"Cereal Killer" grain mill

[jamboparty]

Just a heads-up to anyone considering the Cereal Killer... it's currently on sale for $79.99 during their CY-Beer Monday sale.

No more free shipping, but it still comes out to be less than the $99.99 than it was a few days ago.

 

[mistercameron]

It came out to $15 cheaper *shipped* for me. I'm on the fence about getting a grain mill to begin with, as we have some good LHBS prices on grain, but this is almost too good to pass up.

 

[sethwar]

Just ordered mine for the cheap price of $79.99. Wasn't considering getting a mill for a few more months but couldn't resist. Am planning on powering with a 18V Dewalt. Will post results

 

[mistercameron]

What are the specs on this mill? I'm assuming it's more or less the BC's specs?

 

[bcryan]

just ordered a serial killa. can't wait to start making my own recipes and not just buying all grain kits online. few more weeks till my braumeister arrives. ya beer!!!!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSWOLKxZkPY]snoop doggy dogg - Serial killa - YouTube[/ame]

 

[mistercameron]

Ordered. Birthday money, for the win! Like many people who own a mill, I had a couple of bad crushes in a row from LHBS that made me vow to never have this problem again if I can help it. The extra cost of DME and dextrose needed to bring the OG back up on bad crushes will pay for it much faster than savings on bulk grain.

 

[jamboparty]

I ended up ordering one as well... 85 bucks and change with shipping? Win.

 

[mistercameron]

I asked for some more information when I placed the order and here's what I got...

** The rollers are adjusted from .069-.000. You only adjust grain between .039 and .025, so this is more than adjustable for what you need
** Re the passive roller getting stuck (some post above): Happens with any similar grain mill. Geared mills solve the problem but are cost-prohibitive. Jason at Adventures in HB said they priced the build for that type of mill to about $250 - far above the homebrew price points.

IMO, whether you got the mill at the sale price yesterday, or even the current sale price, I don't think you can go wrong if you're in store for a mill. Previous posts have described it as very similar to the Barley Crusher, which cost almost another $40 more, but the cereal killer appears to be built better.

 

[MPAULSEN300]

If I had only waited a couple of weeks I could have saved $20. Hope the Killa works as well for you as it does for me.

 

[solbes]

Thought I'd share my experience with this Cereal Killa. It's been sitting on my kitchen counter for over a week. I finally got some grains in the mail to crush. I'll be brewing on Saturday, but thought I'd mill 1 lb of Belgian Carmel Pils to try this thing out. First few pictures are pretty self explanatory.







I used three gage pins to get a feel for setting the gap. I feel these pins made adjustment a snap: loosen the key in back, and adjust the knurled knob on the side for gap, tighten key. Repeat for the other side. I had a .025", .030", and .035" (use them for setting spark plug gaps!). I do BIAB batches exclusivley, so I'm not worried about getting stuck sparges. But I don't want to make a bunch of flour either. The .025" seemed far too tight. I crushed some grain at the .030" setting (where I could just move the pin from left to right between the rollers). It seemed a little fine (see picture). I then adjusted to .035" and it seemed just right.







Using the supplied handle required a fair amount of torque since the lever length is only a couple of inches. It can be done, but you need to get up to speed and maintain. I quickly swapped the handle for an 18V cordless drill with 1/2" chuck set on "low" gearing. After getting the chuck tightened down, it easily powered through the grain. Just takes a steady grip on the mill itself to keep it steady. I milled 1 lb of grain in maybe 10-15 seconds? So pretty quick.





My overall impression was very good. I think it'll last me for a long time. Pro's were cost ($100 shipped), quality, made in USA, easy adjustability, ability to drill with 3/8 or 1/2" chuck, and nice base with sanded edges and tripod legs. The only cons I could come up with were short handle lever and a few grains slipped between where the rollers and housing meet. Hope this helps!

 

[mistercameron]

@Solbes: Great post. Those pics are really helpful. Do those tripod legs help the base fit over a bucket, or something?

 

[solbes]

Yup they are for helping keep it seated on a bucket or bowl. For me it fits pretty well with a large plastic bowl that I already have. Two legs are in and one is just out.

 

[freshhoarse]

Out of stock.
Does anyone know when these will be available again?

 

[mountainman13]

Been using mine for a few weeks now and couldn't be happier.

 

[nckellys]

What I wrote to the place I bought mine.... I'm not impressed.

I gotta tell you that I'm not all that impressed with the Cereal Killer Grain Mill. It was cheap and I guess you get what you pay for.
Here's a list of the issues I've noticed.

- Crank handle is too short. It takes a good bit of torque to pull the grain thru the rollers and this handle is just not long enough to do it. You can't keep any momentum going when your hand is traveling such a small diameter ark. Have you guys tried it? Now I realize most are using a drill or a motor to spin the roller. But the handle does not work so why include it. The customer is paying for it and it is totally useless.

