New grain mill - rusted rollers??

[emprbasist]

question for those of you with grain mills. I just opened my brand new grain mill the SWMBO bought me for xmas, and I noticed that the rollers are pretty rusty in between the knurls. Has anyone else seen this on a never-used mill before? And do you think this is ok to use, or should I exchange/return it?

Thanks in advance!

 

[acidrain]

Personally, I would disassemble it and clean it with a SS wire brush.

 

[Bensiff]

If it's stainless I wouldn't be too happy. It should he passivated and not be rusting. However most stainless comes from China thanks to to the excessive cost of making it in the US or other modern countries. So, you get what you get and sometimes it's up to the end user to square up deficiencies. I am having to do the same with my fancy new custom kettles. I saved a small fortune, but there is some quality issues I wouldn't accept if it were made I. The good ol USA.

 

[Bobby_M]

I'd wire brush it and get to milling. Regular use will keep it from rusting in the future.

 

[augiedoggy]

If it's stainless I wouldn't be too happy. It should he passivated and not be rusting. However most stainless comes from China thanks to to the excessive cost of making it in the US or other modern countries. So, you get what you get and sometimes it's up to the end user to square up deficiencies. I am having to do the same with my fancy new custom kettles. I saved a small fortune, but there is some quality issues I wouldn't accept if it were made I. The good ol USA.

The good rollers are made of hardened carbon steel... unfortunately this also means they can rust if left wet or in a damp enviroment.... some of the "cheaper" mills use stainless.
In this case I think the mill might have been exposed to moisture on a container ship coming over the ocean or possibly in a warehouse.
I'm pretty sure a real American made grain mill would cost about $200.00 minimum and I dont know of one... All the "made in America" ones I've seen are like everything else these days...most or all of parts are made in china and final assy done in the states... I bought a cerial killer... made in china yes.. but not marked up $50 because someone bolted the hopper on in the states...but they did try to fool everyone with an American wooden based that said "made in america" and no made in china marks on the mill. Knowing people would assume its American just like they sometimes do when the buy a foreign made ford, dodge or chevy. I know my dodge ram came from mexico and my toyota came from georgetown kentucky (assembled there anyway).. Hell even Harley has parts stamped overseas now. if they paint them here thay can say made in America...

Just another reason to drink more beer.

 

[Bensiff]

The good rollers are made of hardened carbon steel... unfortunately this also means they can rust if left wet or in a damp enviroment.... some of the "cheaper" mills use stainless.

In this case I think the mill might have been exposed to moisture on a container ship coming over the ocean or possibly in a warehouse.

I'm pretty sure a real American made grain mill would cost about $200.00 minimum and I dont know of one... All the "made in America" ones I've seen are like everything else these days...most or all of parts are made in china and final assy done in the states... I bought a cerial killer... made in china yes.. but not marked up $50 because someone bolted the hopper on in the states...but they did try to fool everyone with an American wooden based that said "made in america" and no made in china marks on the mill. Knowing people would assume its American just like they sometimes do when the buy a foreign made ford, dodge or chevy. I know my dodge ram came from mexico and my toyota came from georgetown kentucky (assembled there anyway).. Hell even Harley has parts stamped overseas now. if they paint them here thay can say made in America...



Just another reason to drink more beer.

Good point, I forgot that rollers are carbon steel. I have a monster mill M3 which is made in the us, perhaps the raw stock comes from china, and they do the machining, idk. Anyway, I didn't pay the extra cost to get stainless rollers and it has never rusted. It lives in my garage and there is no shortage if humidity in the PNW.

 

[augiedoggy]

The Idea is carbon steel is stronger and the rough surface is supposed to be sharper/ rougher and stay that way longer than with stainless I dont know how much difference it would really make in an application like home brewing vs a commercial application. I would be more concerned about something like wear of bushing being used instead of bearings and how well they are holding up...

A little extra iron wont hurt you. they used to spray so much on the total brand cereal that it would actually attract to the magnet if you stuck it in the milk with the cereal floating in it. .. I dont think thats enough to effect and flavor either.

I do stand corrected, looks like the monster mill is made in the US. That is nice to hear. A quick search shows $10 shy of double the price I paid for mine though.... And geography aside mine is a very well built mill with ball bearings and hardened steel rollers... I would expect the monster mill is all that and more? being that the US has been at the manufacturing game a lot longer than longer than china and the raw materials cost the same... plus it doesnt have to be shipped half way around the world... then again we have higher labor costs but $90 higher on each mill? I'm not being negative just wondering if there are additional reasons I'm unaware of? (besides these and the ones I see at work everyday)

BTW if you wipe the rollers with a bit of olive oil after cleaning them it should inhibit any rust from returning and the oil is actually good for the yeast if any makes it into your beer...

