Want to repair a Schmedling unadjustable Maltmill

[beernutz]

My 20+ year old JSP Maltmill finally stopped crushing. This model uses a very simple mechanism to move both rollers. You crank or use a drill to move one roller and there's a band around the other which touches the powered roller causing both to turn. See picture below which helps explain the mill.

Well the band finally broke and I'm not sure what to replace it with. Any other original Maltmill owners resuscitate their mills with a replacement band?

 

[michaeltrego]

I have had my non-adjustable MaltMill for 25 years and it's still going strong. Motorized it with a hopper. I don't think the o-ring on the roller is absolutely required. The grain will get pulled through by the driven main roller. You could contact Jack to confirm [email protected]

 

[Spartan1979]

I've had a Schmidling Mill for over 20 years and it never had an o-ring. As the poster above mentioned, pulling the grain through makes the other roller turn. Mine could probably use some new bushings.

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, it's unlikely that o-ring is what actually rotated the passive roller. My Barley Crusher came with one of those and which promptly disappeared on the second batch, but I still milled more than a ton of grain with it over the next decade.

What did the BC in, and what you're likely seeing, is the roller knurling is worn to the point they can't grip the grain well enough.

What I did was to reverse the rollers so the opposite edges of the knurling now does the work. Works like new, and is now my wheat a d rye mill with an .025" gap, while I use my 1-1/2 year old Cereal Killer for barley.

So if you can swap the rollers and run the mill in reverse, give that a try..

Cheers!

 

[beernutz]

Thanks for all the feedback. Without the o-ring on mine the other roller absolutely doesn't turn which means the grain doesn't get crushed. Perhaps the other roller is too far gone if all of yours don't require the o-ring.

I emailed jack but no reply and his website doesn't look like its been updated in years. Maybe this is a sign that its time to upgrade to an adjustable mill.

 

[passedpawn]

JSP officially shut down a while back. I think there was a fire.

 

[Franktalk]

I recently replaced the bushings on my JSP fixed setting malt mill. It gave it a new life. My efficiency had dropped down to lower than 70%. After I replaced the bushings and cleaned up the roller ends, etcetera, it brought me back up over 75% which to me is acceptable. Take it apart, clean it up, and replace the bushings and you will have a new mill. I got the bushings at McMaster Carr. They are oil impregnated bronze bushings 1/2 X 1/2 X 3/8.

 

[Franktalk]

I forgot to add, don't tighten the frame ends too much.

 

[VikeMan]

Thanks for all the feedback. Without the o-ring on mine the other roller absolutely doesn't turn which means the grain doesn't get crushed. Perhaps the other roller is too far gone if all of yours don't require the o-ring.

If you get a few grains dropped into the gap by moving the non-powered roller with something like a screwdriver, it should then "catch" and run fine without the O-Ring.

 

[smata67]

Knowing absolutely nothing about this particular mill and its design intent, I doubt very much that o-ring has any other purpose than keeping things from falling into the gap between the roller and the frame so it has migrated up the roller away from its original position. It is a non-issue in terms of performance. My mill works the same, the non-driven roller turns when there is grain in the gap to be crushed. Of course you don't want to get a new mill, whatever issue is impacting the mill's ability to crush is probably minor and once identified will result in a good crush once again.

 

[Spartan1979]

I recently replaced the bushings on my JSP fixed setting malt mill. It gave it a new life. My efficiency had dropped down to lower than 70%. After I replaced the bushings and cleaned up the roller ends, etcetera, it brought me back up over 75% which to me is acceptable. Take it apart, clean it up, and replace the bushings and you will have a new mill. I got the bushings at McMaster Carr. They are oil impregnated bronze bushings 1/2 X 1/2 X 3/8.

Any chance you have the part number? Was it difficult to replace them? I'd like to do this to mine as it still works well but it's a little sloppy. Thanks.

 

[beernutz]

If you get a few grains dropped into the gap by moving the non-powered roller with something like a screwdriver, it should then "catch" and run fine without the O-Ring.

That wasn't my experience. I think I need to deep clean the rollers if it is ever going to crush again.

 

[Franktalk]

Any chance you have the part number? Was it difficult to replace them? I'd like to do this to mine as it still works well but it's a little sloppy. Thanks.

