Malt mills comparison

[leojez]

Hello,

I'm looking to buy a malt mill to crush my grain for the first time.

Seems there are two distinct options - a smaller version which needs to be hand cranked (around £60) like this:

https://www.brewuk.co.uk/cast-iron-mill.html

or a larger version which a hand drill can be attached to (around £140), like this:

https://www.brewuk.co.uk/maltmillnew.html

Obviously, there is a huge difference in price - I'm really put off by the more expensive option, but would I be wasting my time getting the cheaper version? How good/bad is it? Basically, I'll be doing around one or two brew a month with around 5-6 kg grain bill each time.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Spapro]

I bought the cheaper one recently, not used it yet, but bought it just to mill speciality grains (like chocolate, black malt etc that you use in small quantities), I will continue to buy pale malt and probably crystal pre-crushed for ease.

I didn't pay anything like £60 though !

I bought mine cheap off ebay - like this at £23.75: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Multi-Gra...591459?hash=item465bf67de3:g:da0AAOSw5cNYcfe2

Or this used one, closing tomorrow: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Corona-Malt-Mill-/192087288446?hash=item2cb94b6a7e:g:NfYAAOSwLEtYiI~m

As I say not used it yet though as still working through pre-crushed grain

 

[MyQul]

The 140 quid one can be bought for £89-£99, just look around the interwebs for 'bulldog malt mill', ebay, online homebrew shops etc,

A few of us are using the cast iron ones but we paid £20-£30 for them. There's been some recent threads about them

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=68019

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=67749

 

[Leon103]

Be very careful of the cheap Chinese imports - the joking corona ones. I have been following a thread elsewhere where a number of people have complain and returned them. Some experienced metal shards coming off the grind and into the grain. Apparently a lot have been removed from eBay. Use a trusted seller like some of the forums sponsor sites

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
Get the Bulldog mill - as MyQul said, it's around the £99 mark.
Milling 5-6kg grain in a Corona-type mill will confirm that a Bulldog mill is a wise choice.

 

[MyQul]

Be very careful of the cheap Chinese imports - the joking corona ones. I have been following a thread elsewhere where a number of people have complain and returned them. Some experienced metal shards coming off the grind and into the grain. Apparently a lot have been removed from eBay. Use a trusted seller like some of the forums sponsor sites

Having looked into these corona type mills, the original corona type mill was itself not very good quality. They were designed to mill corn and I think, be sold to very poor people in South America (and were made somewhere there), so were fairly poor quality but cheap . The chinese copies of them (as far as I can tell) are about the same quality. So even if you use a trusted seller I dont think the quality will be much better. Dutto got a brewferm one and from his piccy's it looks about the same quality as my ebay one. I think even the Speidal ones will only get you a better casting. It'll still be cast iron plated in tin (I think).

As for shards coming off. I'm pretty sure that is only if you 'grind dry' without any grain in the mill. Mine will cause metal dust to flake off the grinding surfaces but that's because their grinding against one another. When there's grain in the mill I cant see any metal dust.

@leojez As Bigcol says if your milling a large amount of grain (for a full length brews), and have the moolah to spend get a bulldog one. I've switched to smaller brew lengths so only need to mill 1kg-3.3kg so the corona type one I've got is good for this as the hopper holds about 1kg

 

[MyQul]

Hi!
Get the Bulldog mill - as MyQul said, it's around the �£99 mark.

I have seen them on ebay for £89 from I think balihoo homebrew. Curiously enough if you look on balihoo's site they got for about £100

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
This one looks good: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GRAIN-MIL...495514?hash=item1c79bcb8da:g:NFgAAOSw241YfvdD

 

[TartanSpecial]

Hi!
Get the Bulldog mill - as MyQul said, it's around the �£99 mark.
Milling 5-6kg grain in a Corona-type mill will confirm that a Bulldog mill is a wise choice.

+1
Bulldog or Brewferm or unbranded version of same from a reputable supplier.
I ordered the Brewferm one from Geterbrewed for about £120 (now they are £135) though the one they sent was an unbranded version that looked identical but it works well, and they supplied it with a nice section of real wood to mount it on plus a bucket that fit perfectly the curved groove they carved into the wood. Malt Miller does similar looking one for £98, but not sure if it comes with wood mount and definitely doesn't come with a bucket.

 

[IainM]

I've got the Bulldog and it works a treat - the two rollers are connected and it gives a very consistent crush. I've never used the corona style one, only heeded Randy Mosher's warning in Radical Brewing:

I find roller mills are best. There are magicians who can coax well-milled malt from a Corona-style mill, but they are rare. Anything with a slicing or shearing action should be avoided.

 

[Simonh82]

+1 for the bulldog mill. Being able to attach a drill makes such a difference. You can get them here for �£84 delivered.

I used the bulldog one without a drill and it is a real pain. One of the benefits of having a mill is being able to set a fine crush of the grain but if you do that then it is hard work.

It may be that I'm just a softy southerner but I use the drill every time now.

 

[johnnyboy1965]

Hello,

I'm looking to buy a malt mill to crush my grain for the first time.

Seems there are two distinct options - a smaller version which needs to be hand cranked (around �£60) like this:

https://www.brewuk.co.uk/cast-iron-mill.html

or a larger version which a hand drill can be attached to (around �£140), like this:

https://www.brewuk.co.uk/maltmillnew.html

Obviously, there is a huge difference in price - I'm really put off by the more expensive option, but would I be wasting my time getting the cheaper version? How good/bad is it? Basically, I'll be doing around one or two brew a month with around 5-6 kg grain bill each time.

Thanks in advance!

Ive go to ask this in general...Why would you want to crush your own grain?

 

[Razor]

Ive go to ask this in general...Why would you want to crush your own grain?

For freshness. Grain doesn't keep that long if you buy it pre-crushed. Also a few people buy base grains like Maris O in 25kg bags and just crush as they need it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[johnnyboy1965]

MaltMiller crush to order. I cant see any benefit, unless you dont brew that often

 

[wfr42]

I used my eBay mill for the first time last weekend 2kg of speciality grain by hand in about 20mins.

Will try the drill once I have used up the precrushed Base malt I have.

For biab a finer and fresher crush can boost efficiency (fingers crossed).

 

[TartanSpecial]

Ive go to ask this in general...Why would you want to crush your own grain?

Higher mash efficiency....even with freshly ordered crushed malt I only started meeting my target OGs after I started grinding my own malt. Also the uncrushed malt keeps for ages....marris otter that I had left over from last spring still hit my target gravity despite being stored in a garden shed over the summer. ... and the smell of freshly crushed malt is brilliant.