How, and how often to clean mill?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

TkmLinus

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2018
Messages
265
Reaction score
229
Was just looking at my mill(Cereal Killer) and it is(truthfully has been for awhile) covered in fine white powder. Do I need to clean it? Will there be extra wear and tear if not cleaned? I normally just bump it a few times on the bucket and knock what I can loose. Seems like such a simple machine that not much can go wrong. Thanks in advance and cheers!
 
I clean my mill (JSP non-adjustable) with an old paint brush after every use. I just brush the flour and powder off of it, so that the metal shines. It's going on 10+ years of service, and with a new set of bushings a couple of years ago, it works as good as it did when it was brand new.
 
I have a cereal killer 2-roller. Each time I grind grist (2x as I MIAB) I get all kinds of flour stuck to the mill mount plate.

Got a few 1-inch cheap-o paint brushes from Lowes/Menards/Home Depot (your choice) that I use to brush off all this dust into my bucket prior to mashing.

I give the rollers a once-over as well each time I mill a batch. Only had it a year, but seems to work OK.
 
i don't condition my malt? never really thought about doing it?

if you are getting good results with what you have going now, why change?

do you double-crush your home-malt? or just once thru?

Efficiency these days? if it's already high enuf and you like the results, may be unnecessary hassle?
 
Last edited:
if you are getting good results with what you have going now, why change?

do you double-crush your home-malt? or just once thru?

Efficiency these days? if it's already high enuf and you like the results, may be unnecessary hassle?


with homemalt i get 78- 🤗83%..with store bought ~90%.... once through, but honestly before HBT, and this thread specificaly...always figured it was not going to mold because, like, how many people worry about their tupperware flour containers? or flour for that matter? i wouldn't even know how to clean my WonderMill....
 
I just tap mine on the bucket and brush off the underside. Annoyingly, although it looks fairly clean, it always leaves a circle of flour on the shelf where it gets stored. Seems to be compatible with weevil activity. I do cover it, though, like most of my brewing kit, to minimise microbial colonisation. Most important thing is to keep it dry, I think.
 
I do brush it off and have done the vacuum thing some. But the little amount of grain that might get left and the few bugs or microbial life that might be there for the next batch are going to be a very small percentage of the next brew.

Since that will be boiled for 30, 60 or 90 minutes, it seems to mitigate the ick factor.
 
I have the Blichmann mill. I roll it out to the garage door then take my electric leaf blower and blow it clean. That way I get the flour and small particles everywhere off the mill.
Works great!
 
Use a leaf blower to get most of the dust out, then wipe down with a clean towel.

Used a couple drops of food grade oil on the rollers, to keep them spinning freely. One actually locked up on me.
 
I vacuum after each use using a narrow brush head meant for a 1-1/4" mini-shop-vac. It gets down deep into the roller knurling and knocks the grain dust loose so the vac can suck it up...

Cheers!
Is that anything like the weekly show called GHOST? (a bed and breakfast hotel where the wife can only see them and talk to them) >
They are all awaiting to get sucked up?? funny show.
 
I mill out on the patio off the beer room. The mill gets placed on the bucket that the unmilled grains once were. It gets the ol' razzle dazzle from the leaf blower. Bucket and mill now clean and ready for next time.
 
I use a paint brush and compressed air with each usage. I make an honest effort to keep my mill as clean as possible, but I'll concede that it's about as clean as a snot-smeared, Goldfish Cracker-caked toddler. No matter how thorough I am, it always leaves a sprinkling of very fine flour whenever I set it down.

I sometimes wonder how much of the house character of my brewery is attributable to my impossible to really clean mill? Is my mill clean? Yeah. But, let's be real, there's no way in hell that I'm getting all of the flour out. Writing from the humid Mid-Atlantic, although there are no obvious outward signs, there's certainly some biology taking place within the deepest recesses of my mill. Is that really a primary driver of my house character? *Snort!* Of course not! But it would be foolish to think that something isn't going on inside there.

Anyway, I sometimes ponder this deep issue while milling at 4.45am on a Saturday morning.
 
I bang my mill on the bucket that the milled grains go into and then give it a sweep with brush from the dustpan and brush I use to sweep up the floor in my brewery! Sometimes I even sweep the grain dust into the bucket that’s going into the mash tun. I figure if it’s being boiled for 90 mins, whatever...
 
I suggest brushing, vacuum, then set over clean bucket and rap several times with rubber mallet, you will suprised at what was left. I finish with compressed air
 
chip-brush-1-inch-large.jpg
+
81600.jpg
 
I blow it out with compressed air then use a stiff brush to remove stuck particals from the knurled rollers and then blow it all again to get all the floury dust out.
 
Last edited:
Fun to see so much conversation! I am going to blow mine out with the air compressor next time it's used.
 
I just have a cheap Corona style mill for BIAB, but after each use I dust mine off with a clean brush, then blow it off with compressed air.
 
I clean my mill after every use using my shop vac.
I clean out he chute that feeds the grain into my bucket, the top grain hopper, & the rollers.
It cuts down on dust in my brew area as well.
 
Back
Top