Spartan, here is the link to the exact bushings I used, They are a step above the ones that came in the mill and so far have been great. Good luck!

https://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/6952K64

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

What about the o-ring? Anyone know size or source?

 

[passedpawn]

I have the same mill. I bought it used in 2009. It never had that oring. I've never had a problem with it.

 

[beernutz]

I took my Maltmill apart and unless I'm crazy it doesn't appear to have bushings or bearings. The, what appear to me to be, bronze sleeves that the roller ends go in don't move at all and don't appear to be replaceable. What am I missing?

 

[grampamark]

I took my Maltmill apart and unless I'm crazy it doesn't appear to have bushings or bearings. The, what appear to me to be, bronze sleeves that the roller ends go in don't move at all and don't appear to be replaceable. What am I missing?

The “bronze sleeves” are bushings. The bushings @Franktalk linked in his post would replace them.

 

[beernutz]

The “bronze sleeves” are bushings. The bushings @Franktalk linked in his post would replace them.

So just hammer them out to replace them?

EDIT: Thanks for all the input, I'm buying a cereal killer. I got 20+ years from the Maltmill but futzing with these sleeve bushings isn't worth my time. Thanks for the good times Jack.

 

[smata67]

You really can't argue with the desire to have the ability to adjust the gap. Probably time to move on to a new mill.

 

[beernutz]

I want to update that I did get a reply from Jack Schmidling yesterday in which he explained about his factory fire and permanent closure. He included some facts related to rebuilding a Maltmill which I though I'd pass on:

The oring is a #124 available at most hardware stores.

You can purchase the bushings from the following links:

McMaster-Carr End plates

McMaster-Carr Internal on adjustable roller

 

[passedpawn]

Schmidling seems like a renaissance man. He made all sorts of stuff in his barn.

He's been doing the beer thing for a long time. Click this link and you can see him discussing brewing in the venerable homebrew digest, the predecessor to this forum (but it's the post 3 above his that you should look at carefully, and be prepared for a bit of fun history I guess it's only interesting if you know who John Palmer is)

http://hbd.org/hbd/archive/1192.html#1192-9

 

[beernutz]

Schmidling seems like a renaissance man. He made all sorts of stuff in his barn.

He's been doing the beer thing for a long time. Click this link and you can see him discussing brewing in the venerable homebrew digest, the predecessor to this forum (but it's the post 3 above his that you should look at carefully, and be prepared for a bit of fun history I guess it's only interesting if you know who John Palmer is)

http://hbd.org/hbd/archive/1192.html#1192-9

Good stuff thanks for the link.

I found out about Jack and his products on HBD. It took a bit of digging just now but I found my first HBD post from March 30, 1993 from when I was in grad school. A lot of beer has passed under that bridge...

 

[VikeMan]

(but it's the post 3 above his that you should look at carefully, and be prepared for a bit of fun history I guess it's only interesting if you know who John Palmer is)

Cool. Everyone started somewhere! Interestingly, he botched the Monty Python reference.

 

[beernutz]

How's this for a homebrewing throwback video? I would guess late-80s/early 90s based on the computer I saw in it. Jack even malts grain at home.

 

[michaeltrego]

Good stuff thanks for the link.

I found out about Jack and his products on HBD. It took a bit of digging just now but I found my first HBD post from March 30, 1993 from when I was in grad school. A lot of beer has passed under that bridge...

Quite a throwback, my first post to HBD was March 15, 1993.

 

[passedpawn]

How's this for a homebrewing throwback video? I would guess late-80s/early 90s based on the computer I saw in it. Jack even malts grain at home.

1991.

 

[bracconiere]

let me take a

pic of how hard core a JSP old mill, and show you how to deal......

what you do is you get it running, and when it doesn't catch, you get a pairing knife....stick it in the right side crack, and phsycialy move the free roller till it starts milling again....might have to repeat this prosses a couple times through milling 20lb's.....maybe just once at the start YMMV!

 

[passedpawn]

... here's how to motorize one of these workhorses...

