Captain Crush Grain Mill Gap Measurements

Williams 728
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NeoBrew

NeoBrew

NeoBrew
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I sat down and did some measurements on my Captain Crush roller gaps for various settings. I thought it might be useful to someone. I'd be interested to compare it to others.

My upper roller is a few hundredths out of parallel from one end to the other. I took the measurement in the middle of the rollers.

Captain Crush Roller Spacing.png
 
Just stumbled across this post, thanks for doing the measurements! One question... have you managed to perfect which settings to use with it?
 
I should probably sit down and re-take those measurements. My mill was not working very well, so I took it in and the guys at the Northern Brewer store exchanged it for me. There was some feeling that some of the early units may not meet specs. I would suspect the measurements I made are still pretty close.

I had been having trouble early on with the mill clogging up. I'm not sure if that was settings or the above mentioned problem, but now it's working like a charm.

I do BIAB, so I'm looking for a bit finer crush. I've had good results with 2.5 on the upper roller and 1 on the lower roller. That's assuming 1 is finest and 6 is the coarsest. On my last brew day Beersmith calculated 91.6% mash efficiency.

I believe my problem initially was that I had the upper roller set fairly wide to just crack the grains, then let the lower roller do the work. This seemed to cause a lot of binding up of grains between the two. Now I'm really crushing with the upper roller and then using the lower one to give me that one notch finer crush. It works great for me. I'm using the Harbor Freight geared down drill that people talk about on here.
 
Im using the same drill. The binding up you were referring to...was thag one the passive upper roller? I got one of the early units and ive had it happen a few times where it stops grinding because grains gets caught in the side edge of that roller. I have to dump all the grain ouy of tbe hopper and try to pry the grain out of the space between the roller and the side casing
 
I don't believe grain on the side of the roller was my problem. I never really figured it out with certainty, but I think the asymmetric adjustment knobs were not machined properly. This caused the rollers to be slightly out of parallel and eventually started wearing the bushing. After about my 5th brew day I found bronze shavings on the base. That's when I took it in and they replaced it. I never noticed any grain at the sides of the roller. My jams freed up when I dumped out the grain and ran the rollers backwards.
 
Thanks for the measurements. I just used my Captain Crush for the first time yesterday. I was having some problems with my drill being underpowered but once I got the right drill, it seemed to crush really well. I was following the suggested setting however. Wondering 2 things. Are you still having success on the finer crush settings? And do you notice a high pitched squeal while operating the mill? Thanks again.
 
Mine was working great... Then it started free-wheeling... I'd have to dump the grain and keep F***ing with it...
I did notice the shaft now has play in it like that.
I'm not ready to give up on it yet tho...
NB said to open the top gap wid open and adjust the bottom to your crush.
Good luck
 
thanks for posting this. I just got a captain crush in my mail today. What are you guys using for motors and is there a consensus on the settings to use for BIAB?
 
Sorry to derail a tad, but how is it still going with this mill for you owners? Still liking it, issues worked out? My BC is now refusing to pull grain, apparently a very common issue after a couple of years of use, and I'm considering this mill as an upgrade but am reading so very many mixed reviews. Any feedback would be most helpful! Thanks in advance.


Rev.
 
It's going to work best wiling a good low speed hi torque drill... I got one from harbor freight and just went thru 33 pounds of grain in a jiffy.
 
bondra76 said:
thanks for posting this. I just got a captain crush in my mail today. What are you guys using for motors and is there a consensus on the settings to use for BIAB?
Click to expand...

I use a 0.016 gap setting for BIAB and am happy with the results. Got 89% and 84% mash/lauter efficiency on my last two brews.

Brew on :mug:
 
Monkey-BB said:
Mine was working great... Then it started free-wheeling... I'd have to dump the grain and keep F***ing with it...
I did notice the shaft now has play in it like that.
I'm not ready to give up on it yet tho...
NB said to open the top gap wid open and adjust the bottom to your crush.
Good luck
Click to expand...


This is the problem I have. Over and over. No matter what setting combinations I use. I HATE this thing. My first one self destructed in the first week. The second one free wheels constantly (as did the first one). I am considering sending it back and trying to get a refund. Im looking for a replacement now. I would NOT recommend the mill though I speculate it's actually the flat area at the bottom of the hopper that causes the problem.
 
Mine is working great for me. I had trouble with mine free wheeling too until I figured out a better gap adjustment.

I set the top rollers to do a good crush. I'm not home to look right now, but I'd guess it's around .030. Then I use the bottom roller tighter to "double crush". The lower ones are .023 I think.

This seems to have stopped grain from clogging between the upper and lower roller.
 
I had all types of problems with my Captain Crush which just about drove me mad. Nothing worse than starting your brew day and not being able to mill your grain! Luckily NB send a new one which happens to be an improved model. The knobs are no longer set using thumb screws. Instead, you use an allen wrench. Also, the knobs are now labeled with uppercase L or R to dictate placement on the mill. I have yet to find an cordless drill that can crush the grain. I recently bought an 18V Makita and that didn't even do the trick. I was sort of bummed about that but an electric plows through the grain no problem.

