Anyone have the Gear Driven Monster Mill?

[Bobby_M]

I'm looking to step up my shop's mill game from the MM2-2.0 to the MM3pro and I'm torn between the geared and non geared versions. Does anyone have the gear version?

https://www.monsterbrewinghardware.com/store/pc/Geared-3-Roller-Pro-Brewer-Grain-Mill-10p308.htm

In theory, the gears promise perfect feeding with no idle roller slipping but then again I haven't had much trouble with the MM2-2.0 even at gaps around .025". I'm speculating that the first gap of .065 will certainly feed easily no matter what the final gap is set to.

 

[day_trippr]

I've never owned a three roller mill, but from everything I've read, this seems to be a curious choice of which roller to leave "idle".

I thought the "top gap" was to flatten the kernels - so a fairly loose gap - making it easier for the "bottom gap" to finish the job with a tight gap. This particular mill has a fixed "top gap" of 0.070”. That's really loose [heck, even my worn out Barley Crusher can do much better than that ] so what's the challenge on keeping the top two rollers in sync?

Seems to me then the "bottom" gap pair should be the coupled set.

So, how long has this mill be on the market? Might want to wait for some reviews...

Cheers!

 

[Bobby_M]

I'm primarily concerned about the noise, maintenance and overall longevity with those extra parts. The extra bucks are noticeable too.

I agree that the .065 gap of the non geared and .070 gap on the gear unit seems large but put it in perspective. I just measured three kernels of Maris and they average .135". The concept is to break up the innards in the first pass without tearing the husk at all. The final gap kind of squeezes the flour out of the husk like you're getting the last bite of a banana out of the peel.

The 2 roller process has to get all this done in one violent action that explodes everything usually resulting in more than a few husk pieces per kernel. All things considered and final gap being equal, the 3 roller makes a grist that is more husk-fluffy like what a 2 roller mill produces with pre-conditioned malt.

The reason you'd want to gear both rollers on a 2 roller mill is to be absolutely sure you get feed. Even on our MM2-2" roller, when you want to close down to a sub .025" gap for BIAB, some slippery grains like white wheat, rye and carapils has some trouble as the drive roller just "polishes" the grain.

 

[day_trippr]

I realize you're looking for a shop mill with potentially higher throughput and conditioning isn't something stores do

I'd love an inexpensive, adjustable, gear-driven two-roller mill, but meanwhile merely conditioning the grain and running my CK mill at 180 rpm produces a wonderful crush with fluffy largely intact husks...and it's virtually dust-free...

Cheers!

 

[Bobby_M]

Haha, I think if I conditioned all the malt going into the shop mill, it would rust to death in a year. I do it for my personal batches because I dough in one minute later but I know a lot of my customers don't brew for up to a week after getting it and you don't want to store conditioned-then-milled grain.

 

[smcinco]

If it helps with feeding then it seems like a no-brainer. I have the 3 roller pro and have had trouble feeding and had to pour out grain and start over. It seems like that would be a pain in a shop environment, probably more than worth the extra ~$100 if it prevents that situation.

 

[Bobby_M]

I bit the bullet and got the geared version. I just resurrected a nice 1/2HP gear reduced motor that I got on Ebay for less than $100 so I could delete the motor from the budget.

 

[jangevaa]

FWIW Crankandstein has been offering geared homebrewing and commercial brewing mills for awhile and their 3-roller designs are the same configuration with the top gap being the geared one.

Probably because it's easier to reliably gear a fixed gap.

I like the sealed gear design of the monster mill a bit better.

I'd be interested in seeing reviews of any of these mills.

 

[Bobby_M]

I'll post a review video as soon as I get it set up.

 

[Bobby 4]

So I know I’m a little late to this string but based on looking at the gearing of this geared mm3 the assumption is that the only reason for a 2 roller to be geared is to prevent passive roller slippage and grain polishing. But a little bit of genius that tends to get lost is differing roller speeds. If you can get your hands on an old geared JSP malt mill, each of the two rollers has a different number of gear teeth so even though both rollers are pulling grain there is a shearing force on whatever is between them. This additional shearing tears the hulls hence they can get away with a great crack at .045 nominal spacing on a 2 roller mill without creating tons of flower.

 

[ITV]

It seems to me that the non-geared mills have an inherent built in "clutch" where if something like a small rock found it's way through it would just free-wheel unlike a geared mill.

 

[Bobby_M]

It seems to me that the non-geared mills have an inherent built in "clutch" where if something like a small rock found it's way through it would just free-wheel unlike a geared mill.

Tell that to the sheared drive shaft on my old MM2. ;-)

 

[ITV]

Tell that to the sheared drive shaft on my old MM2. ;-)

In theory the lovejoy coupling should have gone first but I don't know if they are designed for the low RPM's of the mills.

 

[Dog House Brew]

Tell that to the sheared drive shaft on my old MM2. ;-)

So what do you think of your geared MM-3? I bought an MM-3 with stainless rolls when Fred first opened Monster. Once I learned to leave the base bolts a little loose, I've never had an issue. That was before 2" rolls and all the options. I power it with a Skill 1/2" drill from the 60's with a router speed controller. I think I'd have bought the geared option as well.

 

[Bobby_M]

In theory the lovejoy coupling should have gone first but I don't know if they are designed for the low RPM's of the mills.

Yes, that's true. When I broke the shaft it was directly chucked into a wired drill. It was also one of the first MM2-2.0 units when they were available with the 3/8 drive shaft. I sent it back to upgrade to the 1/2" drive and that's when I motorized with a lovejoy.

 

[Bobby_M]

So what do you think of your geared MM-3? I bought an MM-3 with stainless rolls when Fred first opened Monster. Once I learned to leave the base bolts a little loose, I've never had an issue. That was before 2" rolls and all the options. I power it with a Skill 1/2" drill from the 60's with a router speed controller. I think I'd have bought the geared option as well.

It's been generally care free. One thing I miss about the MM2-2.0 is the ability to close the gap down to nearly .012 which yielded what most would call a "double crush" consistency. The adjuster stops on the MM-3 are at .026 according to my gauges and I got it down to about .021 with a little dremeling on the aluminum wheels.

 

[deuc224]

Im not a shop or anything but the im seriously looking at a mm3 pro geared powered set up or a blichmann set up, i only do about a batch every week, sometimes every other week, but milling is probably the thing i like doing the least because of all the dust it kicks up. Could roll one of these outside, mill the grain and thats it.

 

[Dean623]

Just ordered the MM3G yesterday. I have the MM3 and like others have posted sometimes have trouble with the grain not being pulled thru. I have mine motorized and have it wired so I can reverse it. That helps sometimes...stop then reverse then forward...but not all the time, and then have to empty the grain out and try again. So for me this is going to be a major improvement. I like that it will directly fit in my existing setup which is a big plus. I will post my thoughts on it once I get it and try it out.