 

[bracconiere]

... here's how to motorize one of these workhorses...

awww, looks like a virgin......those wood side panels are the first to go.....and i don't know about an un adjustable one..i got the double adjustable....but i had to drill a couple holes in a hax saw blade and put it on the free roller side to keep the damn thing straight!!

 

[passedpawn]

awww, looks like a virgin......those wood side panels are the first to go.....and i don't know about an un adjustable one..i got the double adjustable....but i had to drill a couple holes in a hax saw blade and put it on the free roller side to keep the damn thing straight!!

haha, not quite. I've put a LOT of grain through it... and I bought it in 2009, used, from a homebrew shop, where it was the only mill. It's still ticking.

 

[bracconiere]

haha, not quite. I've put a LOT of grain through it... and I bought it in 2009, used, from a homebrew shop, where it was the only mill. It's still ticking.

think i got mine in '07...but i am an abusive user....the reason mine has duct tape in it is when i tried to run hot wet malt through it......melted the plastic, think the side panels i just lost the screws, or that problem with one side getting wider, ripped the screw out....at any rate it still works.....


and i lost that particle board base plate trying to wash it after something like the wet malt experiment.......

 

[w8av]

JSP officially shut down a while back. I think there was a fire.

Yes, there was a fire that completely destroyed his shop and equipment several years ago. I had contacted Jack about getting a new Malt Mill since mine was also pretty worn out after about 25 years of use by me and the homebrew shop I bought it from. I had it for at least 23 of those years. Jack told me that he was not going to rebuild his business. He made a good product and a lot of us out here used them!

You might find a local metal working outfit that could re-score the rollers to sharpen them up. However, it might just be more cost effective to replace the mill with one of the others that are on the market. I bought a Crankandstein a year or so ago and love it. It is a bit more expensive than others but it does the job for me and my efficiencies went up about 5% when I got it dialed in.

 

[VikeMan]

You might find a local metal working outfit that could re-score the rollers to sharpen them up.

OP's mill does not have an adjustable gap. So I don't think removing material from the rollers would help.

 

[michaeltrego]

Motorized with a clothes dryer motor and added a hopper that holds 15 lbs of grain.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Clever use of a mailbox!

 

[beernutz]

Update! I bought 3 new O-rings (size 124) at my local Ace Hardware for about a buck each and put them all on one of the rollers, then reassembled the mill. It only had 1 O-ring originally but I figured I would add some fault tolerance by using all 3 of them.

I didn't replace the bushings as they didn't seem that worn even after 20 years and probably 2 tons of grain (200+ batches at 20+ lbs of grain each).

I double crushed 24 lbs of grain last weekend and it ran great so like a cat with 9 lives Maltmill lives on another day. A small part of me wanted it not to work so I'd have an excuse to upgrade to an adjustable mill but I'm loyal if nothing else so as long as Maltmill doesn't give up on me I won't give up on it.

 

[homebrudoc]

First brew kit 1994. HBD since 1995. Schmidling MaltMill very soon thereafter, still going strong.
homebrudoc

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Update! I bought 3 new O-rings (size 124) at my local Ace Hardware for about a buck each and put them all on one of the rollers, then reassembled the mill. It only had 1 O-ring originally but I figured I would add some fault tolerance by using all 3 of them.

I didn't replace the bushings as they didn't seem that worn even after 20 years and probably 2 tons of grain (200+ batches at 20+ lbs of grain each).

I double crushed 24 lbs of grain last weekend and it ran great so like a cat with 9 lives Maltmill lives on another day. A small part of me wanted it not to work so I'd have an excuse to upgrade to an adjustable mill but I'm loyal if nothing else so as long as Maltmill doesn't give up on me I won't give up on it.

Thanks! Perhaps time for me to rescue my Schmidling malt mill.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Possible to post an Ace Hardware link? There are LOTs of o rings at their website. Thanks.

 

[beernutz]

Possible to post an Ace Hardware link? There are LOTs of o rings at their website. Thanks.

I went an Ace hardware store and looked through the multi-drawer box containing O-rings to find the #124 ones. At first it didn't appear they had any but persistence paid off.

Amazon has them for a buck apiece if you buy 10:
https://www.amazon.com/Viton-Ring-D...eywords=#124+oring&qid=1606781175&sr=8-1&th=1