Which grain mill?

I am in the process of acquiring equipment to begin all-grain brewing. I have been looking at quite a few grain mills and wanted some feedback on which mills people have and what they like/dislike about their mill.

Currently, I am leaning towards the “Barley Crusher” with the 15lb hopper.

I am planning on doing 10 gallon batches, and would probably be brewing one/two batches per month.

Thanks in advance for comments/suggestions!

[quote=“wigginsdaniel31”]I am in the process of acquiring equipment to begin all-grain brewing. I have been looking at quite a few grain mills and wanted some feedback on which mills people have and what they like/dislike about their mill.

Currently, I am leaning towards the “Barley Crusher” with the 15lb hopper.

I am planning on doing 10 gallon batches, and would probably be brewing one/two batches per month.

Thanks in advance for comments/suggestions![/quote]
I have a barley crusher and honestly would not buy it again. Search this forum and you’ll find many threads regarding issues with it not taking up the grain. Mine is working OK again now but as I said…if i need a new mill I won’t buy another.

I also had a Barley Crusher that worked fine for a few years and then had the same problems Danny and many others have reported. I replaced it with a 2 roller Monster Mill, that I like much better – it’s a lot easier to adjust and clean.

If you do a search for previous threads on this subject as Danny recommended, you’ll find that people are generally satisfied with whatever mill they end up with - with just a few exceptions. Quite a few people have had little problems with Barley Crushers, and anyone with a Corona Mill ends up hating it. On the other end, everyone with a JSP Maltmill simply raves about it.
I’ve been using my Crankandstein for more than 10 year, and have probably crushed almost a ton of malt with it without any problems. Solid mill.

I’ve got a JSP mill, bought fromNorthern brewer 12 years ago and works great. I use a drill to crush barley. I will make a bigger hopper for it soon though… Sneezles61 :cheers:

I also have had a JSP forever. I’ve had it so long, Jack Schmidling answered the phone when I was ordering. Works as good as the day I bought it. Anyone tried the Millars on Amazon?

I’ve owned both a Barley Crusher and a JSP. JSP is hands down better. I had the same problems with grain intake. Then one day I was adjusting the gap and for some reason the bolt just sheared off. That was the last straw. My JSP has operated flawlessly for about 4 years.

I’ve been using a Millars B3 for about eight months now, and I’ve been pretty happy with it. Since it’s the only mill I’ve owned, however, I have nothing to compare it to (except for precrushed grain, and, well, um, you can draw your own conclusion here–there’s a very good reason I finally bought a mill). The only thing I would change about the B3 is a bigger hopper and a better way to attach the “legs” that straddle whatever container one is using.

Thanks for all of the great feedback! After further consideration, I am gonna pull the trigger on the JSP.

I think you’ll like the JSP. I’ve had mine for almost a year and it works great. If you haven’t ordered yet I would definitely compare prices. I found that JSP (
http://schmidling.com/orderpp.htm
) had the best price.

:cheers:

Love my Cereal Killer. It’s been very dependable, and it’s under $100.

I’ll second this. It doesn’t have all sorts of bells and whistles but its a no nonsense mill for a great price. The one issue I have with it is the adjustment is not an exact science and the adjustment knobs can be a bit finicky but this is not much of an issue once you find a gap you are comfortable with.

So see? They are all great til something goes wrong… Thats why I like JSP… no nothing no adjusting no anything… dump in the grain and spin the rollers and GIT R DUN ! Sneezles61 :cheers:

You can’t adjust the gap on a JSP? That sounds like a strike against it, not for it.

You can’t adjust the gap on a JSP? That sounds like a strike against it, not for it.[/quote]
I also have had my JSP forever. Almost indestructible. I honestly have never felt a need to change the gap. Sometimes crushing wheat is tough but if mixed with some of the barley the JSP sucks it right through.

Started out with a corona mill that was designed to make corn into flour to make tortillas or something. That was a challenge to make work for barley.

I also wouldn’t buy a Barley Crusher again. It worked fine for a few years then had issues with the grain pulling through. I have a temporary fix right now for it, but I’m thinking I’ll probably need to pick up something better here in a few years. I’ll probably go with a Monster Mill or JSP.

I’m 100% with Mark. I can’t tell you how many pounds of grain that mill has ground in 25 plus years.
I’ve never touched it in any way for maintenance. Nothing has changed since I bought it. You gotta’ love stuff like that. I’d buy a JSP in a heartbeat again but I don’t see that happening any time soon. What’s that old saying" If it ain’t broke don’t fix it’.

I’ve used my Barley Crusher for 8 years, hand cranking, with no issues.

Spot on 78-79% efficiency consistently.

Hey Mattnaik, when I weigh out my grain it all goes into one bucket, then through the JSP and it has upwards of 500 brew sessions through it and no problemo…. One less thing to think about… When I was using a Gott cooler my efficiency was 80%+…. so I feel thats a :cheers: great mill…… Now to bolt a motor to it…… easier?.. Sneezles61

I retired my barley crusher, the same feed problems and have a Monster mill 3 roller and just the other day I figured I have run 33 tons of grain through it.