- Play or slop in the bushings. I'd say there is .005 to .010" clearance between the bushing ID and the roller shaft OD. So you set the clearance with a feeler gage and what happens when the grain goes thru? It forces the roller out ward increasing the gap. The Machining quality is poor at best. The finish on the roller spindles (part that rides in the brass bushings) is coarse not polished like it should be. This will cause bushing wear and the bushing / roller slop (gap) will only increase with use. Poor Machining!

- Hopper attachment is weak. It is attached with two small machine screws into two half slots in the tin. The clamping force provided by the two small screws is low and any for or aft force on the hopper causes the hopper to break free from the mill spilling the hopper contents onto the floor.

In it's "as made" condition this grain mill is "rough". Obviously the "manufacturer" did little to no testing with it. It looks like he just copied someone else's design and went ahead with it thinking his design was good. If he would have put this mill in the hands of some brewers he would have discovered it's short comings.

 

[infection]

What I wrote to the place I bought mine.... I'm not impressed.

I gotta tell you that I'm not all that impressed with the Cereal Killer Grain Mill. It was cheap and I guess you get what you pay for.
Here's a list of the issues I've noticed.

- Crank handle is too short. It takes a good bit of torque to pull the grain thru the rollers and this handle is just not long enough to do it. You can't keep any momentum going when your hand is traveling such a small diameter ark. Have you guys tried it? Now I realize most are using a drill or a motor to spin the roller. But the handle does not work so why include it. The customer is paying for it and it is totally useless.

- Play or slop in the bushings. I'd say there is .005 to .010" clearance between the bushing ID and the roller shaft OD. So you set the clearance with a feeler gage and what happens when the grain goes thru? It forces the roller out ward increasing the gap. The Machining quality is poor at best. The finish on the roller spindles (part that rides in the brass bushings) is coarse not polished like it should be. This will cause bushing wear and the bushing / roller slop (gap) will only increase with use. Poor Machining!

- Hopper attachment is weak. It is attached with two small machine screws into two half slots in the tin. The clamping force provided by the two small screws is low and any for or aft force on the hopper causes the hopper to break free from the mill spilling the hopper contents onto the floor.

In it's "as made" condition this grain mill is "rough". Obviously the "manufacturer" did little to no testing with it. It looks like he just copied someone else's design and went ahead with it thinking his design was good. If he would have put this mill in the hands of some brewers he would have discovered it's short comings.

good review...do yourself a favor and try a JSP maltmill, i have been using one for 15 years and it has never failed me....even though the developer is not very good at marketing I think its one of the best mills out there for the money....our homebrew club recently did a bulk buy on these and everyone is happy....also dont bother with the adjustable one, the non-adjustable one works just fine for any grain:
MaltMill, grain mill

 

[mistercameron]

What I wrote to the place I bought mine.... I'm not impressed.

I gotta tell you that I'm not all that impressed with the Cereal Killer Grain Mill. It was cheap and I guess you get what you pay for.
Here's a list of the issues I've noticed.

- Crank handle is too short. It takes a good bit of torque to pull the grain thru the rollers and this handle is just not long enough to do it. You can't keep any momentum going when your hand is traveling such a small diameter ark. Have you guys tried it? Now I realize most are using a drill or a motor to spin the roller. But the handle does not work so why include it. The customer is paying for it and it is totally useless.

- Play or slop in the bushings. I'd say there is .005 to .010" clearance between the bushing ID and the roller shaft OD. So you set the clearance with a feeler gage and what happens when the grain goes thru? It forces the roller out ward increasing the gap. The Machining quality is poor at best. The finish on the roller spindles (part that rides in the brass bushings) is coarse not polished like it should be. This will cause bushing wear and the bushing / roller slop (gap) will only increase with use. Poor Machining!

- Hopper attachment is weak. It is attached with two small machine screws into two half slots in the tin. The clamping force provided by the two small screws is low and any for or aft force on the hopper causes the hopper to break free from the mill spilling the hopper contents onto the floor.

In it's "as made" condition this grain mill is "rough". Obviously the "manufacturer" did little to no testing with it. It looks like he just copied someone else's design and went ahead with it thinking his design was good. If he would have put this mill in the hands of some brewers he would have discovered it's short comings.

Interesting observations. I haven't had a chance to try mine since it came in, but I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced the same thing?

I did attach my cordless drill just to play with it a bit and noticed there was a bit of a wobble in the shaft - like it's off-center slightly. Has anyone else noticed anything like that?

 

[steve071]

What I wrote to the place I bought mine.... I'm not impressed.

I gotta tell you that I'm not all that impressed with the Cereal Killer Grain Mill. It was cheap and I guess you get what you pay for.
Here's a list of the issues I've noticed.

