and I was wondering if it is worth it to upgrade to stainless or hardened rollers, also if it is worth going with the 2". What do you gain by the larger roller size? Also, is there a need to have the 1/2" drive over 3/8"? I will be motorizing it at some point, but will probably start with a drill. I will be putting about 750lb through it yearly. I probably won’t condition the grain, but I do live in an extremely moist area. Also, the geared feature of the crankandstein so both rollers are actively rolling seems like a good idea, any input on that? Definitely looking forward to stocking up on bulk grain and being able to mill it whenever i fell like brewing.
Absolutly on the 1/2" drive shaft, especially if you put an electric motor on it. The larger diameter rolls give you more surface area an are said to have less husk shredding. I bought the stainless, but if I had it to do again I would buy the hardened rolls. I did it because of conditioning the grain and the moisture. The Crankandstein only has one drive roll. They look like gears, but are said to make a difference in feeding the initial grain. I thought the same thing. There is a mill made Down Under that is gear driven and looks really nice. I bought the MM-3 and really like it. The MM-3 w 2" rolls looks awesome. I think the guys at farmhousebrewingsupply.com bought one for their store. Shoot them an e-mail and get their opinion. You can’t go wrong with any mill.
I went for the 2" when I got my 2 roller.
Seemed like it would make grain feed through that much better.
Couldn’t justify any hardness upgrades, I doubt I’ll put 100# per year through it.
Did you check out the hopper package that MM makes? Really slick.
Buy right from MM and save a bunch of coins.
I doubt that in a year I crush a quarter of the amount of grain you quoted, but I still use the MM 3-roller w/ 2" diameter hardened rollers and it is the BOMB! I really love this mill. Definitely go for it, and yes, the hopper and base directly from MM is the way to go IMHO.
Roller diameter controls the entry geometry. Think about it a little… a small diameter roller the grain has a wide angle to enter the rollers so many times the grain will just bounce off and lose parts of the husk or scrape some of the flour off. Larger diameter rollers present a longer angle that grabs the grain and pulls it into the gap. Mine are 5 1/2 in diameter and give a perfect crush. Even though when I made mine 6" wide I now see that 2" or 3" is plenty wide. With my real slow and old 1/2" drill I crushed 19 lbs of grain (10 wheat, 8 pils, 1 cara pils) yesterday in 80 seconds. BTW, I based my design after viewing commercial mills and talking to the brewers.
Seems like the monster mill is using knurling to help pull the grain through.
Having said that I’ve been toying with the idea of making a line of mills based on my research. Anyone interested in trying one? If there is interest I’ll give it a go.
John
I was wondering how big those were.
When I saw the pic of your mill, my first thought was " Those are some big as$ rollers "
Anybody check out the new Rebel mill?
One of the most beautifully executed stainless things you’ll ever see, built around 1" rollers.
Seems like you’d run into trouble having them that small and getting a consistent crush.
But you don’t drink the rollers anyways so :cheers:
The following shows the difference between a 1" , 2" and 4" diameter rollers. You can clearly see the 4" diameter roller has a better squeeze then crush on the grain.
John
Thanks for all the input guys.
Dog house, are you experiencing wear with your stainless rollers and that is why you would have gone with hardened?
BrewSumore and scott, I am definitely going to get the large capacity hopper they offer, will only need to fill it twice at the most.
John, thanks for the diagram. I was thinking of a longer diameter creating more leverage to crush, which wouldn’t be necessary, your description of how the grain falls down into the rollers better makes sense. No problems with the smooth rollers just sliding under the grain? It seems like that would be better then the knurled rollers at leaving the hulls intact. What would it cost me to get one of those sent out to California?
I’ve heard that the hardened rollers last longer than the SS. If you keep them dry after milling I feel they are the way to go.
[quote=“ipa”]Thanks for all the input guys.
Dog house, are you experiencing wear with your stainless rollers and that is why you would have gone with hardened?
