Monster Mill Hopper

So I don't hijack the other thread about the best mill, I'll start my own.

From my reading, it sounds like there are some issues with the Monster Mill Hopper e.g. Thin metal, and potential for damage in transit. The Rebel mill hopper appears to be much more substantial.

So my question is assuming you had the means to make a hopper of wood or metal, is the standard hopper worth the $50 (cost+ Shipping) or would you make your own?

I have the large hopper for my MM3 2.0

I don't know where those rumors are coming from. It's a very nice hopper.

If it DID somehow show up damaged, I am sure MM would take care of you. Their customer care is top notch - trust me, I've used it.

I have the MM hopper and there are no issues with it. I think the hopper and base are worth the price, as I could not have built something as nice.

All good! Fred is a good guy

Mine seems quite sturdy.

If it got damaged in transit, I'm sure you would have no trouble getting it replaced. And unless you plan to leave it outside during violent hail storms, I doubt it will get damaged once in your possession.

I have had the large hopper on my MM3 for 2 years, no issues at all. The hopper is plenty strong!

I have the standard MM hopper and I don't feel that it is flimsy at all. The Barley Crusher hopper, on the other hand, is one I would classify as flimsy. That's one of the reasons I opted for the MM over the BC.

LLBeanJ said:

I have the standard MM hopper and I don't feel that it is flimsy at all. The Barley Crusher hopper, on the other hand, is one I would classify as flimsy. That's one of the reasons I opted for the MM over the BC.

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Same here. I suspect that the one person that I saw post about issues with the hopper got the mill from one of the resellers of Monster Mills and not direct from Monster. Mine arrived without any damage (not assembled) when I ordered my mill (direct from Monster). I also got the hopper extension from Monster at the same time. Love how it will hold up to 39# of grain that way. Helps when your grain bills are normally over 15#.

Not even sure how it could get damaged in transit, it comes disassembled & flat packed. Love the mill & the hopper.

Airplanedoc said:

So I don't hijack the other thread about the best mill, I'll start my own.

From my reading, it sounds like there are some issues with the Monster Mill Hopper e.g. Thin metal, and potential for damage in transit. The Rebel mill hopper appears to be much more substantial.

So my question is assuming you had the means to make a hopper of wood or metal, is the standard hopper worth the $50 (cost+ Shipping) or would you make your own?

Click to expand...

I did find my hopper to be thinner than I expected, as it's 1/16th inch sheetmetal. If I had to do it over again I would probably skip the hopper and base and build my own.

The mill on the other hand is fantastic, and I agonized a long time over the Rebel vs MM2-2.0. I'm still glad I went with the MM2-2.0

Golddiggie said:

Same here. I suspect that the one person that I saw post about issues with the hopper got the mill from one of the resellers of Monster Mills and not direct from Monster. Mine arrived without any damage (not assembled) when I ordered my mill (direct from Monster). I also got the hopper extension from Monster at the same time. Love how it will hold up to 39# of grain that way. Helps when your grain bills are normally over 15#.

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I assume you're referring to me. It was purchased directly from Monster Mill and I still have the USPS Flat Rate Priority Shipping Box that the base, disassembled hopper and mill arrived in.

The hopper and base look identical to what's shown on

http://www.monsterbrewinghardware.com/basehopper.html

logdrum said:

Not even sure how it could get damaged in transit, it comes disassembled & flat packed. Love the mill & the hopper.

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It came disassembled and flat packed, but nothing was bubble wrapped or packed in such a way to prevent free movement during transit, the only packing material included was packing peanuts. My best guess is that the mill bounced around during transit which snapped one of the mounting bolts (why on earth would you ship those half threaded into the mill?) and bent the corner of the 90 degree piece that fits over the mill itself.

I purchased the hopper/base and have been very happy with it. I'm not certain whether the steel is 1/16" or not but I do know that it's substantial enough that I'm not worried about damaging it through normal usage. I wouldn't use it for target practice or to hammer nails by any means but I would point out that I've knocked mine off a chair and sustained no damage to the hopper which had hit the ground first. The base is also very nice looking and does work although I wish it had an extra inch or two to provide extra lip albeit it does cover the entire top of the bucket I mill into.

Also, if your purchasing the hopper/base along with the unit it's nowhere near $10 to ship. I think it's only around that if you ship it by itself. I think it added like ~$2.50 in shipping to my total by buying the hopper with the mill (mostly weight related I'd imagine) and the total was still less than $16 to ship both IIRC (If you go USPS rather than UPS it was like $18). I do not know what the Rebel Mill costs to ship as a unit or how it compares as it was out of stock when I purchased mine and it still appears to be out of stock per the website.

I agree with Jukas in that the packaging from monster mill (direct) could be better. My MM2 arrived a couple of days ago. It was in a box - then inside another box with foam peanuts between the boxes. When I open the outside box I could see the adjuster screw poking out of the side of the smaller inside box. Once opened I could see that one of the mill ends was floating around in there (obviously due to a decent knock). But the thing is.. the mill ends were only held on by rubberbands?! when the end dislodged it was pulled into the box by the rubberband and somehow ripped through the cardboard - the end got scratched up by whatever it was rubbing on.

Wrapping the whole thing in bubble wrap with a couple of decent loops of tape around it would go a long way to avoiding damage. Or perhaps the components should be separated in the box - either way, improvements are needed.

I haven't used it yet but the mill does seem to be ok. I would have been a little grumpy if it was damaged as it took 3 weeks to arrive (I'm in NZ). Btw I didn't get the base/hopper as its too expensive to ship it over here.