Help me pick a mill to motorize

I will be building a motorized mill with a 1/4 to 1/3 hp AC motor. I really dont know the difference between the schmidling, monster mills, or crankandsteins, etc. Can anyone help me understand the pros/cons and performance of them? I own a regular barley crusher mill and was even considering using it. I will be milling upward of 70 lbs at a time and would like to do it in 20 minutes or less, which is why I will be motorizing it. Any input on the various mills would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Pangea

If you are satisfied with the grains from your barleycrusher, why don't you just motorize that? I use a 380W powerdrill with mine, and I could easily do 70 lbs in 20 minutes, i'm sure. Normally I crush around 10 lbs, but that only takes a minute or two.

/Kasper

I motorized my barleycrusher and I love it. Takes about 10 minutes to mill 22lbs of grain.

Use what you have. Increase the hopper to hold #70.

Unless you feel the need to buy a 3 roller monster mill or equivalent, your BC should work fine. As with any mill, keeping it clean and the bushings lubricated is key.

Wow. Prudent responses. Very un-HBT like! I was considering using the BC, but have no familiarity with the other mills and if they're that much better.

There was a build set up with a three roller monster mill and a 1/4 horse power motor, it was even set up in a milling stand. I thought it was pretty cool. I'll post a link if I find it.

ah HA! I found it. Here you go: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/grain-milling-station-design-48967/

Edit: and another: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/another-milling-station-inspired-john-beeres-146249/

I think Monster mills are the best value, they are very solid and you can get them with a 1/2" driveshaft which is a big perk if you are motorizing.

As the builder of Another Milling Station (inspired by John Beere's), I agree with DogHouse, Brew-Boy and others by saying "Use the Barley Crusher". If you motorize and it doesn't suit your needs, you still have 75% of the work done to motorize something else.

The only mill I have seen that I'm not fond of is the Corona mill. However, one of the guys in our HBC uses a Corona and has more medals than I do (for the record, I have zero medals for my beer). So, RDWHAHB and focus on more important stuff like making great beer!

Speaking of that, I just got my water analysis back from Ward Labs and now I know why I don't have any medals.

Tonedef131 said:

I think Monster mills are the best value, they are very solid and you can get them with a 1/2" driveshaft which is a big perk if you are motorizing.

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I have a Monster Mill and it's awesome. I drive it with and old 1/3hp ge motor. I'm unsure of the speed at which it mills, but it seems to go through 12-13lbs of grain rather quickly.

http://www.monsterbrewinghardware.com/mm-220.html