I have been looking at grain mills in an attempt to find out which one i’ll eventually buy in a few months but I just don’t know which one I would buy. So i ask, what one would you suggest. As far as price goes, I’m just as willing to buy a monster mill as much as buying a cereal crusher. My requirements are reliability and consistency.
I’ve owned both a Barley Crusher and a JSP. The JSP is much nicer. The gap is easy to change and the long rollers breeze through grain.
If you search through old posts on this issue, you will find that most people love whatever mill they end up with, but occasionally some consistent issues will pop up, such as rollers that get jammed with grain dust. I think I’ve heard that with regards to both the cereal crusher and the monster mill, but I’m not sure I’m remembering that correctly, so double check.
I’ve got a crankandstein 2-roller mill that I’ve been very happy with for the past ten years. Only issue I can see with it is if you want to adjust the roller gap frequently, it can be a bit of work to do so. But it also stays exactly where you set it…
JSP seems to be the top quality offering out there; don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone complain about that mill.
I’ve got the JSP and it has performed flawlessly for me. Mine is non-adjustable and I motorized it and built a 25# hopper.
I have had a Barley Crusher for over 7 years, it’s worked well for me but the rollers are starting to wear and sometimes won’t grab the grain and just spin. I’m going to inquire about purchasing new rollers, if they’re reasonable I’ll refurb it and probably sell it and get a JSP.
The JSP has “big 10-inch” rollers
I supposwe roller size might be an issue if you were crushing large amounts of malt on a regular basis. Otherwise throughput is adequate for any of the crushers. I would advise the OP to get a model with adjustable rollers, I do think this is an important feature. I’ve found enough differences in plumpness and hardness, that an adjustment made a big difference. After that I’d be sure I had a decent sized hopper for convenience, preferably enough to hold 10lb of grain (a normal grain bill bill for 5gal). Then I’d go by price.
I have a Monster mill myself, does what I want it to do. I do like the new NB crusher, it has slotted rolls vs knurled which I think is a good idea as far as the thing wearing out. Of course not many of us are wearing out our crushers, but after some years you might find some slippage.
I also have a non adjustable jsp and have used it for years no problems and I’m happy with it.
I’m not knocking any of the other malt mills out there.
A few weeks ago, I ordered the Millar’s B3 Mill off of Amazon and I received it within 5 days.
I himmed and hawed for a long time before buying a mill. After reading reviews on all of the other mills offered, I settled on Millar’s because of the complete price for it. I’m getting 85% efficiencies with it.
Thanks guys, Is it me or is it that you can’t really go wrong? What are all your thoughts when it comes to three rollers? Are there any reasons why a third roller is beneficial? I think the Tim Allen in me wants three rollers and just like Tim, i don’t know why!
If I had a 3 roller, I probably wouldn’t double crush as much. But since I don’t, I do. I have had a crankandstein for 9 years. Works great.
pete
I’ve put a beating on my monster mill and still get 75-80% Eff.
Never tried another.
I took a sledge to my mill and the f****r is still goin’ strong.
I have a JSP like Greg Mullers, and one of these days I’m gonna build a set up like Greg’s, Check out his WEB. If there’s some Tim Allen in you, you’ll like it.
I don’t have a three roller mill, so I can’t say if this is accurate, but supposable it allows you to get a finer crush while keeping more of the husk intact with a single pass through the mill. The first pass is fairly wide, which essentially loosens the husk from the endosperm, then the second pass goes through a tighter gap and breaks the endosperm better, but doesn’t break the husk so much because it is already separated.
Efficiency is directly related to how fine you crush; the tighter you adjust the gap, the better efficiency you’ll get. That is counterbalanced by the fact that bigger pieces of husk material contribute to better laudering, and a tighter gap will decrease the size of the husks. You’ll have to play around with the gap to see what works for you, but check out grain conditioning. I use it, and it allows me to set a very tight gap while keeping the husks mostly intact.
I have a barley crusher with the 7lb hopper. I’ve run maybe a dozen 5 gal grain bills through it. I sometimes wish I had a bigger hopper but other than that love the mill.
[quote=“rebuiltcellars”]I don’t have a three roller mill, so I can’t say if this is accurate, but supposable it allows you to get a finer crush while keeping more of the husk intact with a single pass through the mill. The first pass is fairly wide, which essentially loosens the husk from the endosperm, then the second pass goes through a tighter gap and breaks the endosperm better, but doesn’t break the husk so much because it is already separated.
Efficiency is directly related to how fine you crush; the tighter you adjust the gap, the better efficiency you’ll get. That is counterbalanced by the fact that bigger pieces of husk material contribute to better laudering, and a tighter gap will decrease the size of the husks. You’ll have to play around with the gap to see what works for you, but check out grain conditioning. I use it, and it allows me to set a very tight gap while keeping the husks mostly intact.[/quote]
From what i’ve been seeing, i think your assessment may be accurate. I think i’m leaning towards either a monster mill or a JSP mill…then again i kinda like the Millar mill.
[quote=“Old Guy”]I have a JSP like Greg Mullers, and one of these days I’m gonna build a set up like Greg’s, Check out his WEB. If there’s some Tim Allen in you, you’ll like it.[/quote]JSP made in the USA!!
[quote=“Glug Master”]I have had a Barley Crusher for over 7 years, it’s worked well for me but the rollers are starting to wear and sometimes won’t grab the grain and just spin. I’m going to inquire about purchasing new rollers, if they’re reasonable I’ll refurb it and probably sell it and get a JSP.[/quote]Good luck, Mont! My Barley Crusher had the same problem at about 7-8 years. I disassembled the mill and cleaned the rollers and reversed them when I reassembled the mill. By reverse I mean flip them over so they turn in the opposite direction. It’s been about two years and this is working so far. I emailed the company using the address on their website to find out how to go about getting new rollers and never got a response. So after about 2 weeks I looked them up on Who Is and found a different address. Emailed that address and after 10 days finally got a response. But it was total BS. All they told me to do was reverse the rollers (which I told them I had already done) and they never did answers the question about how get new rollers, or if it is even possible. So nearly a month to get a non-answer. That’s some kind of customer service, huh? Because of BC’s lack of customer service I advise people to look elsewhere. There are similar mills out there at around the same price point.
