Taking another step, equipment-wise

[FedoraDave]

I picked up one of these at my LHBS today:



I've been having them mill the grains for my 5G batches, because I just got tired of cranking the handle on my Victoria mill. The smaller batches and specialty grains for extract batches I still milled, because I do like the idea of having the freshest-milled grains as possible.

But I had a bit of money left over from last bowling season's awards, and a few weeks ago I won the 50/50 raffle, and that pretty much paid for my whole order today. Plus, my loyalty discount card was filled, so I got a discount on the total. In fact, the discount pretty much paid for the grains for two 2.5G batches.

I'll probably buy a small electric motor or a cheap electric drill to hook up to it, to make it even faster.

[John Sand]

Cool! Shiny!

[alb]

I highly recommend the drill. Congratulations!

[FedoraDave]

My brother is a carpenter, and he knows his tools. He recommended a Ryobi, as they're cheap, and they'll get the job done. I'll have to do a little shopping in the next week or so.

[Inkleg]

SWEET Dave!!!!! You're gonna love it. I crank mine with a 1/2 Black & Decker corded drill, but I just happened to have an old one.

[HerbMeowing]

Recently purchased a Cereal Killer from AIH after Barley Crusher's model 'POS' puked then croaked.

---
CK's rollers adjust easily. More better than a BC.
Set gap initially to 0.035
Fresh knurls = fine crush

Actually ... a tad too fine. Or maybe the flaked oats are to blame.
Semi-stuck sparge last weekend.
Hulls to the rescue!
But I digress.

The mill's base is second-quality. Not b/c it's thin ... tho.
The underside is gouged along the length of the base and it crosses the chute.
On a shelf in a store; product sits long time.

Expect AIH will break radio silence and make it right.

[FedoraDave]

Recently purchased a Cereal Killer from AIH after Barley Crusher's model 'POS' puked then croaked.

---
CK's rollers adjust easily. More better than a BC.
Set gap initially to 0.035
Fresh knurls = fine crush

Actually ... a tad too fine. Or maybe the flaked oats are to blame.
Semi-stuck sparge last weekend.
Hulls to the rescue!
But I digress.

The mill's base is second-quality. Not b/c it's thin ... tho.
The underside is gouged along the length of the base and it crosses the chute.
On a shelf in a store; product sits long time.

Expect AIH will break radio silence and make it right.

I adjusted mine when I got it home. Did the gapping by the "credit card" test, as per my LHBS guy. Then ran some old grains through that I had lying around. The eyeball of the grist was satisfactory. Used it this morning on an AG 2.5G batch, and had higher OG than BrewToad calculated. So far, so good. It was a bit of a chore hand-milling 6# or so of grains, though, so a drill is a definite must.

[FedoraDave]

Is it wrong that I've named this mill Teddy John?

[HerbMeowing]

... adjusted mine when I got it home. Did the gapping by the "credit card" test, as per my LHBS guy.

Credit cards are 0.039". Used that setting for years with the BC.
Efficiencies improved significantly (pre-boil [mid-80s up from low-80s] and brew-house [low 70s up from mid-60s]) after tightening the gap to 0.035".

... bit of a chore hand-milling 6# or so of grains, though, so a drill is a definite must.

Ain't that the truth.
Got me a variable speed Bosch re-chargeable couple years ago.
Grinding by hand is for the birds.

[Stinkfist]

Just be wary of the speed, Most drills have way too high RPM for milling grain, SO you you would have to sit and hold it at half throttle or so. You want to be somewhere under 250 RPM(Most drills are up in the 2,000 RPM range).. Also need enough power to crush the grains at the lower speeds. So not just any drill will work well.


Something like This would work pretty good.

[Gymrat]

You are going to wonder how you ever got by without it

[ScrewyBrewer]

I've always had my grain milled at the LHBS but I was wondering, what is the best way to buy and store grain? The majority of my recipes call for 23 pounds of grain so a 50 pound bag will last me about 4-6 weeks.

[HerbMeowing]

Something like This would work pretty good.

Here's mine.
Bosch PS31. $80.
Two-speed variable (0-350; 0-1300 no-load rpm).
Three-quarter throttle on the 'Speed 1' grinds good grist.

[Stinkfist]

I've always had my grain milled at the LHBS but I was wondering, what is the best way to buy and store grain? The majority of my recipes call for 23 pounds of grain so a 50 pound bag will last me about 4-6 weeks.

I store mine in vittle vaults, I have varying sizes big ones for base grains and smaller ones for the others they work great, and I have had no problems storing for up to a year.

[Dawg LB Steve]

I bought the CK mill in December have used it since I got it, maybe the last 7-8 brews. Set the gap at .039 have been kind of struggling with hitting my targeted gravity (not bad but enough .005 to .009 gravity points), may have to tighten the gap some and see if this helps. I like this piece of equipment, I run it with a 12 volt Nextec 3/8" Craftsman cordless drill/driver. Supposed to run these mills at no more than 300 rpm I heard. If you went electric motor, you would have to use a big pulley on the mill and small on the motor to reduce speed, the problem with that setup is that your are putting side stress on the driven shaft from belt tension and could cause the bushing to fail. I think the Monster Mills are more heavy duty and designed for use with a motor.