I would be curious what efficiency others are getting with their working mill and "ideal" settings. It seems my efficiency has been pretty poor recently and the mill is the only thing that has changed in my setup. The crush looks good but I guess I'll have to play with the settings and try a finer crush.

In hindsight I wish I had a barley crusher or some other type of mill. I have borrowed a friends and it just seems to "work" without a lot of thought, can operate with an electric drill etc.
 
Monkey-BB said:
93632 Harbor Freight
Click to expand...

Hey I have to thank you again for posting that drill.

I have fought rounds and rounds with this damn mill since I received it as a Christmas gift. The first time I used it I bought a whole recipe for a Red IPA and my efficiency was like 30% because it was a mix of semi-milled grain and whole grain; I had to junk the whole thing. Today I threw about 3 lbs of grain in my mill and then turned on the drill. It grinder the grain LIKE A BOSS.

Very timely I finally got this thing fixed. I got 3 of my 4 taps running dry. Time to start brewing again, finally!!!!

Thanks so much!
 
bondra76 said:
Hey I have to thank you again for posting that drill.

I have fought rounds and rounds with this damn mill since I received it as a Christmas gift. The first time I used it I bought a whole recipe for a Red IPA and my efficiency was like 30% because it was a mix of semi-milled grain and whole grain; I had to junk the whole thing. Today I threw about 3 lbs of grain in my mill and then turned on the drill. It grinder the grain LIKE A BOSS.

Very timely I finally got this thing fixed. I got 3 of my 4 taps running dry. Time to start brewing again, finally!!!!

Thanks so much!
Click to expand...

I'm glad it worked out-
I went about 10 rounds with CC Friday. They are so finicky-!
I almost threw it through the wall-
finally dumped the grain out of the hopper for the 379 time took the thing apart and made sure everything was exactly lined up. That's all it took-
I'm going to mill the night before from now on until Captian Pain in the ass is more consistent.
Happy Easter !
 
I'm going to try and return this thing. I had no problems hammering out grain last week. I go out and buy a recipe and try to put it through today and it absolutely binds up on me. I've got the set screws totally screwed in at the same settings I had it last week. I just don't get it.

I asked for a MM2 or MM3 for Christmas and ended up with this thing. I think I am going to revert back to that choice if possible. This thing has been just such a hassle and it's the most expensive piece of equipment in my whole brew process. Definitely disappointed and frustrated. Another planned brew day down the freaking tubes.
 
I've had good and bad experiences and already returned one of these mills that was binding up at the bushing and throwing metal all over. The second one doesn't bind, but it kept free rolling. This has all been using the Harbor Freight 1/2" drill.

I've finally shortened up the gap considerably from the "ideal settings" in the directions using the image in the original post. I'm aiming for something like .070 and .040 while I brew a few more batches. The last setting I did was at 4 and about 2.5(closer to 3). This time it only free rolled two or three times in 16lbs. I did stick the mash a little but I am also recirculating with HERMS and I may have had a vacuum issue. That batch was around 73% efficiency. I upgraded the tubing and fittings on my false bottom from the joke fittings it came with to 1/2" high flow pieces from Brew Hardware, so I will try again using the same recipe and the same gap settings once more before I change anything on the mill.

Northern brewer doesn't have any gap settings they can recommend for me so I would be curious to hear what's working for all of you non-BIAB users. I think where I am currently at is getting close. I'm using settings from the Monster Mill FAQ, and in hindsight, I regret not going with a MM2-2.0 SS. Hopefully I can get this thing working consistently so I don't loathe milling grain any more.
 
I looked at this mill after my Barley Crusher stopped pulling grain after only about 70-80 batches (700-800lbs of grain I'd average). I was warned away from it on here, saw the reports of NB removing the negative reviews leaving only positive one's, and went with the standard Monster Mill 2. No hardened rollers upgrade, no 3 roller model, and no 2" rollers, and man am I glad I did!! My efficiency jumped from 81% with the BC to 86% and I've never once had it free roll, bind up, or cause any problems whatsoever. I'm in love with this mill. When you apply pressure to the drill trigger (I use the low speed Harbor Freight as well and love it) you can feel the worth and power of the mill. It just chomps grain like nobodies business. I highly recommend getting one and putting your frustration behind you.


Rev.
 
I went from the captain crush to mm 2.0 with the thick rollers. Thing is a beast. Honestly the captain crush was the last thing I will ever buy from NB again. The quality of their goods just seems subpar to everything else out there and it's like they cut corners on everything. To me it's the Walmart of online homebrew shops. Hate to say that but it was just miserable experience one after another of their product lines.
 
The product quality aside, Northern Brewer has been more than helpful with my concerns and has offered to take this second unit back for store credit for me. I find their customer service to stand out among the online homebrew stores. I wanted to like this mill, but it has just been too frustrating with problems after multiple adjustments. Hopefully others who are having good success with it will continue to share some of the configurations they use.
 
I agree their customer service is outstanding - never had any issues with them. Just disappointed that the quality of their products is sometimes lacking and seems to be really focused on the most margin they can possibly make.
 

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