 

[NoMoBud]

The Idea is carbon steel is stronger and the rough surface is supposed to be sharper/ rougher and stay that way longer than with stainless I dont know how much difference it would really make in an application like home brewing vs a commercial application. I would be more concerned about something like wear of bushing being used instead of bearings and how well they are holding up...

A little extra iron wont hurt you. they used to spray so much on the total brand cereal that it would actually attract to the magnet if you stuck it in the milk with the cereal floating in it. .. I dont think thats enough to effect and flavor either.

I do stand corrected, looks like the monster mill is made in the US. That is nice to hear. A quick search shows $10 shy of double the price I paid for mine though.... And geography aside mine is a very well built mill with ball bearings and hardened steel rollers... I would expect the monster mill is all that and more? being that the US has been at the manufacturing game a lot longer than longer than china and the raw materials cost the same... plus it doesnt have to be shipped half way around the world... then again we have higher labor costs but $90 higher on each mill? I'm not being negative just wondering if there are additional reasons I'm unaware of? (besides these and the ones I see at work everyday)

BTW if you wipe the rollers with a bit of olive oil after cleaning them it should inhibit any rust from returning and the oil is actually good for the yeast if any makes it into your beer...

Wouldn't oil plus flour clog the rollers?

 

[F_R_O_G]

according to john Palmer in "how to brew" (who's main job is metallurgy). a ss brush will promote corrosion on carbon steel! use a brass or nylon brush. regular use should prevent any corrosion. and for storage vegetable oil and buffing should do well

 

[augiedoggy]

Wouldn't oil plus flour clog the rollers?

the idea is to put a dab on a cloth and wipe the rollers down... this will leave an almost unoticable and dry coating...

 

[ArcLight]

If it's stainless I wouldn't be too happy. It should he passivated and not be rusting. However most stainless comes from China thanks to to the excessive cost of making it in the US or other modern countries. So, you get what you get and sometimes it's up to the end user to square up deficiencies. I am having to do the same with my fancy new custom kettles. I saved a small fortune, but there is some quality issues I wouldn't accept if it were made I. The good ol USA.

Having access to barely above slave labor, while generating a huge amount of pollution that affects the entire world, does help keep prices down. Plus the quality issues.


I keep my mill indoors to prevent this very problem and take it outdoors when milling.

 

[Bobby_M]

according to john Palmer in "how to brew" (who's main job is metallurgy). a ss brush will promote corrosion on carbon steel! use a brass or nylon brush. regular use should prevent any corrosion. and for storage vegetable oil and buffing should do well

Are you sure you don't have that backwards? A common steel brush used on stainless will embed small particals and will rust later.

 

[F_R_O_G]

huh? need more beer

 

[augiedoggy]

Having access to barely above slave labor, while generating a huge amount of pollution that affects the entire world, does help keep prices down. Plus the quality issues.
.

Wait, are you talking about China now, or the United States a hundred years ago when Our industry was booming and our JP Morgans and Andrew Carnigies were learning how to control politics and policy?? Ironically the chinese were the worst off of the poor practically "slave labor" then too only it was building railroads for us and of course we always had plenty of actual slaves back then.. sorry. The truth is its countries like china that are like the wild west of the world now and many of the rich from all over the world do their dirty business there taking advantage of that... Kind of like when the worlds business and government wants to dispose of a giant ship without doing it in an enviromentally friendly way, they just sell it to dummy companies that send them to India to have the oil dumped into the ocean and whatever other parts of the ship that arent worth anything. While the barefoot childern and people cut the ship up directly on shore after they drive it onto the beach... its the worlds biggest ship garbage disposal and its a huge source of pollution.

 

[ArcLight]

>>Wait, are you talking about China now, or the United States a hundred years ago when Our industry was booming and our JP Morgans and Andrew Carnigies were learning how to control politics and policy??

I'm talking about China now in response to the post by Bensiff.

It does cost more to make in the USA, but why is that excessive?
The working conditions in China are pretty bad and so is the pollution.

 

[jimyson]

Are you sure you don't have that backwards? A common steel brush used on stainless will embed small particals and will rust later.

Yes, he has it wrong. Note the difference between steel and stainless steel

“It can be cleaned with a nylon or brass wire brush to remove any light rusting that may occur. Cleaning with steel wool or a steel wire brush will actually promote corrosion.”

Excerpt From: John J. Palmer. “How to Brew.” iBooks. https://itun.es/us/x2kOH.l

 

[Teromous]

And do you think this is ok to use, or should I exchange/return it?

It depends if the rust came from the rollers or the machinery that was used to manufacture it. Ultimately nothing metal that you ever buy should have rust on it, but if you wipe it off and the metal looks fine then it's up to you. I'm pretty sure my Monster Mill said to run about 1/2 a pound of grain to clean out anything out before its first use.

My opinion is that it wasn't QC'd properly. I would return it if it's not too inconvenient. I would also appreciate it if you posted the brand of the mill and where it was purchased by your wife.