- Crank handle is too short. It takes a good bit of torque to pull the grain thru the rollers and this handle is just not long enough to do it. You can't keep any momentum going when your hand is traveling such a small diameter ark. Have you guys tried it? Now I realize most are using a drill or a motor to spin the roller. But the handle does not work so why include it. The customer is paying for it and it is totally useless.

- Play or slop in the bushings. I'd say there is .005 to .010" clearance between the bushing ID and the roller shaft OD. So you set the clearance with a feeler gage and what happens when the grain goes thru? It forces the roller out ward increasing the gap. The Machining quality is poor at best. The finish on the roller spindles (part that rides in the brass bushings) is coarse not polished like it should be. This will cause bushing wear and the bushing / roller slop (gap) will only increase with use. Poor Machining!

- Hopper attachment is weak. It is attached with two small machine screws into two half slots in the tin. The clamping force provided by the two small screws is low and any for or aft force on the hopper causes the hopper to break free from the mill spilling the hopper contents onto the floor.

In it's "as made" condition this grain mill is "rough". Obviously the "manufacturer" did little to no testing with it. It looks like he just copied someone else's design and went ahead with it thinking his design was good. If he would have put this mill in the hands of some brewers he would have discovered it's short comings.

Does the barley crusher have the same issues except for the crank handle? Alot of people are happy with their barley crushers and I thought this was a better alternative from reading other posts. I'm mostly concerned with the build quality of the roller assembly.

 

[day_trippr]

Does the barley crusher have the same issues except for the crank handle? Alot of people are happy with their barley crushers and I thought this was a better alternative from reading other posts. I'm mostly concerned with the build quality of the roller assembly.

I don't believe any of the four listed complaints applies to the BC. The roller axles are polished, fit comfortably tight in the bronze bushings, the hopper screws don't pick up slots but go through holes and won't fall off the mill, and the crank is plenty long enough (though I will say I only used it once before I used an 18V XRP drill, which was before I motorized the mill)...

Cheers!

 

[mistercameron]

Do any other CK owners see the same things?

 

[MoPhunk]

I will have to say the screws holding on the hopper do allow it to come loose. A little adjustment in the ol home garage shop fixes that. I don't know about the other things. I've used it 4 times and it still works the same.

 

[HalfmoundBrewer]

Do any other CK owners see the same things?

I ordered the Cereal Killer the weekend after Thanksgiving. Shipped in 2 days to my door, for free. The transaction and order process were great, so I've got nothing but good things to say about Adventures in Homebrewing. However, after getting some hands on with the Cereal Killer the shortcomings and defects were too much to overlook. I agree totally with NCKELLYS report.

The crank handle is definitely worthless. I'd rather get $5 off and know that I have to use a drill than even attempt to use the crank. It's just too damn short to get any kind of leverage.

The upper parts of the hopper were decent and fastened with rivets. It was fairly light gauge metal, you could easily bend it with your hands. The flaps that sit over the rollers were not bent correctly on mine. I had to adjust the angle to get the hopper base to sit flush with the block. The hopper isn't attached very well to the block. The nuts had less than 1/4" of hopper to grab onto. I had to add washers to get it secured.

The base was made from 3/4" birch plywood. It was fairly solid and nicely sanded. Not that a base has to be pretty but the top layer of the birch was chipped all up. I'll give that a pass though.

The dingy grey steel rollers seemed to spin fine with no issues on tolerance. My XRP drill was able to grab onto the shaft fine. However, when I went to set the gap, about 30% of the active roller on the side opposite the handle was out of round by about .017". You could see changes with the naked eye. So even when setting the gap to .039 in the middle of the variance, I would get gap fluctuations down to .031 up to .047. That was a major defect and deal killer. I requested an RMA and they gladly offered a full refund.

Make no mistake, the Cereal Killer is an economy roller mill and you will get what you pay for. Will it crush grain? Yes. Will it last you a lifetime? Maybe. Can you expect any precision or consistency from it? Not from the one I got.

After that experience I bit the bullet and ordered a Monster Mill 2 with hopper. I was thoroughly impressed with the quality and machining of the MM. It was worth a shot trying the Cereal Killer, but I don't regret spending the extra money on the MM2.

 

[hercher]

The dingy grey steel rollers seemed to spin fine with no issues on tolerance. My XRP drill was able to grab onto the shaft fine. However, when I went to set the gap, about 30% of the active roller on the side opposite the handle was out of round by about .017". You could see changes with the naked eye. So even when setting the gap to .039 in the middle of the variance, I would get gap fluctuations down to .031 up to .047. That was a major defect and deal killer. I requested an RMA and they gladly offered a full refund.

