7BBL Grain Mill

[blsinbcs]

I am looking for a small/inexpensive solution to milling grain for a new 7BBL brewpub.

I plan on doing my milling outside the restaurant to avoid any ventilation issues.

Do you have any suggestions that have worked for you in a similar operation?

Thank you for any help.

CW

[BeachBrew]

Take a look at Jimboney's Malt Mills

This might work for you:

http://www.maltmills.com/

[blsinbcs]

Thanks for the suggestion.

Do you have any personal experience with these mills?

[BeachBrew]

12" Malt Mill

Yes, I've got the 12" mill. Works fine, and it's on wheels. Crushes 55# in under 2 mins. Although at 7 BBLs you will be making several trips from outside which will get old very quickly.

[froptus]

We bought a Jim Boney mill about 6 months ago for our 7 bbl system. It works great and the guy who makes them was very professional. We pour a 55 lb bag into the hopper and mill back into the bag. It's very fast and produces a great grist.

A couple of things:

1. The hopper is a little small for a 55 lb bag. I told the manufacturer that it needs to be larger. We remove 10 lbs then pour the rest into the hopper, start the mill and then add the rest of the grain.

2. The mill is adjustable but not very easily. Not that hard though.

3. We had to make a chute to properly funnel the grist into the bag.

4. The mill is perhaps a little underpowered because it won't mill hard grains like rye malt.

Good luck.

[blsinbcs]

We bought a Jim Boney mill about 6 months ago for our 7 bbl system. It works great and the guy who makes them was very professional. We pour a 55 lb bag into the hopper and mill back into the bag. It's very fast and produces a great grist.

A couple of things:

1. The hopper is a little small for a 55 lb bag. I told the manufacturer that it needs to be larger. We remove 10 lbs then pour the rest into the hopper, start the mill and then add the rest of the grain.

2. The mill is adjustable but not very easily. Not that hard though.

3. We had to make a chute to properly funnel the grist into the bag.

4. The mill is perhaps a little underpowered because it won't mill hard grains like rye malt.

Good luck.

I appreciate the feedback, we also considering a Crankenstein but we'll probably be making a decision here in a few days

[Alpha King]

His mills have improved a lot and work great !!

I appreciate the feedback, we also considering a Crankenstein but we'll probably be making a decision here in a few days

The mills from Malt Mills (Jim Boney's) have gone through lots of improvements and I have worked with one very recently. They now have a larger motor and different pulley ratio for power enough for any grains. The lower (3rd) roller is easily adjustable at both ends with a simple lock bolt holding the eccentric and nice reference makings from .035" to .050". All 3 rollers are mounted in what appear to be oversized, sealed ball bearings. Simple one bolt drive belt adjustment too.
The model #104 I used had a 100 lb. + hopper that would hold 2 bags and it milled in about 2.5 minutes. This model has a short lower cabinet and an adapter plate allowing it to be connected to a standard 3.5" Flex-Flo auger. The connecting was easy too with only 2 long pins with wing nuts.
The front 2 doors had been radiused to match the auger tube and this made for a nice seal. I was impressed with how well the dust was contained. It was like having your own small mill room. I have a 3 screen sieve set and found the crush to be very consistent and on par with any properly adjusted mill. The best setting seemed to be .042".
Overall I was very impressed with this mill - especially for the price. I know of 2 other breweries that have this same model and say it performs great. I would say it would be perfect for smaller (3 - 30 BBL) breweries where budget is important.
Cheers, Marc