New Equipment: Monster Mill MM3-2.0

The baddest home brew mill on the market is now in my home. The best money can buy is the Monster Mill MM3-2.0. The grand total of this baby with all parts included is 305 dollars plus shipping. That is a chunk of change for a hobby, but it gives you the flexibility to grind your own malt, and in my opinion offers the best grind on the market. I don't mean to disparage the competition at all; there are many fine products available to crush your grain.

After the break you can read about the features and specifications of the monster mill and why I think they matter. Also you can read about the competition. I will provide the comparative information where available  I am not consumer reports, I will not be doing a side by side test, and I am not unbiased.

(please read more after the break.)

The monster among men: the Monster Mill (MM3 - 2.0)

• Three - two inch(diameter) by six inch(length) rollers
• An adjustable gap between 0 and .065 inches
• 1144 alloy steel rollers
• Throughput of thirteen pounds per minute.
• 1/2 inch drive shaft

The competition: the Barley Crusher

• Two - one and a quarter inch(diameter) by five inch(length) rollers
• An adjustable gap betweem .015 inch and .075 inches
• 1018 cold rolled steel rollers
• Throughput of six pounts per minute.
• 3/8 inch drive shaft

The competition: the Schmidling Adjustable Roller Maltmill

• Two - one and a half inch(diameter) by ten inch(length) rollers
• An adjustable gap (their webpage does not say how adjustable)
• Steel (their webpage does not say what type although it eludes to a hardened option)
• Throughput of sixteen pounds per minute.
• 3/8 inch drive shaft

So what makes the monster the best?

Construction: The steel is better; the chief feature of 1144 steel is that it has very low distortion or warpage after machining due to a combination of its chemistry, method of manufacture, and heat treatment.

Rollers: Bigger is better, and more are better. Bigger is better because it allows more force to be exerted on the grain and for it to crush rather than pinch the grain with an increased surface area at the pinch point. Also it should increase the durability of the overall construction. More rollers help keep husks intact while offering a finer grind.

Drive shaft: I don't really understand what difference this makes, stronger? less shearing? fits larger drills? maybe all three.

In part two of this post read what I did to power my malt mill. You won't want to miss that!