Grain Mills

[Paul Fraser]

I'm looking at getting a grain mill from Santa. I've been looking at Northern brewer and Morebeer. Just waiting to get reply about shipping costs. I am looking at the NZ Post service youshop. Anyone out there got any tips for me or good suggestions of places to search??

[mattd2]

Monster mill, http://www.monsterbrewinghardware.com/mm-2.html, is probably the easiest to deal with for buying direct from a US producer:

US$221/~NZ$275 for a basic MM2 with hopper (including shipping)

US$168/~NZ$210 for a basic MM2 only (including shipping)

Other US producers are Crankandstein (I'm getting virus warnings from their site at the moment though) and Barley Crusher

[Paul Fraser]

Those prices are in the ballpark of what i'm looking at. Unfortunately Monsterbrewinghardware.com is showing up as an unsafe site at the moment. Will keep my eye on it. Cheers

 

[Adam Barnes]

I ordered the MM2-2.0 from them about a week ago. Did some research and people had very good things to say about MonsterMill. I was close to getting the MM3-2.0 without hopper and base for about $30NZD more than the MM2-2.0 inc hopper and base but decided it was too big and for my 1-2 brews per month the MM2-2.0 was ideal.

[Dave Rea]

May one ask what the freight costs were?

[Adam Barnes]

$64 USD for MM2-2.0, base and hopper. Total cost was $275 USD ($348.10 NZD).

 

The website has a good shipping cost calculator which show's you the difference when including the base and hopper (ie goes from $65 USD to $125 USD if you go for the MM3-2.0 inc base and hopper - from memory).

 

Mine was ordered on 14th Nov and based on the USPS tracking has just cleared customs yesterday morning.

[Grant R Baker]

e-mail Mike at BrewersCoop (NZ)...  I picked up a MM3-2.0 fro him (I can't remember how much) but then it was only local courier costs.

Then I spent a fair bit of time building a table with a 2HP motor, 30mm to 150mm pulley (all from used bits on trademe, except the 150mm pulley).  Lots of fun and now have a grain crusher that does a 6-7Kg load in about 40seconds.

 

If I was to do it again I might stick with the MM2.. it think it is a simpler design and lends itself less fluffing around to get the grain crush result you will be after.

Ahh found it.. have a look at this post.. real nice build if yer going that way.

http://www.forum.realbeer.co.nz/forum/topics/new-monster-mill-motor...

[Adam Barnes]

"If I was to do it again I might stick with the MM2" - I have seen a few comments similar on other forums, which made me change my mind at the very last second to go for the MM2 over the MM3.

[Doug Phillips]

Hi Grant - two things:

1/ Please be careful with 2hp being sure to keep your fingers clear because they will not stall the motor.  Best you can hope for is the pulleys to slip.

2/ In my MM instructions they don't recommend a belt drive because it will wear the bush near the pulley towards the motor making for queer roller clearances and its a hassle to find new bushes.

None of the above will bother the beer unless crushed fingers affect the drinking. 

[Grant R Baker]

ha ha.. no problem there, I still have my fingers.

Interesting re the pullety / bushes but finding a cost effective motor & gearbox that can be directly connected would be a hell of a challenge.

I'll stay with the pulley / motor system. Something my old man use to tell me when using his table bench saw "Always remove the fan belt when yer finished, the belt and bearings will last much longer.".. which is what I do with my setup. In 40+ years he never had to replace them.

[Doug Phillips]

All good stuff.  MM probably understand that the pressure on the rollers has the same wear effect, meaning they will wear out eventually.  I suspect they are Oilite bushes, fairly readily available here - maybe someone has tried some?

I use a battery drill to drive mine - works fine and is cost effective cause you can use it elsewhere and if your finger is caught there is a good chance you will let go of the trigger.  Drill does not put any sideways pressure on the shaft either.  Consider threading the shaft, locking two nuts together on it and drive the first one with a socket on a battery drill.

[Hamish Jones]

I got a crankandstein with base and hopper for around $160 US Shipped to NZ, I just got the 2S great mill though only thing I don't like is that it doesn't have anything covering the rollers on the sides so you get a bit of grain flinging out the side but that can be easily fixed and it only has 5 inch rollers, I have a friend who has run one off a cement mixer motor for about the last 5 years so pretty hardy and the guy is really helpful

[Dougal]

I use masking tape down both sides and it works a charm for stopping bits from flinging out. Just about to motorise mine with an old Kenwood mixer...