"Cereal Killer" grain mill

[tellyho]

Forgot to mention the conditioning. Definitely makes a finer crush possible. Forgot once and regretted it.


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[PeteNMA]

I just bought one, UPS say it's out for delivery today. I've used a borrowed Barley Crusher in the past and was consistently hitting 80% efficiency with that, so the Cereal Killer should be able to give me similar results. Mainly I'm after consistency though.

I'm actually upping sticks and moving to NC, very close to a very well stocked LHBS but I know that their mills are set on the coarse side. I'm also moving from a house with fantastic well water to a house with chloramine'd city water, so the $150 or so savings over getting a CrankandStein 3D and buying/building a base and hopper for it will pay for an RO system.

Will post back with results after a brew or two.

 

[augiedoggy]

I have also put about 6 sacks of grain plus various specialty malts through mine with not problems... I motorized mine with a stepper motor and some pulleys I bought at tractor supply and since then I have put close to 200lbs through it with no problems...

 

[PeteNMA]

It showed up this morning. Unpacked, assembled and tentatively gapped using a credit card. I'll pick up a set of feeler gauges at some point and set it properly. No more or less substantial than a Barley Crusher. Unfortunately it will have to wait until after I move to get it's first workout.

 

[atoughram]

I have also put about 6 sacks of grain plus various specialty malts through mine with not problems... I motorized mine with a stepper motor and some pulleys I bought at tractor supply and since then I have put close to 200lbs through it with no problems...

What are you driving the stepper motor with?

A few hundred pounds through my CK too - I think it might need cleaning though, the driven roller was getting sticky. I didnt take it apart and lube it up when I first bought it.

 

[augiedoggy]

What are you driving the stepper motor with?

A few hundred pounds through my CK too - I think it might need cleaning though, the driven roller was getting sticky. I didnt take it apart and lube it up when I first bought it.

I was mistaken too many projects lately... I am actually using an old gear reduction motor from a xerox engineering copier... I have a box of them sitting in my garage so figured hey why not give it a shot.
I found that the rollers stick if the cams are not perfectly adjusted on each end to match...it created a bind which makes the roller turn hard/easy/ hard as you spin it.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

I like mine,I use a cordless drill,no dust with the wood plate over bucket.No complaints

 

[atoughram]

I was mistaken too many projects lately... I am actually using an old gear reduction motor from a xerox engineering copier... I have a box of them sitting in my garage so figured hey why not give it a shot.
I found that the rollers stick if the cams are not perfectly adjusted on each end to match...it created a bind which makes the roller turn hard/easy/ hard as you spin it.

Thats too bad - a variable speed stepper motor circuit would be cool. I've done stuff with smaller stepper motors but not one big enough to drive this mill.

 

[Hacky2447]

Im finding that my CKseems to have the same issues as others have stated.

The crank handle is completely useless. It doesn't even crank when I put grain in it, as the screw just spins on the shaft not holding it in place.

The rollers seem out of wack. When I set the gap and tighten it down, the rollers tighten down further and makes the gap smaller on the sides, but wider in the middle.

I so far have only used it for one batch, as I am worried to try it again. The crush it provided last time, was like oatmeal in the mash tun, and created a LOT of flour.

I may have it gapped too close, and the drill i used wouldn't budge it until i cranked it full speed. I will use a high torque drill and see if that changes anything on it, but I am skeptical at best about it.

 

[atoughram]

I may have it gapped too close

What did you gap it at? I believe I gapped mine at 0.037" (IIRC)

I also measured the run-out on the the rollers at less the 0.005" (Again IIRC....)

My 18V Dewalt spins mine in both low and high gear most excellently.

Here is a video of it - the crush has been excellent - maybe you got a lemon?

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJPpj9FiTCo&list=UUPu0i3spSLdIbvpsBP_oGzg[/ame]

 

[augiedoggy]

There is a flat on the shaft for the screw so it would be pretty damn unlikely that the crank would spin without the shaft..... unless it was assembled incorrectly?

Im finding that my CKseems to have the same issues as others have stated.

The crank handle is completely useless. It doesn't even crank when I put grain in it, as the screw just spins on the shaft not holding it in place.

The rollers seem out of wack. When I set the gap and tighten it down, the rollers tighten down further and makes the gap smaller on the sides, but wider in the middle.

I so far have only used it for one batch, as I am worried to try it again. The crush it provided last time, was like oatmeal in the mash tun, and created a LOT of flour.

