless you want it for the bling factor, the slight rust resistant advantage (perhaps a wet crush?), or you can't bring yourself to buy something without picking up some sort of upgrade (*cough*), I don't think Stainless is really even necessary (my previous mill was offbrand and raw steel and worked without hitch for years until I parted with it with little to no rust and basically no problems). The hopper is absolutely top notch and as far as I'm concerned (it is definitely galvanized steel but is moderately thick albeit not what I'd consider bulletproof "heavy gauge" metal but to be fair I think anything over 18 is considered heavy gauge at this point) is a must have as for the price it's incredibly hard to beat. I can see why people would say get the extension though if you are going to motorize it but really it's not a pain to me to throw in the stuff in a couple batches at worst.


I have no heartburn for the Rebel Mills either. For me I was debating between that one and the Monster. The hopper on the rebel looks incredibly solid (at least as much as stainless steel is "solid" anyway). The quoted spec of 1" rollers was said to be off by several users (I think they quoted like 1 5/16" or something?) and of course it's in all stainless. At the end of the day though, If given the choice and the small difference I'd personally take the Monster Mill with 2" rollers (1144 rather than stainless) over the Rebel for the ~20-30 bucks extra. It's not that I have anything against the Rebel mill outright as it looks like a pretty good mill and very well made from near where I live. For me it was a friend of mine's Crankenstein with 1.5" rollers. At comparable gaps he gets more tearing than I do by a noticable margin. So yes, to the above poster I do believe it makes a pretty significant difference what the roller differences in size are. I don't know if the 3/16" difference is enough to justify the expense but I do truly believe the 0.5" difference (actually 0.688" which is about 50% larger) is truly huge. As for the reason diameter makes such a huge difference I can only go by what others have posted but my understanding is the larger the diameter the smaller the pinch angle is creating less damage ultimately. Granted, either mill can drag the grain through outright if need be (hence the knurling on the rollers) but if the pinch starts before the drag then it stands to reason the husk is going to be that much less damaged. I've even seen some people post with really large diameter rollers that didn't even need to knurl the rollers as a result (there is a guy on here with 6" rollers he custom fabbed that's pretty freaking cool).


Plus, I figure if I ever go bugnuts and get an itching for that 3rd roller type model, I'll pick up a hardened steel roller version and mount it over/under with the stainless with a belt driven setup powering both rollers for a 4 roller model!



That said though, honestly at the end of the day I'd say go with whichever model excites you the most. The monster mill for me added the amusing comment of doing the "Monster Mash" which my 6 year old continually sings while mashing grain for example. It's manufactured very close to home (so is the Rebel for that matter) so turnaround would be very short in a pinch. It's also got a nice huge driveshaft (durability) and a very large gap setting range which is great if you want to do more than just Barley/Wheat/Oats such as Corn which really benefits from a pre-crush before crushing finer. To be fair, the Rebel may do this as well but I don't know of it's range of adjustment and I think Crankenstein has a model with similar levels of adjustment as well. I would imagine they're all about the same difficulty (that is to say not very) to adjust unless they have 3 rollers although I believe I read the BC (and I think some of the Crankensteins) have preset adjustment increments where you can just turn it to where you want it and go.

Also as a sidenote, it would appear the RM is set to .027" gap initially as listed for it's "optimal" setting. I may try gapping mine down to about that but it seems awfully small.

I tried that gap setting on my MM2 and my unconditioned grain just wouldn't get pulled through. Worst mill experience yet. I'm opening my gap to 0.032" and see how that goes...

The gap size you use is also impacted by the manifold/false bottom you use in the mash tun. For me, .038-.039" gives good results (repeatable) and don't result in a stuck sparge. I might experiment with tighter crush settings at some point, but for now, I'm happy with the results.

barrooze said:

I tried that gap setting on my MM2 and my unconditioned grain just wouldn't get pulled through. Worst mill experience yet. I'm opening my gap to 0.032" and see how that goes...

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So last week I disassembled my mill housing, brushed it all off with a clean brush, reset the gap to 0.032", made sure the passive wheel spun just as easily as the drive wheel, and milled 12.5# of pilsner malt. No issues whatsoever. Got 80% efficiency. I'll be using this gap setting for the next several batches assuming I don't get any feeding issues, and hopefully will be able to get a repeatable brewhouse mash efficiency.

I did a lot of research on mills - it really came down to the controversy between Monster Mill and Crankensteins (do a forum search if interested) and I determined that I didn't want to take my business to either company as the bad blood turned me off (my personal opinion) so I went with a neutral party, Rebel Brewer and their Rebel Mill. No forum wars or controversy or bad blood spewed out on these forums being associated with that mill and I respect that.

Just my 0.02

My decision came down to the Monster Mill or the Rebel Brewer. I'm sure I would have been satisfied with either but not knowing how long I'd have to wait before the RB came back into stock I went with the MM-2. I used it for the first time this week. Worked like a charm.

Awesome job on the milling station. It's nicer than the one at my LHBS! I'm planning on getting a mill and building a station soon, will be following your design, no need to re-invent the wheel. I like the storage container, how many pounds of grain will it hold? Where did you get it?

Thanks for the comliment.

I bought the mill direct (well actually the wife got it for my for my birthday). They say the hopper will hold 30 pounds of grain. I do 10 gallon batches so it will hold more than I'll ever need.

The stand is made out of my old bathroom sink vanity. I put it on rollers so I can move it around. If you search my threads I have some more pics of it.

berrywise said:

Thanks for the comliment.

I bought the mill direct (well actually the wife got it for my for my birthday). They say the hopper will hold 30 pounds of grain. I do 10 gallon batches so it will hold more than I'll ever need.

The stand is made out of my old bathroom sink vanity. I put it on rollers so I can move it around. If you search my threads I have some more pics of it.

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Hopper extension increases the base hopper capacity to 39 pounds of grain. I'll need to refill/top off the hopper when I make my epic barley wine this fall. Of course, that does depend on having a larger mash tun, but I digress. :fro: