Grain Mill Questions

Morning!

Anyone had any success with grain mills? I would rather save time and mill at home than wait in line at the store.

Thanks!

Love my grain mill.

I bought a monster mill 2.0 and built a cabinet out of thick plywood from home depot. I sized it to fit either a homer bucket or a 30L fermenter bucket inside. I run it using a power drill. It works great and I don't have to hope that a LHBS has their mill set up correctly. I bought a bunch of grain from a LHBS and never got better than 50% efficiency. I'm sure it was their crush.

LovesIPA said:

Love my grain mill. I bought a monster mill 2.0 and built a cabinet out of thick plywood from home depot. I sized it to fit either a homer bucket or a 30L fermenter bucket inside. I run it using a power drill. It works great and I don't have to hope that a LHBS has their mill set up correctly. I bought a bunch of grain from a LHBS and never got better than 50% efficiency. I'm sure it was their crush.

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That's what I am running in to. Got any pics?

Thanks!

Sure if you don't mind looking at my messy garage in the background.

As you can see, quick n dirty is my middle name. The cabinet cost about $60 in materials.

LovesIPA said:

Sure if you don't mind looking at my messy garage in the background.

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Ha!! Not at all.

My Barley Crusher has been one of my better purchases. I used to buy crushed grain from different sources and my efficiency used to vary and suck. Not any more!

LovesIPA said:

Sure if you don't mind looking at my messy garage in the background. As you can see, quick n dirty is my middle name. The cabinet cost about $60 in materials.

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Looks great!

Whatever you do, get a good mill. I saved money and bought a cereal killer and now I'm looking at needing a whole new mill less than a year later because my $90 piece of Chinese garbage can't give me an even crush no matter what.

BudzAndSudz said:

Whatever you do, get a good mill. I saved money and bought a cereal killer and now I'm looking at needing a whole new mill less than a year later because my $90 piece of Chinese garbage can't give me an even crush no matter what.

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Which is exactly why I went with the monster mill.

I have no complaints about my 3 roller monster. HF drill does a good job too. I kind of wish I had a cabinet setup but this requires less space.

3-roller monster mill. Drool. How's that baby treat you? Most likely my next purchase since my junk sucks.

Bigscience said:

I have no complaints about my 3 roller monster. HF drill does a good job too. I kind of wish I had a cabinet setup but this requires less space.

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Wow! Not sure I can commit that much since I am building my all grain system.

But it looks cool.

If you're building an all-grain system then a good mill is possibly the best invesment you can make in the entire project.

BudzAndSudz said:

If you're building an all-grain system then a good mill is possibly the best invesment you can make in the entire project.

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^^^^

Definitely.

What's the difference in the 2 roll versus 3 roll systems ?

Very happy with my cheap Corona type mill here...I have used it for several years without issue.

I've also been getting great results with my $20 corona mill from Discount Tommy mounted in a $3 Home Depot bucket.

How's the barley crusher mill?

I love my barley crusher. Super glad I spent the money. On factory setting my efficiency went up 5-6%.

I bought a cheap corona mill. After modification, I am getting a very consistent 86.5% efficiency, so I cannot complain. Total bill came to about $35 including the threading tool to modify it.

skepace said:

How's the barley crusher mill?

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Not as good as the monster mill. I talked to a LHBS owner a few months back and he had a barley crusher. When he wore it out, they refused to honor their warranty on the grounds that he was using it for commercial purposes. He replaced it with a monster mill and it's lasted twice as long already.

skepace said:

How's the barley crusher mill?

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Personally, I'm very happy with mine. It's easy to adjust, it gives me a much better crush than I was getting from my two LHBSs and it comes with a lifetime warranty (at least for personal use, apparently). I could have spent more, but I doubt I would taste the difference in my beers.

jwalker1140 said:

I could have spent more, but I doubt I would taste the difference in my beers.

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Pretty much sums up how I feel about Corona mill.

I read a lot of these threads when I was looking for a mill. In the end, I went with the barley crusher with the small hopper and have never looked back.

For what I do, brewing every three weeks, it feels like it's going to take a long, long time to wear this out.

My LHBS has good pricing on 50# sacks, so I've already made that money back. And if the urge to brew strikes at the last minute, I can just go downstairs and mill some grains.

wilserbrewer said:

Pretty much sums up how I feel about Corona mill.

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If it's good enough for Charlie Papazian, it's good enough for me. I get 86% efficiency doing BIAB.

I gor a good deal on a Barley Crusher and I love it so far.

Although a plywood base will replace the particle board when I get around to it.

I've bought grain crushed from online places and crushed my own with a friends mill. I noticed I get much better efficiency when I crush myself.

I also use a Corona style mill. It was a Christmas present so I have $0 invested. My efficiency varies but I don't think it is due to the crush. And the beer is GREAT!

BudzAndSudz said:

If you're building an all-grain system then a good mill is possibly the best invesment you can make in the entire project.

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Yes and no. A mill without a mash tun won't do you much good. What a mill has allowed me to do is to buy in bulk and then grind when I need it. I can pretty much brew whatever I want whenever I want. To keep my stock fresh, I've started making kits for friends at a slight markup but still less than the LHBS.

If you are going from extract to AG, first get a large kettle so you can stop over at BIAB land. Then add a mash tun then HLT. This also assumes you already have a chiller. I'd even say get a keg setup before a mill. Just my thoughts.

Regarding my mill, I don't think I'd do anything different on it. I have the SS rollers but not the larger ones. I read that those are only needed if you are a LHBS or semi pro and grinding all the time. I do like the extended hopper option. I could have built one but don't really have the spare time.

I love my Barley Crusher. I just did my third batch with it today.

Another Corona mill user here, I love it! Bought it for like $35 and have milled hundreds of lbs with it, even put it in a cabinet and put a motor on it. And as someone else said about grain mill purchases, it's one if the best AG investments I've made.

I just bought a grain mill with a fixed gap. The gap is supposed to be around 0.05" (1.3mm) but is actually close to 0.07" (1.9mm). I would normally just take it back but the store is 400 miles from here. The owner of the HB store says it doesn't matter but it seems too wide from what I pick up on the forum.
Before I use it can anyone advise me on the absolute max gap please? I put a handful of rice through just to test and it just fell through.

royco said:

I put a handful of rice through just to test and it just fell through.

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That doesn't sound good at all! Gap should be about credit card thickness I believe.

Try double or triple milling the grain, or until almost every piece of grain is well fractured!

skepace said:

What's the difference in the 2 roll versus 3 roll systems ?

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The 3 roller conditions it a little. If I didn't have it, I'd just spray a little water on the grain before milling. I'm brewing today. I'll see if I can get a picture of my mill.

.05" is on the edge of reasonable and .07" is way too big. Can you get an accurate measurement?

Thank you, this is not what Honest Joe at the store told me
I think it is going back and I will add some cash and get an adjustable Crankenstein.

I don't know what mill I'd buy if this one wore out? It's not showing any signs of ware though. It's unstoppable, the mill, not the motor. You can totally stop the motor. I only do one sack at a time or it starts getting warm. MM-3 had it for 2 years