Out of curiosity, did they offer to replace the defective roller or the entire mill? If so, was it the other issues (which seem relatively minor, to me) that prompted you to turn down that offer?

 

[mistercameron]

I talked to Jason about my wobbly shaft and he said first to check that the gap was the same on both sides. He said sometimes cheaper drills aren't quite to straight, especially when the chuck is backed out all the way, so double check that.

I'm out of town so I can't check my own mill, but I'm very pleased with how Jason is handling my issues, at least.

 

[BigPoppa502]

Does anyone have any thoughts on home made versions using concrete formed rollers? I found a few forums on ohter sites discussing the possibilities. Wasn't sure if anyone had some experience here with this.

 

[Revvy]

Does anyone have any thoughts on home made versions using concrete formed rollers? I found a few forums on ohter sites discussing the possibilities. Wasn't sure if anyone had some experience here with this.

I believe there's a thread on here showing how to make one. I've seen a few around the web and they do work.

 

[HalfmoundBrewer]

Out of curiosity, did they offer to replace the defective roller or the entire mill? If so, was it the other issues (which seem relatively minor, to me) that prompted you to turn down that offer?

I'd agree, the sloppy hopper mounting was a minor issue, although irritating.

I didn't ask them about a replacement roller or another mill. I just didn't feel like taking another chance on a replacement given the poor quality control and workmanship of the first one.

 

[mcbethenstein]

Solbes,
thanks for the pictorial. I got a Cereal Killer for Christmas. I hope that the workmanship is fine on mine. I think overall I will be happy with it, it just seems a little quirky... but hey that's perfect for me. This being my first mill I had no idea how to hone in on the crush I want and as my first batch with it I made a Bavarian hefeweizen today. I had mixed my grains, bad idea. Next time I brew with a large proportion of wheat, which is about 50% of the time, I will be grinding the wheat alone and then adjusting the rollers for the barley. I was trying to use a 3/4 dead cordless drill and it kept slipping, so after about 45 minutes of frustration I ran out to the garage and stole my boyfriends corded hammer drill, Amazing! But like a total girl I didn't tighten the thumb screws enough and the gap slipped open as I was crushing. Rookie mistake. Sooo, with a double decocted 2 1/2 hour mash I got 64% efficiency, when I've been at about 69-70% with this recipe in the past. Sad. I will of course not give up on it yet, I think putting the washers in the hopper, and really tightening the screws before running the super powered drill will make a huge difference. But what do I know, this was my first time.

 

[steve071]

Solbes,
thanks for the pictorial. I got a Cereal Killer for Christmas. I hope that the workmanship is fine on mine. I think overall I will be happy with it, it just seems a little quirky... but hey that's perfect for me. This being my first mill I had no idea how to hone in on the crush I want and as my first batch with it I made a Bavarian hefeweizen today. I had mixed my grains, bad idea. Next time I brew with a large proportion of wheat, which is about 50% of the time, I will be grinding the wheat alone and then adjusting the rollers for the barley. I was trying to use a 3/4 dead cordless drill and it kept slipping, so after about 45 minutes of frustration I ran out to the garage and stole my boyfriends corded hammer drill, Amazing! But like a total girl I didn't tighten the thumb screws enough and the gap slipped open as I was crushing. Rookie mistake. Sooo, with a double decocted 2 1/2 hour mash I got 64% efficiency, when I've been at about 69-70% with this recipe in the past. Sad. I will of course not give up on it yet, I think putting the washers in the hopper, and really tightening the screws before running the super powered drill will make a huge difference. But what do I know, this was my first time.

Next time that happens just run the grain through the mill a second time. The easy way to set the gap is using a credit card to set the gap and tighten down the thumb screws. Get a cheap corded adjustable speed drill from harbor freight if you don't have one and run it slowly. Run a little grain through and look at the crush. Then adjust the gap if needed.

 

[jamboparty]

I got a chance to try out my CK this past weekend and... I'm a little disappointed.

The active roller seems to be off-center (as others have experienced). Using a set of feeler gauges, there was a very noticeable difference as I spun the roller by hand. When I attached the drill, it became more noticeable both visually and audibly.

As everyone has mentioned, the handle is absurd. Way too short to be of any use. That's not a big issue for me, since I planned all along to motorize it. Since I didn't have a chance to get that far, I just attached the drill for now.

I didn't find the hopper to be a very big deal. Mine seemed to be fitted properly and held about 8 pounds of grain no problem. It's thin metal but it's adequate, in my opinion.

I've been working a lot of overtime this week and I haven't had a chance to contact Jason regarding the roller yet, but I plan on it. I know these things happen, but the bottom line is that it's not a satisfactory product in it's current state.

Honestly, if I can get a roller in there that runs true, I'll be satisfied with this purchase. Hopefully I'll be able to report back with good news.