Grain Mills

Methods, ingredients, advice and equipment specific to all-grain (mash), partial mash (mini mash) and "brew in a bag" (BIAB) brewing.
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erik
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Grain Mills

Post by erik »

Hey All,

I've done a search & found some good info - but - does anyone have any ideas on purchasing a grain mill ( bday coming up and missus needs some help). I'm only new to adding grain so I'm open to many ideas.

Cheers
e
Rysa
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Post by Rysa »

Ross at Craftbrewer has a nice one for a decent price.

http://craftbrewer.com.au/index.php?pag ... &Itemid=29
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lethaldog
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Post by lethaldog »

Mine was imported ( By me) from the US cos it was the best one i have seen for its price ( from memory it was about $160us delivered) and can handle pretty big volumes of grain at once, basically whatever suits your needs and works for you, i was moving straight into AG and with mine i can crush 5 kg ( manually ie. no motor) in about 2-3 minutes, you can check it out here,

http://schmidling.com/maltmill.htm
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Leigh
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Trough Lolly
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Post by Trough Lolly »

Rysa wrote:Ross at Craftbrewer has a nice one for a decent price.

http://craftbrewer.com.au/index.php?pag ... &Itemid=29
I've used one of these modifed Marga mills for years and it's great for crushing all sorts of grain - 85%+ efficiency no probs. One of the cheapest triple roller mills going around...

Cheers,
TL
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chris.
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Post by chris. »

Trough Lolly wrote:
Rysa wrote:Ross at Craftbrewer has a nice one for a decent price.

http://craftbrewer.com.au/index.php?pag ... &Itemid=29
I've used one of these modifed Marga mills for years and it's great for crushing all sorts of grain - 85%+ efficiency no probs. One of the cheapest triple roller mills going around...

Cheers,
TL
The only draw back is that they're small (It can take awhile to crush a full 5kg), & they do require modifications. Taking a drill to a new present can be quite daunting :wink:
Last edited by chris. on Saturday Oct 13, 2007 5:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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James L
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Post by James L »

i just got my marga mill from Ross on friday, and managed to modify it myself in about 10 minutes... easy peasy.... (longest time was waiting for the cordless drill to recharge).

Prolly just what you need when starting out with the grain brewing.... like me...

but i can see what they mean about the limited capacity... the hopper is very small, but that can be increased with time...

James
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I freely admit that I was Very Very Drunk....
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rwh
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Post by rwh »

I modified mine with a bit of duct tape ;)

As for the size, yes, it seems to take a long time to crush a full batch, when I read lethal's post about it taking him 3 minutes, I was like :shock:. I've been slowly modifying my hopper, made the slot slightly longer and slightly wider, but it still takes me a good 20-30 minutes to crush 5kg using the hand crank.

More modifications need to be done, I think I'm going to need to drillify it and make a much larger hopper.
w00t!
chris.
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Post by chris. »

rwh wrote: As for the size, yes, it seems to take a long time to crush a full batch, when I read lethal's post about it taking him 3 minutes, I was like :shock:. I've been slowly modifying my hopper, made the slot slightly longer and slightly wider, but it still takes me a good 20-30 minutes to crush 5kg using the hand crank.
Yeah same. For the extra $60 or so dollars it's worth considering IMO.
Last edited by chris. on Saturday Oct 13, 2007 5:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Ross
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Post by Ross »

Look at post#39 in this thread http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/i ... 13486&st=0 A hopper that can be bought for a few bucks from bunnings, that fits exactly...

Also, widen the slot in the original hopper to the width of the rollers, this will make a big difference to the volume of grain through the mill.

cheers Ross
http://www.craftbrewer.com.au
Hops, Grain, Yeast & Brewing Supplies
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rwh
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Post by rwh »

Thanks Ross, that one looks like a real goer. Incidentally, I've been reading/posting a bit on AHB, in the AG section, and it's a step above here for technicality. I feel like a n00b again over there! :)

One other thing to keep in mind... I remember well the months that lethal spent champing his bit, waiting for his grain mill to arrive. Ross'll have it to you in like 24 hours! :D
w00t!
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Trough Lolly
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Post by Trough Lolly »

This weekend I hope to jigsaw out some MDF so I can fit the Marga on that, over the grain bucket - then all I need is a glass of something to keep me going while I crush the grains!!

Cheers,
TL
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