I think the Barley Crusher Grain Mill is still the best bang for the buck at $149.99, well at Northern Brewer anyways, about 10 bucks more than when I bought mine 2 years ago come July. It comes with everything pictured, unlike the expensive mills where everything comes separately.
Here it is sittin atop my 5G Lowe's bucket, which seems to fit the base tighter than the orange Home Depot bucket. Mine came with the 7lb hopper, but it can also be had with a 15lb hopper for 20 bucks more. Great for Steeping, PM or AG amounts of malts.
It has two adjustment knobs, one on either side with notches to align the rollers for a .039" gap. This gap seems to give a very even crush after 2 years of use. Here's a shot of the adjusters;
Left side;
Right side near crank handle;
I've run a lot of different grains through this mill, both barley and wheat, from multiple countries as well. The wheat malts seem to be harder than the barley-based malts. But being a retired auto worker, I still have arms like Popeye, so it works. The underside of the base has little rubber legs located so as to make it fit a 5 gallon bucket snugly. In this next shot, you can also see the rollers and how the roller frame is bolted on. I'm also showing the 1" trim brush Giant Eagle sells as a basting brush in sets of 2. They're made from hog bristle, which I think is better than synthetic.
And yeah, before anyone speaks up, I do need to finish cleaning it after brew day yesterday. The little brush does a great job of dusting it off and cleaning the knurls in the rollers. My efficiency with my pb/pm biab beers went up quite a bit since I started using this crusher. While the MM2's, and other way higher priced mills may be better in the long run when motorized, this one is great for PM amounts where hand cranking will do fine. A little exercise is a good thing. I brewed an East German kottbusser yesterday that required 7 1/2 pounds of grains for the partial mash. Here's a shot of the hopper loaded with 7 pounds worth;
Then milled down a bit before adding a 1/2 pound of 2 other grains;
It only took a couple of minutes to crush the 7 1/2 pounds worth. But it sure gives your arm a workout with 3lbs of German wheat malt on the bottom! By the time I got down to the barley malts, the torque needed was noticeably less. Here's a shot of the crushed grains;
Then the bucket with 4ozs of rice hulls added, as there was also 12ozs of flaked oats in there as well. Didn't want a big dough ball in the bag!
Here's a close shot of the crushed grains with some rice hulls;
I didn't think it was necessary to crush the rice hulls. I wanted them to do a maximum job of keeping the mash loose and evenly wet. I was fairly certain 12 ounces of oats would need it. Better safe than sorry. Especially since a pound of rice hulls is a big bag. The bag looked about equal to 3-4 pounds of malt. So I changed the amount of rice hulls in the recipe from 8ozs to 4ozs, as 4ozs worth would fill a 1lb Maillard Malt bag quite full indeed. In the end, the 4ozs of rice hulls worked beautifully with the quality of crush I get from the Barley Crusher Malt Mill.
Not to mention, getting my grain whole and crushing them fresh for steeping or mashing. I think this lends to improved efficiency as well. So if you're way into steeping grains and thinking of moving to partial mash or even all grain and like me, you're not rich, this is a sturdy unit for the home brewer by my tests of nearly 2 years of use. Just clean it out real well and don't abuse it. It'll last a long time if properly cared for.
Here it is sittin atop my 5G Lowe's bucket, which seems to fit the base tighter than the orange Home Depot bucket. Mine came with the 7lb hopper, but it can also be had with a 15lb hopper for 20 bucks more. Great for Steeping, PM or AG amounts of malts.
It has two adjustment knobs, one on either side with notches to align the rollers for a .039" gap. This gap seems to give a very even crush after 2 years of use. Here's a shot of the adjusters;
Left side;
Right side near crank handle;
I've run a lot of different grains through this mill, both barley and wheat, from multiple countries as well. The wheat malts seem to be harder than the barley-based malts. But being a retired auto worker, I still have arms like Popeye, so it works. The underside of the base has little rubber legs located so as to make it fit a 5 gallon bucket snugly. In this next shot, you can also see the rollers and how the roller frame is bolted on. I'm also showing the 1" trim brush Giant Eagle sells as a basting brush in sets of 2. They're made from hog bristle, which I think is better than synthetic.
And yeah, before anyone speaks up, I do need to finish cleaning it after brew day yesterday. The little brush does a great job of dusting it off and cleaning the knurls in the rollers. My efficiency with my pb/pm biab beers went up quite a bit since I started using this crusher. While the MM2's, and other way higher priced mills may be better in the long run when motorized, this one is great for PM amounts where hand cranking will do fine. A little exercise is a good thing. I brewed an East German kottbusser yesterday that required 7 1/2 pounds of grains for the partial mash. Here's a shot of the hopper loaded with 7 pounds worth;
Then milled down a bit before adding a 1/2 pound of 2 other grains;
It only took a couple of minutes to crush the 7 1/2 pounds worth. But it sure gives your arm a workout with 3lbs of German wheat malt on the bottom! By the time I got down to the barley malts, the torque needed was noticeably less. Here's a shot of the crushed grains;
Then the bucket with 4ozs of rice hulls added, as there was also 12ozs of flaked oats in there as well. Didn't want a big dough ball in the bag!
Here's a close shot of the crushed grains with some rice hulls;
I didn't think it was necessary to crush the rice hulls. I wanted them to do a maximum job of keeping the mash loose and evenly wet. I was fairly certain 12 ounces of oats would need it. Better safe than sorry. Especially since a pound of rice hulls is a big bag. The bag looked about equal to 3-4 pounds of malt. So I changed the amount of rice hulls in the recipe from 8ozs to 4ozs, as 4ozs worth would fill a 1lb Maillard Malt bag quite full indeed. In the end, the 4ozs of rice hulls worked beautifully with the quality of crush I get from the Barley Crusher Malt Mill.
Not to mention, getting my grain whole and crushing them fresh for steeping or mashing. I think this lends to improved efficiency as well. So if you're way into steeping grains and thinking of moving to partial mash or even all grain and like me, you're not rich, this is a sturdy unit for the home brewer by my tests of nearly 2 years of use. Just clean it out real well and don't abuse it. It'll last a long time if properly cared for.
