Mill Review

AGbrewer

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I'm looking to get a new mill and need some suggestions.

Please let me know what you think about yours and whether you would buy it again.
 
I have the Cereal Killer from Austin Homebrew. Works just fine for me and didn't break the bank. I think this same mill goes by several different names, but it's the same mill. I just searched out the best price, quickest, and cheapest delivery.
You may be looking for something better, but this one does the job I need it to.
 
I have a barley crusher, works fine (no pun there, no pun at all)
 
My first mill was a Barley Crusher. It worked fine for several years until the knurling on the rollers wore enough that it wouldn't pull grain through. I reversed the rollers and it worked just fine with the drill I use with it running in reverse. I bought a Cereal Killer as a replacement just in case the BC quit working again. I've used the new mill for about 3 years now with good results.
Neither is an expensive mill, but both have given me good service for the $$$$. I brew 5.25 gallon batches about once every 2 week, that would be just over 300 lbs. /year for reference. Probably about a ton milled with the first mill and it still worked when it was replaced.
 
I've got a Corona mill mounted to a bucket with a drill attachment. Got it for free and it's been going strong for 2 years.
 
I have a Hullwrecker. It wrecks hulls very nicely.
 
I bought The Barley Crusher last year because it was the cheapest I could find and the only one I could afford at the time.. It worked great for about 10 batches then the drive roller stopped catching grains and the slave roller hardly spins. I've cleaned it, disassembled it, oiled it (food grade mineral oil) and I still struggle with it. I've been eyeing up the Monster Mill 3 roller as a replacement.
The Barley Crusher........it's a complete piece of crap IMHO.
 
I bought The Barley Crusher last year because it was the cheapest I could find and the only one I could afford at the time.. It worked great for about 10 batches then the drive roller stopped catching grains and the slave roller hardly spins. I've cleaned it, disassembled it, oiled it (food grade mineral oil) and I still struggle with it. I've been eyeing up the Monster Mill 3 roller as a replacement.
The Barley Crusher........it's a complete piece of crap IMHO.

Very possible they've gone downhill since I bought mine about 8 years ago, but it was a decent mill at the time. As I said in my earlier post, you can reverse the primary roller and run it backwards. I ran about a ton of grain through it before I had to do that.
 
I bought The Barley Crusher last year because it was the cheapest I could find and the only one I could afford at the time.. It worked great for about 10 batches then the drive roller stopped catching grains and the slave roller hardly spins. I've cleaned it, disassembled it, oiled it (food grade mineral oil) and I still struggle with it. I've been eyeing up the Monster Mill 3 roller as a replacement.
The Barley Crusher........it's a complete piece of crap IMHO.
My Barley Crusher has been working fine for a year now, and it had been sitting in stock T my LHBS for quite some time before I bought it. I know it was the same one as there was a dent in the hopper which I got a discount for on the purchase. Point being,that if they have gone down hill, I must have been lucky to get an older model. It will get a workout today as a prep for brew day tomorrow.
 
I bought the cereal killer from my lhbs AHS.
https://www.austinhomebrew.com/Cereal-Killer-Grain-Mill_p_4432.html

It seems to have issues like what @^Tony^ had. Sometimes it just doesn't want to mill the grains. I'm going to take it apart, clean it, oil it, and adjust the gap. Then I'll see if purchasing a new one is warranted.

thanks again for all the great info!

That's the one I purchased, and I also got it from AHS. While they aren't local by any means to me here in Colorado, they've always offered me excellent customer service. That aside, the mill works great for me. It does take some time to get the gap setting just right, and it took me a few brews to get it there, but after that it works just fine. Initially, I practiced with old extra grains I had to get a feel for it and in the general ball park. I will say my gap markings on both sides are not the same so I couldn't rely on setting it up that way. A large part of my job has me balancing and aligning hydronic pumps, so I have stainless shims that really came in handy to get the gap set just right on both sides. It definitely helps having something to set each side at the same time vs each side independently. At least it was for me.

Is your cereal killer new or have you had it awhile and now you're having issues and looking for another? I guess I have just assumed you just purchased the mill but maybe not.
 
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I have a Hullwrecker. It wrecks hulls very nicely.

I've got one of these too, the only complaint is one corner of the hopper is dinged from when some idiot dropped it...I almost had to fire me over that(it was BRAND NEW)...

Just chuck it up to my Milwaukee cordless drill set on "1" and it blasts through malt like a trooper.
 
I've got one of these too, the only complaint is one corner of the hopper is dinged from when some idiot dropped it...I almost had to fire me over that(it was BRAND NEW)...

Just chuck it up to my Milwaukee cordless drill set on "1" and it blasts through malt like a trooper.

Looks like Tony either got a dud, or doesn't get along well with equipment :)
 
That's the one I purchased, and I also got it from AHS. While they aren't local by any means to me here in Colorado, they've always offered me excellent customer service. That aside, the mill works great for me. It does take some time to get the gap setting just right, and it took me a few brews to get it there, but after that it works just fine. Initially, I practiced with old extra grains I had to get a feel for it and in the general ball park. I will say my gap markings on both sides are not the same so I couldn't rely on setting it up that way. A large part of my job has me balancing and aligning hydronic pumps, so I have stainless shims that really came in handy to get the gap set just right on both sides. It definitely helps having something to set each side at the same time vs each side independently. At least it was for me.

Is your cereal killer new or have you had it awhile and now you're having issues and looking for another? I guess I have just assumed you just purchased the mill but maybe not.

I've had the mill for about 1 year now. Probably put between 500-700 pounds of grain through it so far.

I went aheads and took it apart and cleaned it. Also took my feeler gauge and set it to .035 for the gap.

The main issue was that the last few batches I've done it seems to stop milling halfway through the process.
 
The knurling on the rollers is getting worn. If you're using a reversible drill, reverse the drive roller end to end and run the mill in reverse.
 
The knurling on the rollers is getting worn. If you're using a reversible drill, reverse the drive roller end to end and run the mill in reverse.

Seems like there should be a way to flip the rollers so that they will roll on the other side?
 
Even if there were, you'd still be turning in the reverse direction. The point is to have the opposite, and unworn, side of the knurled bumps pull the grain through,
 
Even if there were, you'd still be turning in the reverse direction. The point is to have the opposite, and unworn, side of the knurled bumps pull the grain through,

What about swapping sides? wouldn't that allow them to roll the opposite direction?
 

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