Any Experience With Apollo Mills?

[SamRose]

I am thinking about getting an Apollo Econo Mill for a start-up microbrewery with a 7 bbl brewhouse. Anyone out there have experience with one of these mills?

[Beersmith]

Sam, I have had 2 Apollos. Bombproof, reliable, simple 2-roller mill. Roller gap adjustments are somewhat difficult, and the OEM hopper is somewhat small. Great mill for the money.

[tsewong73]

Second what BeerSmith wrote. Used our Apollo Econo Mill for four years and never once had a problem with it. Although I checked the gaps regularly, they never needed to be adjusted.

[schmogger]

I completely agree with the previous posts. Definitely fabricate an extension to the hopper if you decide to go in that direction.

[Natrat]

I'm going to cast a vote for the nay.

I just find them difficult to adjust properly. They don't break, but a mill, IMHO, is just one of those pieces of equipment not to skimp on. You can probably find a used Roskamp or similar for the price of a new Apollo.

And if you DO buy an Apollo, go for plain rollers...or very light grooving on one roller (improves feed a bit, but makes it even harder to adjust.

Just my $0.02

Nat

[juliobrewer]

I have a Apollo but respectively disagree abit. They are sturdy but i've been finding my rollers shift over time and the gap changes which causes a few issues not to mention much cursing and fist shaking on my part

I've put a locking nut on the pressure bolt which does help but if anybody has any better ideas i'm all ears.

I've heard good things about these guys and their mills.

http://www.radeq.ca/client/page2.asp...clef=5&clef2=2

I'll be taking Apollo apart later to try and find a better gap which mills better than what it's set to now.

Dave Woodward
Tofino Brewing Co

[juliobrewer]

Oh I had a German Engel Mill at my previous position and loved how well it millled the malt! My favorite part is how it had (Achtung!) written right on the front.

[sopbeer]

We have one, I cut the nose off and redesigned because we couldn't keep the gap consistent. The new design gives more flexibility with adjustment and really locks it in place. We found the problem with the rollers moving and welded the frame to the axles blocks. The bolts used are narrower than the axle blocks holes thus they move no matter how tight you make it. We also added a hopper extension to load larger quantities. With these changes it works but I was pulling my hair out trying to figure out the movement in the rollers, not that big a deal if you don't care about alcohol content in the beer, a very big deal when you have to brew to a 4% abv per state regulations.

If I had to do it over again and had the money (key have the money) I wouldn't purchase one of these. If you are tight on cash they work you just have to modify and watch the gap. The modifications are pretty inexpensive however.

[juliobrewer]

Would you be so kind to e-mail me a pic of this modification? I'm wanting to find a way to get consistency out of our setup. If I could get the husk and coarse bits down to a reasonable level i'll be a much happy Brewer!

dwoodward@tofinobrewingco.com

Dave,

[sopbeer]

Attached are the mods for others that are interested.