I may have it gapped too close, and the drill i used wouldn't budge it until i cranked it full speed. I will use a high torque drill and see if that changes anything on it, but I am skeptical at best about it.

 

[Schmoltsbeer]

I have had my CK for about a year. It seems like a good mill, with nothing to compare it to. However, when adjusting tand tightening the locking screws down they mill will come out of set if you don't hold the adjustment knob while tightening. Similarly, I tend to get super fine crushes with unconditioned grain. If I wet the grain a little bit before grinding the fine crush is fine. Also, when using a drill I tend to get a more fine mill than when I hand crank so I have taken to hand cranking because conditioning just takes too much of my time. Long story short, I get good efficiency (75%) or so with a setting around .040, and with other process improvements I would probably see even better efficiency. The machine holds up well, though I am not too rough with it, and I rarely actually need to reset the gap.

 

[BigJack]

I've been using mine for several months now and here are my thoughts.

The mill functions pretty well over all and you can certainly dial in a crush that will work for you. I'm a happy camper.

Two minor complains- first, I do find that sometimes, no matter how hard I turn the nobs to hold the rollers in place, they do push apart a hair as the mill spins. Once or twice, I've had to grind at least some my grains a second time because the last pound or so isn't as crushed as the first. This is only a minor inconvenience. Secondly, the hopper can be knocked off very easily if you aren't careful.

 

[Hacky2447]

There is a flat on the shaft for the screw so it would be pretty damn unlikely that the crank would spin without the shaft..... unless it was assembled incorrectly?

There is no flat part in the shaft of my grain mill. It just spins. Is the main shaft supposed to have one flat side, and not completely round all the way around it?

What did you gap it at? I believe I gapped mine at 0.037" (IIRC)

I also measured the run-out on the the rollers at less the 0.005" (Again IIRC....)

My 18V Dewalt spins mine in both low and high gear most excellently.

Here is a video of it - the crush has been excellent - maybe you got a lemon?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJPpj9FiTCo&list=UUPu0i3spSLdIbvpsBP_oGzg

I have reset the gap on the mill to be the credit card size, which IIRC its .0037? Anyway.. I bought a new drill over the weekend. Its a low speed high torque drill that goes to a max of 550 RPM.

The new drill worked really well with the grain mill, and provided an excellent crush to help get me to 78% or higher efficiency.

Over all, I am not completely stoked on the manufacturing of the mill, but It does what it's suppose to do. It gave me a very fine crush like in the video example you attached, and didn't get a stuck sparge.

 

[tellyho]

Im finding that my CKseems to have the same issues as others have stated.



The crank handle is completely useless. It doesn't even crank when I put grain in it, as the screw just spins on the shaft not holding it in place.



The rollers seem out of wack. When I set the gap and tighten it down, the rollers tighten down further and makes the gap smaller on the sides, but wider in the middle.



I so far have only used it for one batch, as I am worried to try it again. The crush it provided last time, was like oatmeal in the mash tun, and created a LOT of flour.



I may have it gapped too close, and the drill i used wouldn't budge it until i cranked it full speed. I will use a high torque drill and see if that changes anything on it, but I am skeptical at best about it.

I didn't order the handle and have never used. It is true that the adjustment has a little play, but I've been able to finesse it and get the rollers to end up at the gap I want - set it a little wider than you want with a larger gap, and then tighten down to the actual target gap. I've had good luck around .026 with an IGLOO mash tun with a copper slotted manifold, after having tried settings down to 0.019 or so. I think the crush you need seems to vary widely based on your mash tun setup. I did end up buying a beefy drill to run it. I can't say how it compares to more expensive mills, but I've been generally happy.

I hope you can get it to work for you.

 

[Hacky2447]

I didn't order the handle and have never used. It is true that the adjustment has a little play, but I've been able to finesse it and get the rollers to end up at the gap I want - set it a little wider than you want with a larger gap, and then tighten down to the actual target gap. I've had good luck around .026 with an IGLOO mash tun with a copper slotted manifold, after having tried settings down to 0.019 or so. I think the crush you need seems to vary widely based on your mash tun setup. I did end up buying a beefy drill to run it. I can't say how it compares to more expensive mills, but I've been generally happy.

I hope you can get it to work for you.

The last recent batch I did, I adjusted the rollers in the same fashion of which you are talking about, but i used a credit card as the gap tool.

Using the low RPM Drill that i show in my previous post. The crush was MUCH more even and very good efficiency.

