JSP Malt Mill vs AHB Cereal Killer vs ...? Help!

[oakbarn]

Thinking about a mill myself. I would refer to Brewery Rules:

Rule #35: Bigger is Better

This rule has served us well. When we went with the minimum, we had to eventually replace it.

I buy my grain in Bulk (whole bags)from LHBS at a discount and haul the grain back to mill. The price is not that far off what I can get in a group buy after shipping. I can afford to support my LHBS because I want them around.

I do have a question. If you have an adjustable roller, are you constantly having to set it, or is it set it and forget it. I had some adjustable French doors on a house once and had to adjust monthly. Not sure I would want to have to fiddle with a mill if it was a PITA.

 

[BigRedHopHead]

When I first used my Monster Mill MM2 2.0 the set screws came loose on the second batch and I lost my gap setting. I was worried about over tightening the set screws on my shiny new mill. Asked the question around here, got advice to crank them down nice and tight. Then make a couple small marks on the screws and mill so I can readily see if they have moved. Problem solved! havent had any issues with the gap since. You could even use some Loctite (on the set screws) if your worried about it.

Initially you may want to experiment with the gap setting to find a distance that works well for you. Once you are dialed in you should be able to set if and forget it.

 

[TyTanium]

I've also heard that lock washers work great.

 

[thadius856]

After running the four sacks of grain through it, I've already paid for this "cheap" mill versus buying it by the pound and milling it at the LHBS. I agree with your statement, but very few of us can justify buying high end right off the bat. I imagine I will "upgrade" at some point, but for now I'm still money ahead.

Using my LHBS per lb vs bulk prices, it would take to pay back per $100 spent (any one):

195# of 2-row, or
152# of Pilsner, or
148# of Marris Otter, or
152# of Munich, or
195# of Pale Ale, or
148# of Vienna

Already had the numbers in spreadsheet, so I just applied a few formulas.

However, I think I could take my LHBS or a buddy into milling bulk sacks for me, so I'm not sure I'll actually be saving that amount...

I have a Monster Mill MM2 and it is great. The hopper and extension hold a lot of grain. I don't see replacing it for a long time. If I did need to, I would also take a look at Austin Homebrew's new DIY mill:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f41/what-deal-check-out-our-new-diy-malt-mill-373777/
Very similar to the MM2 but 1.25" rollers instead of 1.5". Comes with a hand crank so you can use it without a drill if something goes wrong mid grind.

$100 until the end of January is a great deal. At regular price of $130, I don't know. Shipping from Austin Homebrew is also cheaper than other places. Good luck with your decision.

Hmmm. I saw some pictures of a 1.25" grind, and wasn't super satisfied. I agree $130 seems high for that model.

Just waiting for a follow-up email from Fred before I pull the trigger on the Monster.

 

[FightinIrish]

http://schmidling.com/bbordpp.htm

Thanks!

 

[beaksnbeer]

I use the fully adjustable JSP malt mill love the 10inch rollers ease of adjustment and unless your leaving it outside rust shouldn't be a problem.

 

[WileECoyote]

I do this every time. I have to research the hell out of my purchases. I need to believe that I'm getting the absolutely best deal before I buy something. No idea why.

Just really don't want to re-upgrade again any time soon.

Hello, I do the exact same thing, I went with the Monster Mill 2-2.0 2 in rollers and 1/2" shaft, even after talking to the owner of MM, he said it was way over kill for me, that the 1 1/2" rollers would be fine, but I wanted to be able to crush corn just incase I ever get a whim to do so lol, and the 2" roller model will adjust out far enough to crush corn.

And this >>>------> Rule #35: Bigger is Better

Cheers

 

[jeepinjeepin]

Here are the top rollers on my 2 year old MM3 that is stored in my attached garage. Standard material. No rust.

 

[eric19312]

However, I think I could take my LHBS or a buddy into milling bulk sacks for me, so I'm not sure I'll actually be saving that amount...

Here's the thing....With a mill I don't store any crushed grain. I want that wonderful fresh crush smell you get right after crushing to get into my beer. I think that smell means there are volatile compounds that you are losing by storing crushed grain. I've Al's heard shelf life of crushed grain is lower than in crushed. But maybe this is just all propaganda from people selling mills...

I don't have evidence that fresh crush makes better tasting beer but not sure that is an experiment that I'm interested in doing now that I have a mill... But I guess the experiment wold be to buy grain for 2 batches, crush half, store crushed and uncrushed side by side for maybe a month. Then on brew day crush the in crushed and brew two identical batches back to back. Ferment, package and triangle test....

 

[WileECoyote]

Hello eric19312, I think most of us have purchased a mill more for.

1 the convince of being able to get in on bulk purchase pricing.
2 the connivence of having grain on hand to be able to brew whatever type of brew we want on a whim.
3 having the ability to set our crush to our needs=better control/better consistency of our brews, instead of getting whatever the crush happens to be on the LHBS or retailers mill.
4 some of us just like doing every aspect of the brew process that we can.

