Looking for advice on a grain mill purchase

I'd like to start buying bulk grains this fall, and with that comes the neccessity to buy a grain mill. I can easily adapt a drill or a motor to whichever one people seam to like in my machine shop.

Adjustability would be nice, and reliability...

Barley Crusher.

I have read great things about the Monster mills

i am planning on getting the MM3-2.0

flyangler18 said:

Barley Crusher.

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+1 on the BC

The manufacture says not to motorize it, but that might just be a liability thing.

AnOldUR said:

The manufacture says not to motorize it, but that might just be a liability thing.

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That is not correct...

"The standard hopper holds an even 7 pounds and the optional large hopper holds 15 pounds. Using a 3/8 drillmotor at 500 RPM gives you a crush rate of 6 pounds a minute making the big grain bills fast and easy.

The Barley Crusher is shipped fully assembled. There are no adapters needed to use a 3/8 drill motor."

that is right off of their site

AnOldUR said:

+1 on the BC

The manufacture says not to motorize it, but that might just be a liability thing.

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They packing slip advises not to use a belt driven v-pulley, but attaching a "direct drive" drill onto the shaft works fine.

+1 on the Barley Crusher, btw.

thus far I think i'm leaning towards the Barley Crusher...

Dude, I love my barley crusher... there's enough people here who like it, maybe Austin Homebrew Supply will start carrying it...

thus far I think i'm leaning towards the Barley Crusher...

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It's a very highly regarded mill 'round these parts....and the customer service is second to none if you need anything at all. :rockin:

+1 on the BC, I got the 15lb version and use my coredless drill with no issues.

If you're looking for a mill that already has everything preassembled, then I think the barley crusher would be perfect. I think any of the other mills will work perfectly fine, but they need a hopper, baseplate, etc. to be made for them as well.

It's hard to beat the BarleyCrusher when it comes with base, hopper, and crank handle for such a low price. I'm much happier with the crush from my BC than the corona I tried out.

I'll throw my hat into the monster mills group. I love my MM-2. I motorized it and even built a milling station for it.

As for the direct drive on the barley crusher, I think if you use an intermediate shaft through some pillow blocks (to take the lateral strain from the belt) you could drive it with a motor with no problems. It would take up a bit more room but you wouldn't harm the bushings.

After reading all of this I just added a BarleyCrusher to my Christmas wish list. I'll have to see what level of eye-roll I get from SWMBO over that one. Might be fun trying to explain why I "need" one.

StuBentley said:

After reading all of this I just added a BarleyCrusher to my Christmas wish list. I'll have to see what level of eye-roll I get from SWMBO over that one. Might be fun trying to explain why I "need" one.

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I just told the Sgt Major (SWMBO) that I'm going to ask Santa for BarleyCrusher.

She asked all the usual questions ("If you already get crushed barley...."), but she keyed in on one word in my answer "fresher." That did it. I'll probably order one next month.

faber said:

I just told the Sgt Major (SWMBO) that I'm going to ask Santa for BarleyCrusher.

She asked all the usual questions ("If you already get crushed barley...."), but she keyed in on one word in my answer "fresher." That did it. I'll probably order one next month.

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Hmmm...that might just work. Mine says she has noticed that my all grain brew tastes better and smells better when I brewed, so if I tell her that it would be even better/fresher...

Is there any difference between the 7 lb and 15 lb barley crusher? As far as I can tell, the only difference is the hopper. For the price difference, i could easily extend the hopper on the 7 lb model for almost free if they are the same roller base...

the hopper IS the only difference

NoClueBrewMaster said:

Is there any difference between the 7 lb and 15 lb barley crusher? As far as I can tell, the only difference is the hopper. For the price difference, i could easily extend the hopper on the 7 lb model for almost free if they are the same roller base...

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The crusher is the same for both models. If you get the 7lb, you can make your own extension by simply duct taping cardboard panels on top of it and make it just about as big as you want.

I saw the most ingenious DIY hopper add-on for a 7# BC during a Lancaster Homebrew Club Brew Day earlier today. Cut the bottom out of a small wastepaper basket and put the remainder into the hopper- works like a charm!

Good call on the Barley Crusher. Never heard a single person express any regret about that decision. 7# hopper is fine, you have to re-fill it once if you're doing a 5-gallon batch, no big deal. If I were doing 10-gallon batches, I'd mod up an extension to the hopper, which would be an easy project.

Hands down the Barley Crusher no need to look any where else.

Barley Crusher is the boss 'round these parts!

I know the Barley Crusher is top notch but I bought a Crankandstein and I love it since I could build a hopper as large as I needed for even my biggest OG beers. If you want to plug and chug then the BC is as nice as they come but I do like the Crankandstein even though I had to do a little work before I could use it I wouldn't change my purchase decision. Just my $0.02