PhineasJWhoopie
Member
Just starting all-grain. Give me direction on mills.
I guess I'm looking for suggestions about specific mills and crushers. If I'm investing $200 on a mill, I want people's opinions about what they like and don't like.
What kind of crusher do you have? Why do you like it? If you had a chance to start over, what would you have bought instead? What do you wish you knew before you bought?
Basically you get what you pay for. Corona mills work, but you may not get the best crush and speed is not a priority. My Barley Crusher served me well for about 3 years before she died. I can't say anything bad about it, I just think I used it way more than it was designed for. I recently purchased the Monster MM2 with the hardened rollers. Definitely in a different class than the Barley Crusher, as the BC was to a Corona. If your just getting started, I would go with the Barley Crusher design. Rather you buy the BC or the one from Rebel Brewer. The BC is in your price range, while the Rebel Brewer mill is a little more pricey, it looks a little more substantial. The bottom line is, if your going all grain, then a mill of some sort is a must.
What kind of crusher do you have? Why do you like it? If you had a chance to start over, what would you have bought instead? What do you wish you knew before you bought?
I own a Corona Mill, it was cheap to buy ( around $20) and easy to get setup a system to catch all the milled grain and use a automatic drill.
I brew maybe once a month on average so the cost of buying a bigger system wasn't worth it to save a few minutes. I would guess it takes 30 seconds to mill a pound of grain and I see no difference in crush compared to a roller style mill.
For the Corona style being 1/5 to 1/6 the price of roller mills, you can't beat it!
This is due in my opinion to people trash talking these cheap
mills that have never even used one.
QUOTE]
Touchee....but have you used a MM2? My comment wasn't meant to blast or demean Corona mills. My experience with them, and therefore my opinion is, they work....but a Corona mill didn't meet my expectations. Trust me, my expectations are a heavy cross to bare. Just ask my SWMBO!!
The Barley Crusher has a lifetime warranty ...after 3 years should of called them up
I've got one its okay..It took me about a dozen tries before I got the crush I wanted.. Lots of adjusting I had to do...Also took me awhile to find the right drill... Needs to have good torque and speed
If money isn't an option I would go Monster
What to look for:
1 - longer rollers - this speeds up the crushing, shortens the time needed. The Monster Mill has 6 inch rollers, others have 5 inch rollers.
2 - Roller diameter (this is important) - the thicker (and more expensive) the diameter, the better the crush quality. A smaller diameter mill is more likely to shred as opposed to crush. You ant small chunks, not flour and shredded husks.
3 - can the roller be run with a drill / ease of doing so? Crushing 12+ pounds of grain will take 15+ minutes with a hand crank. If thats ok, make sure the crank is long enough, and this adds so much expense its close to the cost of a drill like this:
http://www.harborfreight.com/1-2-half-inch-heavy-duty-spade-handle-drill-93632.html
4 - is the gap adjustable? If you ever plan on grinding very large kernals, corn for example, most mills may not handle that. I think the Monster Mill 2 - 2.0 can
hefehawk said:Going to tell the SO to get me a mill for Christmas. Money won't be an option. I want something that will last a long time. Guess I'm leaning towards the MM2. Should I get the hardened rollers or the SS 303 rollers?
I've been using an MM3 for I guess a little more than a year now. I love it! I was using the Grain Gobbler that MoreBeer! sells before that and I can say that I would not recommend the grain gobbler at all. For slightly more you can get a big boy grain mill.
I first bought a grain gobbler and returned it right away. Wasn't part of it plastic? (I forget)
How big of a diff are the 1.5" rollers and 2" rollers? Looks like a pretty big price jump.
For my use, I will be grinding about 50 lbs of grain per month.
Thanks!
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