motorized schmidling maltmill

[Warrior]

Finally got rid of the drill and motorized my schmidling maltmill. Used an 1725 rpm motor with a 1.5" pulley diameter on the motor and a 5" on the geared mill. This gives me a mill speed of 517 rpm. Crushed 30.5 lbs of grain in 3 mins! that's a throughput of 10 lbs a min! Always liked the schmidling mill, two nine inch rollers and a good crush. Check the picks on the box build with a bare bones model I bought.

 

[okiedog]

A mill speed of 517 RPM seems high. Have you ever noticed any astringent flavors in your brews? 300 RPM is a more normal speed for homebrew grain mills.

 

[Warrior]

A mill speed of 517 RPM seems high. Have you ever noticed any astringent flavors in your brews? 300 RPM is a more normal speed for homebrew grain mills.

Schmidling rates the max spped at 500 rpm. It has nine inch rollers which should allow more grain at the crush point verses a 4 or 5 in roller mill. The crush looked good but this will be the 1st brew I make with the motor. I'm sure I had that speed at times with the hand drill before as that speed was variable.

 

[passedpawn]

A mill speed of 517 RPM seems high. Have you ever noticed any astringent flavors in your brews? 300 RPM is a more normal speed for homebrew grain mills.

Not going to happen. You aren't going to get astringency due to the way you mill.

Yes, milling fast can give you more flour and shredded hulls, but the ONLY downside to this is the potential for stuck sparge. If you trust your lautering system (i.e., false bottom in the mash tun), then a fine grind will improve your efficiency with no detriment to the beer.

I use a maltmill and mill at high speeds.

 

[PLOVE]

Good call passedpawn. In fact my understanding is that some breweries purposely powerderize/flour their malts for maximum efficiency. The downside for most homebrewers is simply that we rely on husks and other solid portions of the barley seed to help with bed filtration.

 

[beaksnbeer]

Mine only runs at 120 rpm and 150 in lbs of torque not super fast but she'll start and run 38 lbs in the hopper at about 7 lbs a min. I run corn and wheat at a slower speeds

 

[okiedog]

Warrior, what model is your Schmidling Maltmill?

 

[Warrior]

Warrior, what model is your Schmidling Maltmill?

I bought the barebones geared model. Built the wooden box and grain bin and mounted it on.

 

[okiedog]

Warrior, according to Schmidling's website the geared option is only available on the BBA model, which has adjustment on one end. How does the one end adjustment work, or did you just leave it at the factory setting? It does sound like you are very happy with the crush. I am preparing to buy a malt mill, so I'm researching what's available.

 

[Warrior]

Warrior, according to Schmidling's website the geared option is only available on the BBA model, which has adjustment on one end. How does the one end adjustment work, or did you just leave it at the factory setting? It does sound like you are very happy with the crush. I am preparing to buy a malt mill, so I'm researching what's available.

When I say barebones I did get the geared version which also has the adjustment. It does not come with the wooden base and handcrank handle. You need to make your own holding base and hopper. The adjustment is done by just a wingnut that holds the one roller end in a camed busing. I actually use the factory setting all the time. When you get the gear version you don't have the option of the fixed rollers. BTW this is my 2nd schmidling mill and they do work great, other one crushed thousands of lbs of grain before it burnt up 4 years ago in my shop fire. I do prefer the geared version over the other version worth the extra money in my opinon.

 

[okiedog]

Warrior, could you please post pictures of your crush? I was set on getting a Millars mill, but now I'm about sold on Schmidling. Do you know if the Maltmill with both ends adjustable is available with gears?

 

[beaksnbeer]

Warrior, could you please post pictures of your crush? I was set on getting a Millars mill, but now I'm about sold on Schmidling. Do you know if the Maltmill with both ends adjustable is available with gears?

No, the fully adjustable model is not available in geared. Problem with getting the gears to close in their mesh could cause binding. Never had a problem without it being geared. I like being in full control of my crush.

 

[Warrior]

Warrior, could you please post pictures of your crush? I was set on getting a Millars mill, but now I'm about sold on Schmidling. Do you know if the Maltmill with both ends adjustable is available with gears?

I had the non geared version before but prefer the geared one. The adjustment is on just one end as mentioned you couldn't be adjusting the geared end. Crushing 37 lbs of grain tonight, I'll post pics later tonight.

 

[Warrior]

Warrior, could you please post pictures of your crush? I was set on getting a Millars mill, but now I'm about sold on Schmidling. Do you know if the Maltmill with both ends adjustable is available with gears?

Just got done weighing and crushing the grain. BTW set a stop watch 2:50 mins to crush 37 lbs of grain, that's 13 lbs/min.

 

[okiedog]

Warrior, thanks for the picture and details. It makes sense that the geared end of the mill wouldn't be adjustable. Adjustment would affect how the gears mesh/match up. But I do wonder why you'd need adjustment on the non-geared end, other than to keep the rollers parallel, which they should be anyway. Looks like you're getting a good crush, but without a closeup I can't see too much detail. Thanks for all the info Warrior.