 

[augiedoggy]

There is no flat part in the shaft of my grain mill. It just spins. Is the main shaft supposed to have one flat side, and not completely round all the way around it?






I have reset the gap on the mill to be the credit card size, which IIRC its .0037? Anyway.. I bought a new drill over the weekend. Its a low speed high torque drill that goes to a max of 550 RPM.

The new drill worked really well with the grain mill, and provided an excellent crush to help get me to 78% or higher efficiency.

Over all, I am not completely stoked on the manufacturing of the mill, but It does what it's suppose to do. It gave me a very fine crush like in the video example you attached, and didn't get a stuck sparge.

There is on mine.... it doesn't run to the end of the shaft though so you cant see it unless the crank is removed... maybe it was something they added or removed from production? I have a pulley mounted to mine now or id take a picture...

 

[Hacky2447]

There is on mine.... it doesn't run to the end of the shaft though so you cant see it unless the crank is removed... maybe it was something they added or removed from production? I have a pulley mounted to mine now or id take a picture...

I will take a picture of the shaft of my grain mill. When I look at the picture of the one on their site and look at mine, The only difference was that the screw on the hand crank didn't have the retaining nut.

Meh, I am using a drill now so its a moot point.

 

[augiedoggy]

I will take a picture of the shaft of my grain mill. When I look at the picture of the one on their site and look at mine, The only difference was that the screw on the hand crank didn't have the retaining nut.

Meh, I am using a drill now so its a moot point.

Without the retaining nut theres nothing to stop the screw from just backing out with use which would have caused the issues you were having...
like you said its a moot point now. But at least we know why you had the problem and others dont... It would still be the manufacturers fault the nut was missing.

 

[geoffm33]

There is on mine.... it doesn't run to the end of the shaft though so you cant see it unless the crank is removed... maybe it was something they added or removed from production? I have a pulley mounted to mine now or id take a picture...

I just received a unit on Tuesday and there is a flat on the shaft like you described.

 

[augiedoggy]

I just received a unit on Tuesday and there is a flat on the shaft like you described.

I bought mine about 14 month ago so hacky2447 must have somehow gotten a really old one?

 

[Hacky2447]

I just received a unit on Tuesday and there is a flat on the shaft like you described.

Maybe I got a defective one?

 

[augiedoggy]

Maybe I got a defective one?

Maybe... missing the nut on the handle assy and no flat machined into the shaft?... I wonder what the odds of that are?
Are you sure it was a "cereal killer" brand mill?

Id start playing the lottery if I were you...

 

[Hacky2447]

Maybe... missing the nut on the handle assy and no flat machined into the shaft?... I wonder what the odds of that are?
Are you sure it was a "cereal killer" brand mill?

Id start playing the lottery if I were you...

Yup, it came in a cereal killer box and everything. I threw all the box and packing materials away, and I was so pissed off and frustrated with the handle that I tossed that as well.

So I don't think there is much I can do about it now, but at least I got lucky that it works.

 

[atoughram]

You could file a flat onto the shaft.

 

[sladek]

The Cereal Killer mill is made in the USA? I was under the impression it was made in China. Good to know its a US product! I wish it came with a lifetime like the BC.

 

[augiedoggy]

The Cereal Killer mill is made in the USA? I was under the impression it was made in China. Good to know its a US product! I wish it came with a lifetime like the BC.

It is NOT made in the USA... the wooden base is and proudly labeled such to throw people off into assuming the whole thing is.
And since the wooden base is screwed to the mill in the usa it can be considered made in the usa... kind of like the new harleys... final assy here means made in the usa now

As far as my research shows, everything but the wooden base was made and assembled in china.

 

[sladek]

It is NOT made in the USA... the wooden base is and proudly labeled such to throw people off into assuming the whole thing is.
And since the wooden base is screwed to the mill in the usa it can be considered made in the usa... kind of like the new harleys... final assy here means made in the usa now

As far as my research shows, everything but the wooden base was made and assembled in china.

Thats what I thought... guess i will get a barley crusher then.

 

[augiedoggy]

Thats what I thought... guess i will get a barley crusher then.

I'm pretty sure the distributer already admitted most of the parts like the rollers are also made in china but assy is done in the states...
expect to pay 2x3 times as much for a real usa mill if its that important to you...

 

[sladek]

wow...I want US made. Looking at the Millars Mill B3 159, plus s&h. SS 7" rollers with bearings, 10 pound hopper, etc... . They say it 100% US made.