Mon Mar 19, 2007 6:42 am
All the major mills designed from milling grain for homebrewing do a good job. It comes down to a matter of the features you want, the price, and how much work you need to do to get the mill ready to actually use, i.e., building hoppers, bases, setting up for motorizing, etc.
I have heard good things about both the crankandstein and schmidling mills. I use a single roller PhilMill and I couldn't be happier. I would advise folks to get a mill with an adjustable roller as different grains will be different sizes. That said, many people like Bub (are there many people like Bub?) get good results with a fixed setting on their mill. Even though I have an adjustable mill, I seldom change the setting. Once I got the setting that gives me the best results for my base grains I just leave it alone. When I mill something smaller, like wheat, I run those grains through twice to get the right crush.
If the factory setting for a non-adjustable mill is right for you, then the double crush approach is the only adjustment you will ever need. But if it isn't right you will never be able to dial it in to where you want it. You can take the gamble but I like the flexibility even though I seldom need it.
Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company
