Hi everyone, I have been doing all gain brews for about a year and have always gotten my grains milled. My kids got me a pliny the elder all grain kit and the grains aren’t milled. Was looking for advise on a good grain mill to buy and from what company without spending a ton. Thanks in advance for any and all the help.
I personally have a JSP maltmill that I’m really happy with, but I also believe that just about every homebrewwer who has a mill loves it - whatever it may be. The thing about mills is that they are one of the very few pieces of equipment that you can buy that will pay for itself many times over. It is very satisfying to buy a 55 lb bag of grain for much less than what you would pay by the pound, so each bag you use offsets whatever you paid for the mill.
You can get by with a plate mill – Corona style. I think you can still find them for around $25-30 online. I’ve had one for a few years and do just fine with it. It’s an arm workout if you hand crank but you can drive it with a good drill.
I got a Barley Crusher a year ago and it was one of the best investments I’ve ever made. I’ve always had issues hitting a consistent efficiency depending on where I got my grain from. Once I got my own mill I was really able to dial in that part of my process.
While I don’t have much experience with any other mills, I am very happy with the Barley Crusher as an entry-level malt mill. Word to the wise: they tend to stock out this time of year as everyone starts redeeming their gift cards. If you try waiting for a sale you might find them stocked out for a while.
+1 on the Barley Crusher. I’ve also seen people retrofit theirs with a larger hopper so the 7 lb. should be fine. For a normal 5 gallon batch, I can usually get all my grains in two loads and run it with a drill.
Lots of previous threads on grain mills. Just run a quick search.
The wife just bought me a JSP, but its not adjustable. Not sure how I feel about the fixed gap, but it would be a PITA to return…
Thanks for all the advice. I’ll start looking at them and I figure I’ll be getting one in the next few weeks. Again thanks for all the ideas.
Also very happy with the Barley Crusher.
To those with the Barley Crusher, have you adjusted the settings or just been using it as it came out of the box? I have one as well that I bought about 18 months ago. Wonder whether it ever needs to be adjusted.
thanks,
Tim F.
I use an old Phil Mill with a cordless drill. There are a lot fancier mills out there but the ol’ Phil Mill gives me a nice crush.
The Barley Crusher is a great design and now you can find several knock offs being sold by homebrew shops (Adventures in Homebrew, Rebel Brewer, and N. Brewer/Midwest). I think AIH has the best deal at $99 with free shipping (Hullwrecker® 2-roller Grain Mill & Base) for their version of the Barley Crusher.
Barley Crusher seems to be one of the better (relatively inexpensive) deals around.
However, I’ve had mine for a few years and it’s noticeably lopsided. Don’t really know if it came that way and I was too novice to notice or if that happened over time. No adjustment can correct for that so I double crush.
Looking forward to retiring the BC and replacing with a heavy duty 3-roller monster mill.
I was wondering if a 3-roller is better then a 2-roller. I’m only doing 5 gal batches right now but who knows, I might try some 10 gal batches in the near future.
i have the barley crusher going on 3 years now with no problems at all. I did upgrade to the 15lb hopper to handle the bigger beers.
I also adjusted the crush to .036mm to get a bit of a better crush. It’s a great investment and I run a consistent 80% efficiency across the board.
I tightened mine a bit right at the start since I BIAB and stuck sparges aren’t an issue. I’m about 20 batches in and haven’t seen a need to readjust anything.
If you aren’t getting stuck sparges and your efficiency is good, then there’s no real need to change anything.
I played with gap adjustment on my barley crusher the first year I had it. I went as tight as .028 at which point every sparge was a stuck sparge. 8^) I open it back up to .032 and have not moved it since. My mill works great. right now it needs a good clean and lube but the gap is rock solid.
Like someone else said most mill owners like the mill they have and often recommend them to others. My BC works like a champ. I motorized it with very little effort and get great results.
Good luck with your search!
Paul
Yet another +1 for the Barley Crusher. Mine’s going on 18 months with no problems and no re-adjustments - just checked it about a month ago and it’s still at 0.039 on both ends - just like when it was new.
Thinking of motorizing it soon -
Paul - what motor did you use, and where did you get it? $$?
I actually got my motor for free. We were cleaning out my Mom’s house and found a brand new 1/2HP, 1750RPM motor with a side plate, flat mounting bracket.
I would post a picture of my mill but none of the formatting buttons are working for me right now.
Paul
Found the fix for the buttons not working in the “Questions about the forum” section. Thanks guys!!
Now to figure out where the “Edit” button went.
Anyway, here’s the picture.
Paul
15 yrs with my fixed gap JSP. No issues. 80-85% effiency.
Motorize that puppy ASAP