BrewSumore and scott, I am definitely going to get the large capacity hopper they offer, will only need to fill it twice at the most.
John, thanks for the diagram. I was thinking of a longer diameter creating more leverage to crush, which wouldn’t be necessary, your description of how the grain falls down into the rollers better makes sense. No problems with the smooth rollers just sliding under the grain? It seems like that would be better then the knurled rollers at leaving the hulls intact. What would it cost me to get one of those sent out to California?[/quote]
You would have to mill a lot of grain to see wear on the rollers, I mean like tons and tons. The commercial mills I looked at used smooth steel rollers. I guess if you left your mill outside you might want SS, the grain dust must protect mine as they have never rusted even without any use for a few years… glad that is over with.
The entrance angle of the surface of the roller pulls the grain in rather than tearing at it like smaller diameter rollers will. I was a tiny bit skeptical until I ran mine. I’ll pm you if your interested in trying one out.
John
Not a whole lot to add other than go with the 1/2" shafts. I own a crankandstein that originally had 3/8" shafts and I then motorized it. The drive shaft sheared off after a couple years use. I then had the rest of the rollers shafts cut and drilled out for 1/2" shafts. Much stronger now.
ipa,
Idon’t know if you noticed but I sent you a PM.
John
I had a good conversation with the owner of the Monster Mill company when I was considering pursuing his mills. He encouraged me to pursue the 2-roller and dissuaded me from any of the “add-ons” except for the 1/2" shaft, as others here have also recommended. In my emails to him, I stated that I would mill perhaps 150-300 pounds of grain in a year.
As for johnplctech’s potential line of extra-large diameter, smooth roller mills, while I already own a perfectly functional mill, I can’t help but be intrigued.
I have the smaller roller, 3/8" shaft, plain steel MM. I’ll let you know when I wear it out. I’ve probably got 400lb of grain through it so far. I’m driving it with a cheap drill, probably ought to at least get one with a slightly slower speed but its working fine.
The small rollers don’t spit anything back or chew on the grain unless you set the gap too low. The pressure of the grain above keeps things pushed down and feeding.
[quote=“ipa”]Thanks for all the input guys.
Dog house, are you experiencing wear with your stainless rollers and that is why you would have gone with hardened?
BrewSumore and scott, I am definitely going to get the large capacity hopper they offer, will only need to fill it twice at the most.
John, thanks for the diagram. I was thinking of a longer diameter creating more leverage to crush, which wouldn’t be necessary, your description of how the grain falls down into the rollers better makes sense. No problems with the smooth rollers just sliding under the grain? It seems like that would be better then the knurled rollers at leaving the hulls intact. What would it cost me to get one of those sent out to California?[/quote]
No wear, the hardened rolls would have lasted longer. Not like it will ever wear out.
[quote=“Silentknyght”]
As for johnplctech’s potential line of extra-large diameter, smooth roller mills, while I already own a perfectly functional mill, I can’t help but be intrigued.[/quote]
At least there are a couple of people who are interested 
John
I’m looking into one of these myself.
2" or 1.5" rollers? I’m thinking about the 1.5" 3-roller with the 1/2" shaft
I’m interested John. What’re you working on and what’s pricing look like?
I’m working on the prototype as we speak… I’m temporarily on dial up so I can’t share any photos other than what is on my web site all ready. It looks similar to my Mega Mill Mk2 with 4" diameter x 4" long rollers and simple and precise gap adjustment. As for pricing I’m shooting to be in the same ball part as hobby mills. If this one works as well as my Mega Mill you won’t need to bolt it down when milling as it only takes minimal torque to spin the rollers when milling. I’m thinking for the brewer that doesn’t have much of a tool kit a bucket adapter would be a nice option and I’m still thinking about what to offer for a hopper adapter. Any and all ideas are appreciated.
John
The MDF base that comes with the Rebel mills is routed so it fits sturdily on a standard brewing bucket. Check that out , might give you an idea.
