New mill=way better efficiency!

I have made the same amber ale three times now. With the same ingredients I have gone from 63% and 66% with LHBS grind, to 83% with the new mill set at .039. I was really surprised at the difference. Aside from the efficiency, it was also cool to mill in the garage and throw in the mash tun two minutes later. I should have done this years ago.

 

I hear you brother. My first all grain batches was using grains milled from the mail-order company I like to do business with. I always wondered about the quality of the crush, with all of the whole grains and most only broke in two pieces. I bought a hand cranking mill and modified it to work with my cordless drill. My efficiency was anywhere from 30-50% before. In the 5 batches I've done since, my lowest has been 80% and my best has been 90%. And this is while mashing with the BIAB technique.

Night and day. So yeah, I feel your joy. Life is good now, right?

 

Life is good. I was all over the place with my efficiency.

 

That's it I'm getting one. How is "the barley crusher" brand. From what I'm reading that model crusher is very high quality. Anybody have experience with this crusher?

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

 

That is the one that I have and I love it. I run mine with a 1/2" Craftsmen drill. I have been using several times a month for about a year with no problems at all.

 

Yeah I think I'll pick one up. The best part is that the crusher has a lifetime warranty.

 

I have the Monster Mill 2 2.0, but I have read a lot of people like the Barley Crusher. Just get one that you can adjust and it will probably be a lot better than the LHBS crush. I dont know if its to sell more grain or help to avoid a stuck sparge, but the mills at the brew stores that I have been going to are set too coarse.

 

I use a Corona style mill. It was a Christmas present last year - about $25. I have my efficiency set at 68% in Beersmith. My efficiency numbers vary but all the beers are great!

 

Yeah the barley crusher is about $150. I have a $75 gift card for amazon so I think I'll buy that. It's a pricey piece of equipment but it'll last a lifetime.

 

I have had the Barley crusher for about 2 and a half years now and love it. Pretty much set it and forget it. I did get the small hopper and wish I would have gotten the larger one though.

 

I bought the barley crusher and I'm loving it. Same reports as everyone else, big jump in efficiency. I saw you mentioned the amazon gift card but when I bought mine it was actually cheaper to watch northern brewer or Midwest supplies for one of their "spend x get y" deals. I think when I bought mine I got a free carboy and free shipping after adding some other necessities.

 

Another thought... Find a way to power whatever mill you get. Hand cranking takes longer than you'd expect.

 

I agree. I have a Dewalt 10.5 amp drill and it powered through 15 pounds of grain in about 2 minutes. It has plenty of torque. I'm really happy with it.

 

I had a barley crusher for two years, didn't like it much. Switched to the monster mill 3, it increased efficiency and was pretty good but changing the gap was a royal pain! Been using a monster Mill 2 with the 2 inch rollers, so far with five brews it seems like the best of the bunch.

 

I heard others say the same thing about the three roller monster mill. The two roller 2.0 version adjusts in about five seconds. They also changed the set screw design. It seems much stronger.

 

Not if you have any muscles in your arms, I refuse to use a motor on my mill and I get it crushed in no time. I'm also not a lazy old fat ass like most brewers I see.

 

Don't have a mill yet so have to break out the rolling pin for the un-cracked grains. :cross:

 

A motorised mill is essential for doing large batches. Even if you're not a "lazy old fat ass" you don't want to hand mill 75kg of grain.

 

I have a cordless Dewalt drill. Do cordless drills work well or does everybody use a plug in drill? I was doing some research on YouTube on this crusher and everybody was using a plug in power drill.

 

Totally depends on your drill. Some cordless drills are powerful enough but many don't have sufficient torque.

 

I was curious about the cordless drill too. It sucked spending the money on a 1/2 inch corded drill I knew I was not going to use for anything else but the mill. I'm happy I got it though.

 

Maybe I'll brew a small 2 gal batch and see how my cordless drill works. I'm sure I can find a corded drill on CL for cheap, or just borrow my neighbors.

 

I use an 18v Dewalt cordless drill on my Barley Crusher. There's plenty of torque and good control at low speed.

 

I think that's the one I have. I'm at work so I can't check which model I have. I think I have the 18v one too though. It can't be too hard to crush grains.

 

You think I should wait and see what kind of sales cyber Monday has? I was going to order one today but maybe I should wait a couple days.

 

That's exactly what I'm doing. Should be able to find some kind of deal I would think.