Which grain mill to buy?

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Viper78

Viper78

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I have been looking everywhere for advice on a good grain mill for home brewing. I don't do all grain so I just need it for a couple pounds at a time. I have been looking at a the hand crank type models on Amazon but have not seen any reviews from home brewers. Was wondering what things I need to look for and any other advice folks who own grain mills might have. Styles and/or manufacturers to seek or avoid would be great. Thanks.
 
There is no simple answer, I have a corona style mill on a mixer, It great for dark malts that you use in the steep. It's not good at simple all grain malt grind, unless you condition the grain first. Conditioning is wetting the out side of the kernel with water before feeding it into the mill, the husks stay intact then. I also schmidling malt mill, and it works but I don't get a crack like I want. It needs to be slightly narrowed and it's not an adjustable mill. So, that leads me to want an adjustable dual roller mill. Of course that is very expensive.
 
I vote for the Barley Crusher. I got mine at Northern Brewer. Works great for me....though I don't have any other reference.....it is the only one I have used. It is adjustable and you don't have to fabricate a hopper....which is a plus.

Check it out here.
 
yodalegomaster said:
It's not good at simple all grain malt grind, unless you condition the grain first.
Click to expand...

I'm going to have to completely disagree here. Either you're doing something wrong, or your Corona isn't set up correctly.

I've done probably 200lbs of grain in mine, and I get efficiencies in the mid to high 80s batch sparging. I don't condition.


The corona isn't as nice as a roller mill, but results wise, its identical.
 
I have a well adjusted (i.e. you have to adjust yourself) corona mill. Use it exclusively for my all grain - works fine, no tearing of husks. powered by electric drill.
 
I looked at the Barley Crusher and I think that is a little more than I want to spend right now...after reading a little deeper into the forum I am thinking that a corona or corona style mill will do the job for me since I am only doing a couple of lbs of specialty grains for my mini mash recipes. Thanks for the advice I really appreciate it.
 
If you like me, you're probably going to go all grain eventually. If you can afford it, spend a few extra bucks and go for a Barley Crusher. In the long run you'll be happy that you did. I made the error of buying a 5 gallon MLT. Used it half a dozen times then moved up to a 10 gallon. Wasted like 25 bucks right there.
 
Midwest supplies has a small hand-crank mill called the Victoria Mill for $50.00 Looks to be fine for the extract plus grains brewer. Look under all grain brewing/all grain equipment/grain mills.

I was thinking of getting one myself. Pez.
 
I'm going to have to completely disagree here. Either you're doing something wrong, or your Corona isn't set up correctly.

I've done probably 200lbs of grain in mine, and I get efficiencies in the mid to high 80s batch sparging. I don't condition.
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I think we have a difference of of opinion, in what the results of the grind should be, I bet I am looking for something a little different in the grind than you are. I also find that efficiency is really only a matter of mash tun design, and how well you can drain every last drop of wort out of the tun.
 
My choice would be the two roller version of the Monster Mill. I like that the roller shafts are integral to the roller and not separate, short pressed or screwed in shafts as with most of the other comparable mills I have seen. The bare bones model is only $109 which is not bad at all. You would need to fabricate a hopper and base for it, but that should be a breeze for even a half baked DIY type.

http://www.monsterbrewinghardware.com/mm-2.html

I don't have an MM, but if I were in the market for a mill, this one would be my pick.
 
Victoria is a Corona design, and one should be able to find one for less than $50. That being said, I have ordered quite a bit from Midwest and have had good experiences with them.

--------------------

Pezman1 said:
Midwest supplies has a small hand-crank mill called the Victoria Mill for $50.00 Looks to be fine for the extract plus grains brewer. Look under all grain brewing/all grain equipment/grain mills.

I was thinking of getting one myself. Pez.
Click to expand...
 
I'll pipe up for the Crankandstein. You have to buy the base/hopper separately, or build them yourself, but once you hold it in your hands you will realize that the Crankandstein is the last mill you will ever have to buy; it's just that sturdy.
 
