grain mill

[brockettbrews]

want to buy a grain mill. what should i look for?? seen them from $40 up $300. what are the differences???

 

[Shaneoco1981]

There is all kind of differences. There is 2 or 3 rollers, hand crank or drill hook up, hopper or not. Adjustable or not. etc.

I got a monster mill 3 roller, and I love it. Solid steal construction, adjustable, with a drill hook up. It a great mill.

 

[Jayhem]

How often do you brew? If this is just for home brewing then the Barley Crusher malt mill is one of the best bangs for the buck and it's just a bit over $100. I can crush 10 lbs of grain in a few minutes and the rollers are adjustable.

A search on this website will turn up lots of information on different grain mills.

 

[Aschecte]

^^^^^ +1 to the above post I love my barley crusher !!! one note if you get this one and motorize it with a drill, make sure the chuck dosen't slip or you'll tear up the shank. this holds true for any mill not just this one. also i find hand cranking it gives a better crush IMHO.

 

[dbals]

Just saying.....

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-ugly-junk-corona-mill-station-90849/

 

[Jayhem]

^^^^^ +1 to the above post I love my barley crusher !!! one note if you get this one and motorize it with a drill, make sure the chuck dosen't slip or you'll tear up the shank. this holds true for any mill not just this one. also i find hand cranking it gives a better crush IMHO.

I also prefer hand-cranking the mill, it's more enjoyable and a great little workout for your arm!

 

[jaysbrewing]

I have a barley crusher and it doesn't have any issues. It's about $100 for one. I don't have any complaints. With a drill I believe it does about 6 lbs of grains per min. I just got a drill from home depot for $40. So for the whole set up it was about $150. I've had that mill for about 3-4 years and it's finally at the end of its life. But I'm getting another Barley Crusher to replace it.

I've owned more expensive mills in the past (don't want to slander any names) but I was not impressed at all. I had binding issues, as well as stalls even at 300rpm (that's not suppose to happen). Even though in theory they were suppose to work, they were unreliable.

Before this I always thought that a more expensive mill should work better/faster but from my personal experience it has not been the case.

You will be in good shape as long as you don't have to do it by hand. Or just ask your homebrew shop to mill for you also, should do it for free.

 

[Irrenarzt]

Are you a baller or are you looking for something cheap? The barley crusher is a great mill for the money but it won't stand up to much abuse. Barley crusher is as cheap as you want to go IMO. Anything less, like a corona mill, won't give a great crush. If you want to be a bit more of a pimp, the Rebel one is nice. A good upgrade over the BC. Monster is the top dog but can be finicky. You need to be pretty handy to dial the monster all the way into perfection.

 

[Jayhem]

I have a barley crusher and it doesn't have any issues. It's about $100 for one. I don't have any complaints. With a drill I believe it does about 6 lbs of grains per min. I just got a drill from home depot for $40. So for the whole set up it was about $150. I've had that mill for about 3-4 years and it's finally at the end of its life. But I'm getting another Barley Crusher to replace it.

Out of curiosity, what wore out on your barley crusher?

I can't imagine wearing this thing out very quickly at home brew requirements especially if you hand crank to avoid over spinning the rollers and wearing out the brass bushings.

 

[Schumed]

I've had that mill for about 3-4 years and it's finally at the end of its life. But I'm getting another Barley Crusher to replace it..

Why? The Barley Crusher has a lifetime guarentee.

 

[Schumed]

http://www.barleycrusher.com/barleycrusher.php

Precision machining with Quality Control and a LifeTime Warranty assures the homebrewer that this will be the only grain mill they will ever purchase!

 

[brockettbrews]

thanks for the advice. I just started brewing. I try and brew one beer a week but have been doing two a month. looking at all grain. it is alot cheaper than cans. I want a hundred dollar mill but dont want it to break. probally going to get a barley crusher.

 

[brockettbrews]

where do you find them at???

 

[Shaneoco1981]

http://www.barleycrusher.com/ordering.php

 

[cperry7467]

I think if you order through Beersmiths webpage you get a bit of a discount as opposed to going directly to barley crushers site. I think it was like $10 off or so.

 

[jaysbrewing]

As far as why I am replacing it. I used it for a mill for our homebrew shop for about a year. Most people don't crush over 2k of grains on a weekend, barley crushers aren't really meant for that. It could handle it for a while then the teeth started to go. What did it in was, a screw poped out that holds the hopper and tried to get milled. It bent the shaft so the mill works but not a crush that is great.

Monster mill eh? Yea no I'll stay away from it. I personally didn't like the bad design. For a 3 roller to use a feeler gauge you have to take off the hopper every time you want to adjust your crush? No thank you. I have a 1hp motor with a 14 inch pulley to it and the thing would stall ever 1 lb of grain or bind. There are other ones I have tried as well and didn't like as well.

Like I said, I assumed that the more money you pay for a mill the better it would be. I haven't found that to be true. At the end it's a mill, the concept is pretty simple - you crack grains with it. Unless you have a micro brewery or a HBS then you don't need to spend a ton of money on one, a power drill should do the trick.

And even with that when the barley crusher was a full force it was used at our HBS and did an amazing job. Is it a bit slower, undoubtedly yes. But it would only take on average 2.5 min per recipe (6 lbs per min).

 

[paulmac]

Anything less, like a corona mill, won't give a great crush.

There are plenty here that would disagree with that statement. Many people would be happy to get the 80-85% efficiency several people here get with a Corona mill

 

[rivertranced]

I live about 5 minutes away from my LHBS, so I can usually crush my grains right before I brew. Is there a huge advantage to buying a grain mill then, aside from controlling the courseness of the crush? I've not had any efficiency problems with my LHBS grain crush, but then again, I have no idea about whether they ever calibrate that thing.

 

[GrainWhisperer]

You can buy bulk grain and save money. But you have to be able to crush it yourself.