5 My personal belief on the aroma/freshness of grain crushed right before you brew is its going to make better beer with more flavor and aroma, I look at it like this if you take two oranges, cut one in half and place both in the fridge, let sit for 3 days, then pull them out, which one would you rather eat, one is going to be better than the other.

I think grain is the same as the oranges, but on a much slower reacting scale.

Just my 2 cents and thoughts.

Cheers to everyone thats brews

 

[beergolf]

I am in the market to and anpm seriously looking at the MM2.

The best price i have found is here,

http://www.farmhousebrewingsupply.com/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=76

It come with a base and the hopper.

 

[63belair]

I'm curious as to where you will be storing this mill.

Also, not to hijack the thread, but what is the advantage of having both sides adjustable vs only one? Seems like there wouldn't be a difference, but I bet I'm missing something.

 

[eric19312]

Hello eric19312, I think most of us have purchased a mill more for.

1 the convince of being able to get in on bulk purchase pricing.
2 the connivence of having grain on hand to be able to brew whatever type of brew we want on a whim.
3 having the ability to set our crush to our needs=better control/better consistency of our brews, instead of getting whatever the crush happens to be on the LHBS or retailers mill.
4 some of us just like doing every aspect of the brew process that we can.

5 My personal belief on the aroma/freshness of grain crushed right before you brew is its going to make better beer with more flavor and aroma, I look at it like this if you take two oranges, cut one in half and place both in the fridge, let sit for 3 days, then pull them out, which one would you rather eat, one is going to be better than the other.

I think grain is the same as the oranges, but on a much slower reacting scale.

Just my 2 cents and thoughts.

Cheers to everyone thats brews

Agree with all these reasons. I bought my mill because my LBHS was new and didn't have one yet. I picked it because ii liked the features offered for the price, and couldnt yet imagine needing something a lot more " heavy duty". I showed my Barley Crusher to my LHBS he has one in the store now.

I am very happy with it and really can't compare it to anything except not owning your own mill. Compared to no mill mine is awesome! I'm sure the others also good, but I've not used those.

I was really reacting to an earlier post that suggested buying bulk grain crushed or buying uncrushed and using a friends mill. I really don't like the idea of storing pre-crushed grain. I Believe your orange analogy is applicable, and matches exactly what I was saying, but I don't have any evidence that grain actually behaves that way.

You can buy a 50 lb sack from one of the online vendors and get them to crush it. But seems like a bad idea to me unless you are brewing on a large scale and can use it all right away.

 

[oakbarn]

Not sure you can compare apples and oranges,ehh I mean grain and oranges.....

 

[beaksnbeer]

I'm curious as to where you will be storing this mill.

Also, not to hijack the thread, but what is the advantage of having both sides adjustable vs only one? Seems like there wouldn't be a difference, but I bet I'm missing something.

With both sides adjustable the gap you set can be the same from one end to the other so the crush is consistent. If only one side is adjustable the gap goes from the setting on the "fixed" side to the adjustable side.
Say the fixed side is .039 and the adjustable is set to .035 a portion of the grain will be crushed along the whole which slight as it is will be different. I really doubt that it is enough to notice in the big picture. I bought mine used off of here and have run abut 20-25 bags of grain through it, JSP's are made for the commercial brewing so are built to last. Once I worked my crush to where I needed it I have been holding 80%-85% on all my beers, I can get to the 90's but it starts getting cloudy then so not worth it in the long run for me.

 

[WileECoyote]

Agree with all these reasons. I bought my mill because my LBHS was new and didn't have one yet. I picked it because ii liked the features offered for the price, and couldnt yet imagine needing something a lot more " heavy duty". I showed my Barley Crusher to my LHBS he has one in the store now.

I am very happy with it and really can't compare it to anything except not owning your own mill. Compared to no mill mine is awesome! I'm sure the others also good, but I've not used those.

I was really reacting to an earlier post that suggested buying bulk grain crushed or buying uncrushed and using a friends mill. I really don't like the idea of storing pre-crushed grain. I Believe your orange analogy is applicable, and matches exactly what I was saying, but I don't have any evidence that grain actually behaves that way.

You can buy a 50 lb sack from one of the online vendors and get them to crush it. But seems like a bad idea to me unless you are brewing on a large scale and can use it all right away.

I agree with you, and like you said, I have no proof ether, but then again, I do know that food spoils with time, even grain.
I also have not had any other mill for comparison, but I did just purchase
260 lbs of grain, 3 sacks bulk and 110 lbs of specially grains in 8 to 10 lb bags just so I can make up a grain bill on a whim, crush and brew it, I love having a mill.

I know you were reacting to another post, I was just trying to add to your reply, I didn't mean to step on your toes or offend in any way.

Cheers to you my friend

OK its time to get brewing, brewing a beer for my wife today Lu Lu's coffee.

 

[WileECoyote]

Not sure you can compare apples and oranges,ehh I mean grain and oranges.....

Yes you can, you just need to have a warped thought process. lol

Cheers

 

[eric19312]

I know you were reacting to another post, I was just trying to add to your reply, I didn't mean to step on your toes or offend in any way.

