Amount of grooves in malt mill.

[juliobrewer]

Hi there,

I`m currently involved in the setup of a production microbrewery in Tofino BC, Canada and we`re purchasing a Econo Roller mill from Apollo Machines.

One of the questions I was asked while it`s being made is how many grooves on the rollers we want. Being this is my first time helping set a place up from scratch does anyone have a opinion on what would be best for cracking malt on this machine for a brewery? Also any feedback on the on how well they perform long term?

Any help would be much appreciated and perhaps worth a beer or two or surfing lessons....

Cheers

[brewery master]

brewery master roller mill

no groves,do you want to shatter your barley?they make this roller mill for me .takes a little longer,makes better beer,cheers don

[Covert Operator]

If anything is done to the roller surfaces, I would think the only thing you'd want would be a moderately aggressive knurl. Otherwise, you'd end up with a bunch of flour.

[dick murton]

The larger mills always use milled rollers. The mill flutes form a cross hatch pattern and help pull the malt in to the gap instead of spitting it out. It also help to reduce the amount of dust, not increase it, because there is pin point pressure rather than pressure over the whole of the grain, which helps to crack it open rather than smash it like a hammer

As for the number of flutes, I have never measured them. However, ny gut feel from memory is that they are 2 to 3 mm between the peaks. However, I suspect that each mill manufacturer has what they believe to be the best number, which probably is dependent upon the material being milled, the roller speeds, the mill gaps and the sort of milled grain composition you are looking for.

My personal suggestion is that if you are having to tell them what to set them up to, then you are dealing with the wrong company. You are meant to be paying for their expertise, not designing a mill yourself. You are a brewer, not a mill design engineer. So go and find someone who is used to dealing with malt

[juliobrewer]

Thanks for the info and opinions.

I should point out that they were asking me if I had any specific personal preference on the rollers and I was not are having to tell them what to set them up though.

Has anyone used a Apollo Econo mill in a brewery before and has anything to add on how well it performed?

[brewery master]

apollo mill poorly built

i have bought 2 mills from these red neck farm boys,they put it together then paint it,so any time you set it up there is raw metal exposed,took me 4 hrs. to set it up,these mills are for hog fuel,had to take it apart and put it back right,very hard to adjust and these guys don,t have a clue what a barley mill is.any way good luck to any one who buys this unit you will need it,,,cheers don

[juliobrewer]

Ok... but if they were so bad then why buy two?