I'm knew to all grain. I have a Corona. I hated it. I started conditioning my malt and I hate it less. Given that some people like it, I'm convinced "it's me." Can any one post a picture of what a good crush looks like? I seem to get flour or uncrushed grain. Conditioning seems to give me flour and *some* good grain.

I don't want to side track this thread to much, but if I can't learn to use my Corona, I'll be buying one of the mills suggested in this thread.
 
Retrofit said:
I'm knew to all grain. I have a Corona. I hated it. I started conditioning my malt and I hate it less. Given that some people like it, I'm convinced "it's me." Can any one post a picture of what a good crush looks like? I seem to get flour or uncrushed grain. Conditioning seems to give me flour and *some* good grain.

I don't want to side track this thread to much, but if I can't learn to use my Corona, I'll be buying one of the mills suggested in this thread.
Click to expand...

Trust me, you are not alone and it's not your fault. The Corona mills certainly have many loyal users and there's nothing wrong with that, but IMO you're better off getting a real malt mill.

I don't have a pic handy of what a proper grist should look like, but I'll see if I can put something up for you in a day or so. In the meantime, IMO the grist should be about 10% flour with the rest a range of larger starch particles and husks. It's best if the husks are not excessively shredded. I've recently begun conditioning my malt and the grist looks much different now. I've been able to tighten the mill gap a lot. The grist now looks like flattened, but largely intact husks and mostly coarse flour. The husks look like they were smashed with a hammer and flattened. The grist is also fluffier. What you do not want, of course, is to find many intact malt kernels in the grist. An occasional intact kernel is no big deal. Those are usually undersized for whatever reason and nothing to be concerned about.
 
Get a Crankenstein Monster Mill or Barley Crusher they are all AWESOME mills and will last a long time. I have a Monster Mill 2 with a sweet hopper and absolutely love it. I get great efficiency and a great crush. The Barley Crusher is a good base mill but you can get more options with the Crankenstein and Monster Mill like stainless steel rollers for crushing wet grain and 3 roller mills. If I were to do it over I would get a Monster Mill 2 with stainless rollers stronger(dont ever rust) and 1/2 drive beefier(which must be motorized) but 1/2 harbor freight d handle drills are only 30 some bucks and have low enough rpms and all the torque you will ever need for grain. But my mill should last til I give up brewing which wont be for a long long time and I never want to have to get another mill.
 
I'm entering into world of milling my own grain as well - I'm getting seriously sick of paying $1.69 a lb for two row at my LHBS, when I can buy a 50lb bag of it for $32.50 from Morebeer.

I've settled on a Monster Mill - and figure it's worth the extra cash to buy the stainless rollers in anticipation of conditioning grain. I'm just trying to figure out if it's worth the extra $60 to hop to the three roller version ($149 for the MM2 with stainless rollers, $209 for the MM3). The question was *kinda* covered in this thread, but still kinda thinking that three-roller's a wee bit overkill for homebrewing two 10-gallon batches a month. Any input?
 
i just got a 3 roller Monster Mill...I'm more than pleased with it. The crush was awesome. I would recommend it any day. The way it crushes and keeps the husk in tact is pretty cool. It helps with sparging as they say it will. Efficiency wise, I don't know that it does any better than a normal 2 roller. I got 86% efficiency with my first attempt.

Having said that, Fred from Monster Mills was incredibly helpful and responsive to emails. So if customer service is important to you, then you can feel safe with Monster.

Edit: To Ubermick, you won't regret either mill.
 
ubermick said:
I'm entering into world of milling my own grain as well - I'm getting seriously sick of paying $1.69 a lb for two row at my LHBS, when I can buy a 50lb bag of it for $32.50 from Morebeer.

