34 replies to this topic

[Deerslyr]

I suggest the BarleyCrusher. Had mine for a year and a half and its been great. Bought it straight from BC Products. No issues.

+1... and I don't need a fancy electric motor/pulley system. Just attach to the chuck of a decent drill and you are good to go. Or if you want a workout for your arm... just use the hand crank.

[siouxbrewer]

Am I correct that just the rollers/housing for the monster mill (with SS rollers) cost more than the whole barley crusher that's all ready to go? How much better can the crush really be?

Not sure why one would want to go the SS route either but the option is there. Mine is the base model MM2 I got discounted on scratch and dent, another benefit of buying direct from the manufacturer. It was only 90 bucks shipped and I have about 10 bucks into the hopper/mounting base/collection bin. As far as the crush goes, I think most homebrewers will be happy with whichever mill they decide upon after they've determined what gap size is correct for their sparge setup. My bias is simply on the quality of the machining and materials used. MM's rule.

[EWW]

I tossed my 3 roller MM in the drawer. What a huge waste of $180. No matter how the rollers were adjusted, tension on the detents, or how it was mounted, grain jammed and wouldn't spin the opposing rollers. Had awesome customer service from the man himself but to no avail. I went back to my original BrewTech that i traded a 6er for and have never looked back.

Really?? This only has happened to me once or twice, and I was always able to free the stuck grain my manually spinning the bottom roller to free up the grain that was lodged in there. I know that you said that you tried to mount it a number of different ways, but is there any chance that your bolt hole spacing was off a little to cause the whole thing to be a bit askew? The only reason I mention this is that I know that some have had problems with this causing the rollers not to spin freely...which sounds like your issue. Anyway, sorry to hear about this ... major bummer.

[siouxbrewer]

That's a bummer Andy, glad I'm too much of a cheapskate to spring for that third roller

[ChefLamont]

I will thrown another vote in for the Monster Mill. I have a 3-roller CrankandStein. It is a fine mill, but for the money the MM is a better mill IMO. I have used 2 and 3 roller models in both brands.

[ncbeerbrewer]

Talking about mills. I have the BarleyCrusher and have the 7lb hopper size. I have thought can anyone give me a reason why you need to buy the 15lb hopper? I mean I just keep adding grain as I crush whats in there. Oh well I love mine. I have just done a test and will repeat it too. I hand crush my malt bill in the BC then I run it all through again with the cordless drill, its improved my efficiency and almost nailed Beersmith numbers for the grain bill too. I agree though whatever mill you have you like end of story. Get one you can afford and wanna work with I say.

[gnef]

Like others have said, almost all of us who have bought a roller mill are happy with it.With that said, if you give us your budget and goals, that will help us to give you a better idea of what may fit your needs the best.For example - when I was first looking into mills, the barley crusher looked great to me because it was ready to go out of the box. Then I started to think about hand cranking the mill, and realized that I would eventually want to motorize the mill, so I wanted to go ahead and do that from the beginning. I also wanted a larger hopper. Since these costs were built into the cost of the barley crusher, I decided to go with a crankandstein at the time. I bought a simple 2 roller adjustable model, and built the base/hopper and used a motor with spider couplings. I am satisfied with the results of the crush, and haven't even adjusted the gap once. I bought my C&S before monster mill. Honestly, if I were for some reason to get a new mill, I would most likely get a Monster mill (there was drama with C&S, you can read up on the history if you like). Since I am not in college any more, and working, I would also go with the 3 roller model if I were to upgrade now. I bought the 2 roller when I was still in college, and had just bought grain in bulk, so funds were a bit tight.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

Like others have said, almost all of us who have bought a roller mill are happy with it.With that said, if you give us your budget and goals, that will help us to give you a better idea of what may fit your needs the best.For example - when I was first looking into mills, the barley crusher looked great to me because it was ready to go out of the box. Then I started to think about hand cranking the mill, and realized that I would eventually want to motorize the mill, so I wanted to go ahead and do that from the beginning. I also wanted a larger hopper. Since these costs were built into the cost of the barley crusher, I decided to go with a crankandstein at the time. I bought a simple 2 roller adjustable model, and built the base/hopper and used a motor with spider couplings. I am satisfied with the results of the crush, and haven't even adjusted the gap once. I bought my C&S before monster mill. Honestly, if I were for some reason to get a new mill, I would most likely get a Monster mill (there was drama with C&S, you can read up on the history if you like). Since I am not in college any more, and working, I would also go with the 3 roller model if I were to upgrade now. I bought the 2 roller when I was still in college, and had just bought grain in bulk, so funds were a bit tight.

The problem I usually have with projects is they rarely end up saving me any money :PI'll likely go with the BC just b/c I can use it straight out of the box. I'll probably hand crank a couple of batches and then eventually try hooking my drill up to it. I'm curious - what mills do you guys have and how many times do you usually run the grain through them?

[zymot]

The problem I usually have with projects is they rarely end up saving me any money

+1I have learned to go into most projects for the fun and the challenge. Between the time invested and redoing at least part of it, off the shelf as an attractive deal.zymot

[Spoon]

The problem I usually have with projects is they rarely end up saving me any money :PI'll likely go with the BC just b/c I can use it straight out of the box. I'll probably hand crank a couple of batches and then eventually try hooking my drill up to it. I'm curious - what mills do you guys have and how many times do you usually run the grain through them?

W/ my BC I've never crushed more than once. Although if you do a lot of 6 row you may want to do it 2x or adjust the rollers which is easy to do. Whole rye can use a 2nd crush but it varies.I use a lot of Mo and it is nice and plump I never have to crush twice.

[ColdAssHonky]

W/ my BC I've never crushed more than once. Although if you do a lot of 6 row you may want to do it 2x or adjust the rollers which is easy to do. Whole rye can use a 2nd crush but it varies.I use a lot of Mo and it is nice and plump I never have to crush twice.

+1