Schmidling Malt Mill

[parratt1]

Hey Everyone,
I am looking at getting the Schmidling Malt Mill with the gear drive option and the case hardened rollers to use in my brewshop when I get it open. With the mill, to get the gear drive option you can only get it with the model A which is only adjustable on one end. Can anyone forsee any problems with only being adjustable on one end? My line of thinking is that you would want both ends adjustable to be able to maintain an even crush. Anyone have any insight or experience here? Am I overthinking this?

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

It's certainly better to have both ends adjustable, but the Schmidling mill has a somewhat narrow gap where the grain goes through. As such, the gap between the two sides of the window will not vary much.

M_C

Hey Everyone,
I am looking at getting the Schmidling Malt Mill with the gear drive option and the case hardened rollers to use in my brewshop when I get it open. With the mill, to get the gear drive option you can only get it with the model A which is only adjustable on one end. Can anyone forsee any problems with only being adjustable on one end? My line of thinking is that you would want both ends adjustable to be able to maintain an even crush. Anyone have any insight or experience here? Am I overthinking this?

 

[Brewmoor]

It should work great for you. I have been using mine for the last 41/2 months commercially. Three times a week I grind about 200lbs of grain. So on average 600lbs a week through it. I have only adjusted it once and it seems to make a great grind every time.

 

[parratt1]

Brewmoor Thats awesome! Would you mind hooking me up with how you motorized it? I saw the tutorial on his website and plan to try that. Do you do it that way?

 

[mtnbikerbrewer]

We ran a Schmidling for a while at my lhbs but our mills are used intensively, probably grinding close to a ton of malt a week and sometimes more (based on how much malt I order). However after about 6 to 8 months, we noticed the Schmidling couldn't quite hold up. We switched over to the Monster Mill mm3-2.0 (and we are actually adding a second) with a belt drive and motor. Once we got all the kinks figured out adapting it to our malt grinding bench, it works awesome and just powers through malt with a great crush.

I used to use a BarleyCrusher at home, which works well for the occasional brewer, we now use a Monster Mill mm3-1.0 and love it. Interested in trying out Crankandstiens some day, but the Monsters have proven to be the superior product. Well worth the money, especially if its going to get a lot of use.

 

[TomRep]

mtnbikerbrewer- What didn't hold up on the Schmidling?

 

[mtnbikerbrewer]

The adjustment mechanism stared to fail and it would fall out of alignment quite regularly. Also the rollers seemed to of dulled and had trouble grabbing onto the grain in almost any circumstance. While the monster isnt perfect, it only takes a few seconds to get working again (either rocking the flywheel back and forth a second or giving the the third roller a quite spin with the hand) it keeps going. The problems we encounter with monster are just a buildup of dust and once that's clear it works amazingly. We rarely have to adjust it and we check it regularly. Also the overall construction is strudier on the monster than the schmidling.

not to discredit schmidling, its a good mill at a good price for the occassional allgrain brewer, but for heavy use id invest in the monster (or maybe a crankandstein, but that is based only on what I have heard)..

Also, apologies for any typos, I'm on a touch screen keyboard right now.... At the bar, haha.

 

[kappclark]

I have a schmidling - recently I find I need to rock the hopper back and forth to feed the grain (no biggie,,) not sure what causes that..I have made no adjustments (not sure I can, even if I wanted to)

I Am wondering about RPM .. I run it with a 1/2" drill at 600 RPM...the process seems to be taking longer ..is this too fast or slow ?? I do not have a variable-speed drill...

It has otherwise been a reliable performer.

 

[Face Eater]

I'm in the process of motorizing mine at about 300ish rpms. I thought I read somewhere to keep it under 4-500 but I could be wrong.

 

[kappclark]

Yea - My thinking is that the higher speed is giving me a poorer crush (my efficiency is lower than when I purchase the grain pre-crushed.. I have been compensating with extra grain, but would like to dial this one in..

 

[kappclark]

Just answered my own question - this guy recommends 60 - 100 RPM, and points out that efficiency suffers above 500 RPM ...

Well - OK - no wonder I haven't had any stuck sparges !

Here is the link on motorizing the malt mill

http://hbd.org/carboy/motorizing_a_malt_mill.htm

 

[Face Eater]

Yea that's what I read. Trying to figure my pulley situation to get it down around 300 or lower.

 

[kappclark]

Please share when you have it all figured out (smile)..

 

[Face Eater]

Well I found this site while googling

http://www.gizmology.net/pulleysbelts.htm

I think I'm gonna go with 1-3/4" on my motor (1/3 hp, 1750rpm) and a 11" on the malt mill. It says I will be down to 278 rpms. I would like to go lower but having a hard time finding a bigger pulley without spending a lot of money on it.

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

Well I found this site while googling

http://www.gizmology.net/pulleysbelts.htm

I think I'm gonna go with 1-3/4" on my motor (1/3 hp, 1750rpm) and a 11" on the malt mill. It says I will be down to 278 rpms. I would like to go lower but having a hard time finding a bigger pulley without spending a lot of money on it.

To simplify it all... If you want a RPM of 200RPM:

1750 / 200 = 8.75:1 reduction. Which means, your pulley diameter on the motor has to be 8.75 times SMALLER than the one on the mill.

Expended:

Motor pulley Mill pulley
1" 8.75"
1.5" 13.125"

If you want a RPM of 250RPM:

1750 / 250 = 7:1 reduction. Which means, your pulley diameter on the motor has to be 7 times SMALLER than the one on the mill.

Expended:

Motor pulley Mill pulley
1" 7"
1.5" 10.5"

Etc.

M_C

 

[Face Eater]

I actually went with a 1-3/4 inch pulley on the motor and a 13.94" pulley on the mill. Should get me down to about a bit over 200. The motor had a 5/8 shaft so 1-3/4 was the smallest I found with that bore. Then to get that large of a mill pulley the bore was 3/4 so I bought a few 3/8 ID 3/4 OD shaft collars to make the pulley fit on the mill. Should be done with it by the weekend.

 

[N3Bruce]

I motorized my Barley Crusher, using a 6 inch pulley on the mill, and a 1 1/2 inch pulley on a 1/3hp motor which gives me a speed of about 400 rpm. I have to get the belt really tight to prevent slipping, as there is little surface area for the belt to wrap around. I wish I could go with larger pulleys, but as it is, I have 3/8" to 1/2" sleeve to work with the 6 inch pulley. All that strain puts a lot of side load on the shaft and bushings, which will limit the life of the mill. It works, but it is not ideal. I work on machinery every day, and I am keeping an eye out for some appropriately sized and priced timing pulleys, or perhaps a stickier type of v belt.

 

[hairymare]

We ran a Schmidling for a while at my lhbs but our mills are used intensively, probably grinding close to a ton of malt a week and sometimes more (based on how much malt I order). However after about 6 to 8 months, we noticed the Schmidling couldn't quite hold up. We switched over to the Monster Mill mm3-2.0 (and we are actually adding a second) with a belt drive and motor. Once we got all the kinks figured out adapting it to our malt grinding bench, it works awesome and just powers through malt with a great crush.

I used to use a BarleyCrusher at home, which works well for the occasional brewer, we now use a Monster Mill mm3-1.0 and love it. Interested in trying out Crankandstiens some day, but the Monsters have proven to be the superior product. Well worth the money, especially if its going to get a lot of use.

Do you know if your Schmidling had hardened steel rollers?