What’s the best grain mill for the price?

[blizz81]

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only Barley Crusher success story in the history of homebrewing. I've been using one for 10 years. Had the rollers fail to spin / run grain through a number of times in the first couple years - disassembled, cleaned, lubricated. About 7 years back when I disassembled, I lubed the portions of the shaft sitting in the bushings with a tiny bit of gun oil. Never had a problem since. Only brew about once a month, 5 gallon batches (prolly average of around 15-16lbs grain per batch), so maybe I'm not running it into the ground as much as some folks.


I think I'd agree with the consensus now that I'd probably get a Cereal Killer for the $

 

[Blazinlow86]

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only Barley Crusher success story in the history of homebrewing. I've been using one for 10 years. Had the rollers fail to spin / run grain through a number of times in the first couple years - disassembled, cleaned, lubricated. About 7 years back when I disassembled, I lubed the portions of the shaft sitting in the bushings with a tiny bit of gun oil. Never had a problem since. Only brew about once a month, 5 gallon batches (prolly average of around 15-16lbs grain per batch), so maybe I'm not running it into the ground as much as some folks.


I think I'd agree with the consensus now that I'd probably get a Cereal Killer for the $

The cereal killer is definitely the best bang for the buck. Cheers

 

[applescrap]

I know you all know the difference between bearings and bushings but I didn't. I found this video As I was looking the difference up.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Strongly emphasized....”For the price”

The lowly acclaimed corona mill can’t be beat imo.

I ran a motorized corona for years, no idea how many sacks without issue. Disassembled after many sacks thinking I would see some wear, surprise, cast iron is so hard it laughs at barley w/ no wear whatsoever

Fast forward caught a deal on a Bev Factory MM3 clone.

They both crush grain well....perhaps more style points with the 3 roller but minimal difference in crush.

Corona does take a bit of mechanical aptitude, but will mill train cars full of grain is cast iron, can easily be motorized and had extremely hard cast iron burr milling surface.

Earlier in the thread someone criticized the corona because they had trouble starting it with a cheap drill....really a drill issue rather than a mill issue, can we stay on topic lol thanks

 

[CharlieW]

Cereal Killer here also. Does a great job so far for the price.

 

[z-bob]

Just wondering if anyone here has Jack Schmidling's (sp?) Malt Mill? Not sure if he sells them anymore. IIRC it has larger diameter rollers than most other small mills.

I use an original Corona mill, not sure how many decades old it is. It does just fine, but creates more flour than is probably optimal.

 

[kh54s10]

Earlier in the thread someone criticized the corona because they had trouble starting it with a cheap drill....really a drill issue rather than a mill issue, can we stay on topic lol thanks

That was me and it was a reason for switching. I also said that I used my Corona for almost 8 years. You say I used a cheap drill... You don't know what drill I used..... I used several different drill motors. All of them had the issue. It is partially a drill issue but also a mill issue. The Cereal Killer doesn't suffer the same... I also stated that if the Cereal Killer went down I would have no issues returning to the Corona.

 

[gozer]

I have a monster mill MM3 and do not recommend. It slips more than it catches. Thinking about a downgrade to a 2 roller system from another company.

 

[day_trippr]

Cereal Killer. I've been very happy with mine.
Then put your mm3 on the For Sale forum...

Cheers!

 

[augiedoggy]

My kegco 3 roller is still going strong at the brewpub. its only getting used 2-3 times a month to brew 3bbls of beer each time right now due to covid but its literally milled thousands of lbs of grain now and still looks visibly and functionally unaffected so... my CK hasnt been used in over a year now..

 

[RPh_Guy]

I compare a variety of mills in this article, review their features, and explain in depth about how to mill:

https://***************.com/wiki/Milling
@augiedoggy if you wouldn't mind taking a look, I'd appreciate it. It's a wiki, so you can easily make changes if you want.
Cheers

 

[jma99]

OK, I'll play:
Are you counting the cost of a drill to power your mill?
If so, then you may want to consider this no name motorized mill from Amazon: ($157.99)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D1Y51WT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I have had it for about a year and brew 10 gallon batches grinding about 22 to 25 pounds of grain per batch.
Works very well so far. I load up the hopper and can walk away.
Of course, YMMV.

 

[augiedoggy]

I compare a variety of mills in this article, review their features, and explain in depth about how to mill:

https://***************.com/wiki/Milling
@augiedoggy if you wouldn't mind taking a look, I'd appreciate it. It's a wiki, so you can easily make changes if you want.
Cheers

Nice comparison site!
the maltmuncher 3 and kegco 3 are the same mill. even the maltmuncher 2 vs the cereal killer... some people have reported thier malt muncher 2 as having the ball bearings and some stated bushings... My guess is they changed over at some point and the maltmuncher 2 now are the same as the CK and kegco 2.

They are also sold as unbranded generic mills on aliexpress and ebay like this one.. I know is says the specs are different in the descriptions but if anyone has one here to measure im 90% sure they are one in the same.
https://www.ebay.com/i/303142077539...b40SSAoLuV6IwWSu8_PlbWpN4-yt2yOsaApb9EALw_wcB

 

[augiedoggy]

heres proof... they just change the advertised specs to mislead folks into believing they are different. Some sites are using the base length and some the actual roller length.

https://www.ontariobeerkegs.com/Malt_Muncher_Three_Roller_Malt_Mill_p/maltmunch-3-roller-mill.htm
and here the malt muncher 2 specs claim to have hardened steel bearings....
https://www.ontariobeerkegs.com/Malt_Muncher_Dual_Roller_Malt_Mill_p/maltmunch-2-roller-mill.htm

 

[RPh_Guy]

@augiedoggy Thanks!! Updated.

 

[Dog House Brew]

I have a monster mill MM3 and do not recommend. It slips more than it catches. Thinking about a downgrade to a 2 roller system from another company.

I have an original MM-3 w stainless rolls. The one thing that I learned is that it can’t be tight to the base. When the end caps were tight, I had issues with it not catching/spinning. I loosened the end cap bolts and I’ve never had an issue. I’ve ran probably 2000# through it. That being said, I’d probably buy a CK if I were looking.

 

[renstyle]

I'm in the market for mill myself currently.

this thread has been pure gold. thanks for all of the feedback on the various options. I was initially leaning toward a cereal killer, and after reading, still am.

really appreciate all of the info folks.

cheers!

 

[mbg]

Looking at 3 roller mills. I was looking at the Kegco at beveragefactory but then read the MaltMuncher 3 roller was identical and found it was less expensive. Then I looked closer at the specs and the Kegco at beveragefactory says 6" x 1.5" rollers and the MaltMasher at MoreBeer says 5" x 1.25". Yet the link given above by @augiedoggy to OBK says the MaltMuncher is 6" x 1.5" rollers.

Does anyone have a MaltMuncher 3-roller mill KL03261 and can verify the roller length and diameter?

Thanks
Mike

 

[sicktght311]

I’m currently on year 2.5 of the cereal killer and it hasn’t skipped a beat

 

[day_trippr]

You're a year ahead of me but so far I'm quite pleased.
But I was happy with my BC for many (8) years and ~3000 pounds of malt before it lost its grip.
That said, the CK design and construction runs rings around the BC, so I'm optimistic - particularly wrt the hardened rollers.
We'll see...

Cheers!