None taken!

Brewing pale ale double batch now all is good!

Cheers

 

[thadius856]

Here's the thing....With a mill I don't store any crushed grain. I want that wonderful fresh crush smell you get right after crushing to get into my beer. I think that smell means there are volatile compounds that you are losing by storing crushed grain. I've Al's heard shelf life of crushed grain is lower than in crushed. But maybe this is just all propaganda from people selling mills...

I don't have evidence that fresh crush makes better tasting beer but not sure that is an experiment that I'm interested in doing now that I have a mill... But I guess the experiment wold be to buy grain for 2 batches, crush half, store crushed and uncrushed side by side for maybe a month. Then on brew day crush the in crushed and brew two identical batches back to back. Ferment, package and triangle test....

Missed my point here. I mean that I think I could buy a 50# sack, take it home to store it, then take back a few lbs here and there to have them mill it right before brew day. Maybe. That would prevent storage of crushed grains.

 

[thadius856]

I am in the market to and anpm seriously looking at the MM2.

The best price i have found is here,

http://www.farmhousebrewingsupply.com/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=76

It come with a base and the hopper.

It's $2 less with base and hopper through the manufacturer. You sure that's the right link?

 

[jeepinjeepin]

Missed my point here. I mean that I think I could buy a 50# sack, take it home to store it, then take back a few lbs here and there to have them mill it right before brew day. Maybe. That would prevent storage of crushed grains.

If you have a cool LHBS they might let you. I think it would be reasonable if you bought the sack from them and only brought it back to mill if you were also buying specialty grains to mill at the same time.

 

[thadius856]

Precisely. They only sell specialty grains by the 50# sack and per #. No 5/8/10# bags. And I won't go through more than say, 10# of any particular one in a year as far as I can tell.

 

[eric19312]

What price do you get on 10 lb sacks of specialty grains... And from where?

 

[thadius856]

Brewing and on my cell phone, but I seem to recall NB selling 10# sacks at a lesser discount, which varies widely grain to grain.

 

[LuiInIdaho]

In choosing a mill, I had a couple of priorities

Price - I was willing to spend around $150, but I did not want to spend too much more.
Adjustability -- I wanted a mill that I could adjust both ends to achieve a uniform gap
Hopper size -- I wanted something that would hold a decent amount of grain

Price requirement eliminated the Monster Mill. Hopper size and full adjustability eliminated the JSP Mill.

Having said that, I purchased Barley Crusher. Because you are not interested in this model, I would recommend the Cereal Crusher from Adventures in Homebrewing or the mill from Rebel Brewer.

Best of luck on your search.

 

[Wreck99]

I was in the same boat a couple of months ago. Decided on the Monster Mill MM2 2.0 since the larger diameter rollers made logical sense to me in terms of crush quality. I use a big old 1/2 drill to power it. For $170 (twenty bucks more than your limit of $150 I would take a serious look at it) I thought it was the best value for long term use and consistency. I like having both sides adjustable, and it is a beast. Heavy! Knurls are quite aggressive and would take years to start wearing. I went with the standard alloy since my mill will stay in my basement away from the elements. I really wanted something that would last 10+ years and retain its value if I somehow decide to sell it. The crush quality is fantastic! I am getting high 70's to 80% with intact hulls and gap set to .040

I have a MM2 and love it. This thing will last a really long time! It came with a base and hopper. I don't remember the price now its been a while since I bought it. But, I never look back now. The crush is amazing and the beers I make now seem to be better than when I had the LHBS do the crush.

 

[oakbarn]

If you have a cool LHBS they might let you. I think it would be reasonable if you bought the sack from them and only brought it back to mill if you were also buying specialty grains to mill at the same time.

We live in the Dallas Area and we buy our grain from Homebrew Headquaters. We buy our base malt in full bags and only mill what we need and take the rest back to our brewery in food grade plastic buckets. We get a discount for buying the whole bag. The next time we brew, we take our grain and get any specialty grain and Liquid Yeast and mill it then. I like to have "fresh" grain that is probably better stored (living a pipe dream) than I can. Of course, it always from the "last?" harvest.:fro:

 

[thadius856]

Ok, well. I splurged. I did the math and I could barely make the hopper for $30 myself. Why waste a whole day to save $10?

I went with the MM2-2.0 for $177. And the stainless upgrade and 1/2" shaft upgrade for $80 (ouch!). And the base/hopper for $40.

With shipping, it came out to more a bit more than I'd liked to have spent. I just really don't want to have to re-upgrade equipment for a very long time, and I think this one could last a lifetime.

Thanks for the advice, all. I couldn't follow everybody's at the same time, but it did help me a lot in choosing. And hopefully this thread will be found in the future so it won't have to be re-created.

 

[BigRedHopHead]

Well done!!

 

[rkorn74]

Just bought a MM3 with 1.5 rollers and half inch drive spline. I will give it a try this Saturday and reply back on my findings. I have heard that some people have issues with jams and am hoping that is not the case.