Millar's Mill vs. Cereal Killer - Help me decide

[megalomani]

My tax return was direct deposited into my account recently. My wonderful wife said 1000 dollars can be used for what ever I want.

Looking at my current brewery, I decided my next purchase should be a grain mill. I don't want to spend too much of my total on a mill and decided that the most I want to spend is <200 dollars. After reading through the forum and looking at my needs (brew 20 - 80 gallons a year), am stuck between the Millar's mill and the Cereal Killer. Millar's seems to have some definite advantages but also is almost twice the cost.

Millar's Mill - $175 shipped

Cereal Killer - $99 shipped

Known advantages to Millar's - Longer and larger diameter rollers, harder stainless rollers, larger hopper.

I am open to suggestions to other mills except have already decided not to go with the NB mill, corona mill or the Barley Crusher.

SO brewer's, help me decide which is the better decision. Are advantages of Millar's mill worth the additional $75? Go.

 

[megalomani]

Well, anyone want to point out issues with either?

 

[mblanks2]

http://www.crankandstein.net/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=7&zenid=5d5ae536ad68f467f81da9e2b5b0942a

I have the 2A and have never had an issue. Awesome mill, great crush. Set it at .029" when purchased and have not looked back. I drive it with a Dewalt 18v cordless on low speed with no issues. I added the base and hopper to it as well.
I spoke with the owner of Millar's prior to my purchase and did not have a good experience so I moved on.

 

[megalomani]

Thanks for the feedback. Looks like the owner of Millar's is into high-end coffee (and high-priced coffee gadgets). They also sell and electric brewery for 9k. Read a few negative customer service reviews on other Millar's forum posts.

The amazon reviews for the millars mill are very positive and I really like stainless, the 1.5" diameter and length of the rollers. Makes me curious if this mill is really good build quality or just using marketing jargon to make it sound good.

Is Millars in the same build class as the MM or Crankenstein?

 

[reefriot]

I just ordered a cereal killer. UPS is being a turd and delayed my shipment till moday or i could at least let you know what the workmanship was like. I have been getting regular email updates from AIH which is nice. My last mill was a Valley mill and it worked great and lasted along long time.
I always say buy the best you can affoard. But with such a small per year usuage (20-80g) of beer i would consider the cereal killer. They fixed quite a few things on them. If theres one thing my saltwater reef hobby has taught me about equipment its this. Even the high tech super pricey USA made **** still uses mostly Chinese parts and really only has build quality over most chinese made stuff.

 

[SuperX]

I have the CK and it works perfectly. The quality is good and there is nothing about it that I could complain about. I really don't find it a chore to pause grinding to refill the hopper. I use a drill to make it even easier. I'm on my 3rd 50# bag of base malt and so far nothing has moved since I set it up and my efficiency is up since I began grinding my own grain.

 

[ram5ey]

I love my cereal killer and the customer service I have received from AIH has been great. The only issue I've had is it fell off a chair and the hopper dented really easily. That was to be expected from the thin aluminum material and I really should have payed more attention to where I placed the thing! It is a great mill though and the dents I could bend back by hand.

 

[augiedoggy]

I also use the cereal killer and have no issues at all...everything works great. So well in fact that I question SOME of the complaints often found in these threads which seem to steer people to another brand.. I am aware that the older cereal killer mills had some quality issues but they have been redesigned and now use bearings instead of bushings and mine has no issues with anything turning or being out of round.
If I was running a commercial micro/nano brewery or illegally pumping out hundreds of gallons of beer a year than I would consider something larger but that being said so far this thing works great... Blows my old corona mill away for sure and plenty fast enough...

 

[IslandLizard]

Monster Mill MM-2 gets my vote.

I bought one after doing extensive research on all the mills out there, around this time last year. When considering the price, reviews, and customer service it became an easy decision. When ordering direct, MM will match the price if you find it cheaper elsewhere.

If you really want to go to town you could consider the MM2-2.0 or the MM3 although they may not be worth the extra bucks for what you're doing.

 

[VinceS77]

I've been using a cereal killer for well over a year and have had no problems with it. Like others have said, the sheet metal is thin, but I haven't found this to be a problem. I probably put about 200 lbs of grain through it per year. There may be better mills out there, but I wouldn't hesitate to buy another CK. It's the first mill I've owned, but it's been a great value.

 

[stpug]

For right around $200 you can get either a MM2 or JSP Malt Mill AA delivered to your door. You'll just have to supply a drill or hand crank for the MM2 (the JSP comes with a hand crank). That's where I would spend my money. Northern Brewer occasionally has coupons available to bring the costs down $5-$20.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewing/brewing-equipment/all-grain-equipment/grain-mills

 

[one-L]

Will throw in to say that I contacted Millars about warranty because I didnt see anything about it on their website. I got a reply that there was a 6 month warranty for homebrew users, 30 day for commercial use. Dont know about warranty on the cereal killer but the MM is lifetime warranty.

 

[TNTgill]

I have the cereal killer and love it. The longer handle crank is easy enough to use if you don't have a drill and actually doesn't take too long to go through a hopper or two full. AIH also has a decent reward system so you can earn points if you need other things as well.

 

[Loodachris]

I got a cereal killer and with the gap set at .35 one of the rollers stops spinning during the crush. I tried it again last night with 15 lbs of grain and still the same problem and instead of adjusting the rollers I just dealt with it. I plan on adjusting the gap to .40 to see it maybe the gap was too tight but if it still has a problem I will return it for a new one. Frustrating

 

[titansvol]

I have a ck and really like it.


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[megalomani]

thanks for the suggestions and comments. Leaning towards the cereal killer for the price point and positive feedback.

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[Croyzen]

JSP Malt Mill model A. Shipped from JSP for $168. Great mill and will last you as long as you brew. I would go with that or the MM 2.0. Otherwise, if you want to go cheap, the cereal killer seems to get great reviews. For only 68 more dollars the JSP A will get you a US made, 10 inch long, 1.5 diameter mill with some adjustability and a lifetime warranty.

 

[megalomani]

JSP Malt Mill model A. Shipped from JSP for $168. Great mill and will last you as long as you brew. I would go with that or the MM 2.0. Otherwise, if you want to go cheap, the cereal killer seems to get great reviews. For only 68 more dollars the JSP A will get you a US made, 10 inch long, 1.5 diameter mill with some adjustability and a lifetime warranty.

Thanks, had not considered JSP previously. Looks like it will need a modified hopper however the warranty is a great settling point.

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