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grain mill for 3 bbl brewery

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  • #16
    We also started with a 328D, was great for first few months then it had to be engage with a screwdriver, it quickly became a PITA.

    We bought a Economill fro Apollo and we love it. Fast (even though we have the feed trap almost close!), well built and affordable.

    Cheers!
    ______________

    Mario Bourgeois
    www.CasselBrewery.ca
    Casselman ON Canada

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    • #17
      Thanks for the replies.

      So it seems that the issues you guys had was with getting the mill to engage?

      I was mainly a little more interested in the monster mill because of the hardened steel rollers. Did you notice any significant wear on the rollers of the crankandstein?

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      • #18
        Originally posted by kevobutler View Post
        Thanks for the replies.

        So it seems that the issues you guys had was with getting the mill to engage?

        I was mainly a little more interested in the monster mill because of the hardened steel rollers. Did you notice any significant wear on the rollers of the crankandstein?
        Yes the issue was getting the rollers to engage after a few months. The rollers showed no wear cause it didn't had time to wear out
        Cheers!
        ______________

        Mario Bourgeois
        www.CasselBrewery.ca
        Casselman ON Canada

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        • #19
          Effort

          Hey .

          If you want to save yourself some time and effort, I actually recommend having your malt supplier mill your grain on the small scale.
          It costs about $2.50 a bag or something and it saves you a good amount of time and effort.
          BSG has been pretty good for getting me a crush I want and it's been way better than using a MM. Saves me about 30-45 minutes of labor for minimal money.
          Unless you are gonna drop some coin on something bigger anyway
          Dave Witham
          Founder/Brewmaster
          Proclamation Ale Company

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          • #20
            crushed grains

            we have are milled from BSG med grind it takes and extra day for them to ship to us. but the consistency from them is spot one every time
            we started it a small crankandstein lasts us about 8 months got a monster mill 2 roller got a about 1 years or so out of it then we got a 3 roller from them lasted just over a year
            all were mounted to a 3/4 hp motor at about 850 rpm
            after three mills we just order are crushed saves me time, space, and I cant say it enough the consistency is great
            were on a 7bbl system so I order once a month from them

            hope this help
            cheers matt

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            • #21
              328D gear driven

              So has anyone tried the 328D Crankenstein gear driven model?

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              • #22
                Originally posted by Warrior View Post
                So has anyone tried the 328D Crankenstein gear driven model?
                Funny, I was about to ask the same thing... I am looking at that, since the gear drives all 3 rollers.

                Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

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                • #23
                  Originally posted by CopperKettle View Post
                  I just put together a Crankandstein 328D. You have to build your own stand and hopper and provide your own motor, whole thing cost about $500-600. Since you are building your own stand you can make it any dimension you want to fit in the space you have. I am using it for our 3BBL system, double batching. Crushing your grain in 10-15 minutes sure beats my old homebrew mill which took 30-45 minutes to do the job.

                  I am crushing 55lb bags in right at 2 minutes so their claim of 25-30 lbs per minute (~1500-1800 lb per hour) is spot on.

                  http://www.crankandstein.net/index.p...91f1daf8bf6d80
                  What size motor did you use?

                  Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

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                  • #24
                    I was coming to ask about this:


                    but it looks like the Crankandstein might be the way to go. is this still the best option (or having the supplier mill the grain) for 5bbl with 3 turns a week?

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                    • #25
                      crankandstein has really bad customer service

                      in my experience, crankandstein customer service is horrible. I would never buy from him again. The 328D 3 roller mill will often not start on it's own and we start it with a piece of wood. Also, the mills wear out and need to be re knurled every so often. I found it easier just to buy a completely new mill. Since i already have it mounted in a box with a motor it is easiest just to replace it with the same kind i already have.

                      It is basically a toy. it is fine if you make homebrew but if you want to operate a commercial brewery, get a proper mill.

                      I would recommend buying a used $2000 small mill on the probrewer classifieds. If you are paying $2.50 per bag to get the malting company to crush it, then a 40 bag skid costs you $100. After 20 skids the mill pays for itself.

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                      • #26
                        Didn't want to start a new thread, so what are you guys going with as far as mill's are concerned. I notice some had issues after a year with both the Monster Mill and 328D Crankandstein. I would hope my mill would last longer than a year if i paid $350ish for it!

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                        • #27
                          Originally posted by saltyturtlebeer View Post
                          Didn't want to start a new thread, so what are you guys going with as far as mill's are concerned. I notice some had issues after a year with both the Monster Mill and 328D Crankandstein. I would hope my mill would last longer than a year if i paid $350ish for it!
                          Bumping this question up.. I've been eyeing up either the Monster 2 roller PRO or the 328G (fully driven all 3 rollers) Crankenstein. I have heard bad things about customer service from Crank, but I'm sure most folks wouldn't do all that much better from Monster if their mill is just plain worn out.

                          I like the idea of all rollers being driven, as it seems the #1 complaint is that when the knurls wear the mills stop pulling in the grain consistently.

                          Tim

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                          • #28
                            Mm3

                            We use a Monstermill MM3 with a Milwalkee Super Hole Hog driving it on low speed, around 300 rpm. Works great with the exception that we have to have the mill running prior to adding grains or it will not feed. Don't know why. We opted for the stainless rollers so we could wet mill to help control dust.

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                            • #29
                              Hello,
                              I have been comparing a lot of these mills and researching reviews and really believe one of the largest issues with the cheaper mills are the use of bronzed bushings instead of real bearings. These seem to get impacted with grain dust and cause the rollers not to turn as easily over time...(The barley crusher was notorious for this in the home brewing world)

                              I may be crazy but I just bought the cheaper ball bearing version of the mm3 clone mill thats sold as the kegking maltmunchier and the kegco 3 roller mill... I have been using the 2 roller version of this mill for home brewing for years (cereal killer) and the mill has never failed me. Ive never even had to clean it. I drive it with a gear reduction motor and pulleys. (something that cant be done reliably with bushing mills without sidewear)

                              The fact that the 3 roller kegco/kegking mill uses stainless steel ball bearings and the mill it copies is twice the cost and only uses bushings still surprises me but when comparing them side by side if one didnt know which came from where they would thing the kegco was the better mill...

                              We do have a number of mills in our arsenal now including the mm3 (non pro) so well see how the $150 kegco hold up. (for some reason the description is incorrect on their site and states it uses oil impregnated bronze bushings but this is not true.)
                              I realize none of this will help if the non hardened rollers wear down quickly but as we are just starting out We need to conserve funds and make what we have count. my homebrew mill does not look worn yet so well see I guess.

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