I've settled on a Monster Mill - and figure it's worth the extra cash to buy the stainless rollers in anticipation of conditioning grain. I'm just trying to figure out if it's worth the extra $60 to hop to the three roller version ($149 for the MM2 with stainless rollers, $209 for the MM3). The question was *kinda* covered in this thread, but still kinda thinking that three-roller's a wee bit overkill for homebrewing two 10-gallon batches a month. Any input?
Click to expand...

You've made an excellent choice with the MM. I don't have SS rollers on my mill and I wet condition the malt every time and have had no problems with rust at all. IMO, the three roller versions are not worth the extra cost. They are high on the bling scale but I am not convinced that they produce a superior grist. A properly adjusted two roller mill using conditioned malt will produce a grist every bit as good as a three roller mill. My best friend has a three roller Crankenstein, and it is a very nice mill. There's no denying that, but my little single roller mill performs just as well, if not better.
 
Catt22, I appreciate the response.
I'm going to have the local store crush some grain for me. Use that as my example, and try to replicate it. However, I think long run I should likely consider a better mill. I've only all grained a few times, but I can't get above 50% efficiency. So obviously I need to change my methods. I'm certain my crappy crush is a huge factor in my low efficiency beers. Sigh. This thread is like a big kick in the butt to spend some money. Erg.
 
Retrofit said:
Catt22, I appreciate the response.
I'm going to have the local store crush some grain for me. Use that as my example, and try to replicate it. However, I think long run I should likely consider a better mill. I've only all grained a few times, but I can't get above 50% efficiency. So obviously I need to change my methods. I'm certain my crappy crush is a huge factor in my low efficiency beers. Sigh. This thread is like a big kick in the butt to spend some money. Erg.
Click to expand...

I see you're in Aurora, so if by local store, you mean Dry Dock/Brew Hut, then their crush is pretty good. I average around 73% from their crush.


Catt22, so for those that dont wet condition their malt, would the 3 roller version be better?
 
riored4v said:
I see you're in Aurora, so if by local store, you mean Dry Dock/Brew Hut, then their crush is pretty good. I average around 73% from their crush.


Catt22, so for those that dont wet condition their malt, would the 3 roller version be better?
Click to expand...

I don't really know, but the grist my buddy's three roller Crankenstein produces is very good with or without conditioning. He did not condition his malt when he first bought the mill and neither did I, but now we both do it routinely. Conditioning makes a huge difference for the better IMO. I see no reason not to do it unless you are milling the grain at the LHBS or there's something else that may prohibit it. It's really easy to do and doesn't take much time.
 
Here's some pics of the conditioned malt grist:

4709369205_2f09a092dd_b.jpg


4709368309_05426e90d0_b.jpg


4710009502_8aa9a2479e_b.jpg
 
Just got the Barley Crusher at Austin Homebrew Supply. Happened to be right by their new location today and went with that one. No shipping was a big plus and I could see what I was getting. Thanks again for all the advice.
 
I love my Barley Crusher. - Lifetime warranty and is ready to use out of the box.

MyBarleyCrusher.jpg


I've got 4 neighbors who come to my house to crush their grain. I've put over a 1,000 pounds through mine and it runs like a champ.
 
That's great to hear, EdWort. Can't wait for my next brew day! Boys and toys. I need more carboys and kegs!

Or, I need to drink more, if that's even possible...
 
Keith, be careful what you wish for.

Anyways, I just pulled the trigger on mine. Monster Mill MM3 with the stainless rollers and the hopper 'n' base. Now I need to motorize the thing!
 
my efficiency went up a bit when i got my 3 roller monster mill.
gotta have a big drill to run it. the battery on my 14v cordless drill died in about 90 seconds the first time i tried to run it...

with the gap at .38 or .40" i was getting about 72% efficiency, the crush looked like this.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3448/4605330054_f298edfaa5_o.jpg

i moved the gap down to .36" and now i'm right around 80% efficiency. i have no desire to try to get my efficiency any higher.

the mill was shipped fast and easy to assemble. works fine. i'm sure it will last a very long time.
 

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