Teufelhunde
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2020
- Messages
- 520
- Reaction score
- 478
I have been buying crushed grain from Morebeer and fighting mash efficiencies in the 50% range. I was thinking of moving back to extracts, but then SHMBO (who feeds the wild birds in the backyard) discovered that the birds like the spent grains, so I told her it was her fault I had to spend money on a mill. I cannot hand crank a mill due to f'd up shoulders, and by the time I would buy a hand crank and a 1/2" drill to turn it, plus wood and labor into making a plate to bolt it to, I would have had more money (and more headache) into it than the Maltzilla, so I thought I would give it a shot.
I bought a kit from Williams that comes with Maltzilla, bucket, board, hopper, power supply and all hardware. Assembly was straightforward. I'm brewing tomorrow at 5am, so I just crushed my grains for it. The hopper will hold 12 lbs., it took around 4-5 minutes (forgot to time it) for it to chew through my 11.5 pounds. It did stop once (crushing at the Kegland recommended setting. The only youtube video I found had (Portly Gentleman) had the same issue. It was easy to solve, however. Without stopping it, I loosened up the thumbscrews on the adjustable, freewheeling roller, dialed it to a slight bigger gap until the grain started flowing again, then put it back to the recommended setting and tightened the thumbscrews.
I will update this thread tomorrow with a mash efficiency report (all other parts of my process will be unchanged).
My question is this: I have attached 2 photos, one of the Maltzilla crushed Briess 2-row, and another of MoreBeer crushed Briess 2-row. To me, the Maltzilla crushed grain looks like the better crush, but if some better trained eyes than mine can take a look and comment, I would surely appreciate it.
I bought a kit from Williams that comes with Maltzilla, bucket, board, hopper, power supply and all hardware. Assembly was straightforward. I'm brewing tomorrow at 5am, so I just crushed my grains for it. The hopper will hold 12 lbs., it took around 4-5 minutes (forgot to time it) for it to chew through my 11.5 pounds. It did stop once (crushing at the Kegland recommended setting. The only youtube video I found had (Portly Gentleman) had the same issue. It was easy to solve, however. Without stopping it, I loosened up the thumbscrews on the adjustable, freewheeling roller, dialed it to a slight bigger gap until the grain started flowing again, then put it back to the recommended setting and tightened the thumbscrews.
I will update this thread tomorrow with a mash efficiency report (all other parts of my process will be unchanged).
My question is this: I have attached 2 photos, one of the Maltzilla crushed Briess 2-row, and another of MoreBeer crushed Briess 2-row. To me, the Maltzilla crushed grain looks like the better crush, but if some better trained eyes than mine can take a look and comment, I would surely appreciate it.