National Homebrew Club Ireland

Hi all

Anyone got experience of  The Homebrew Companies , The Blue Bollix grain mill it  looks good value ?
 
https://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/the-blue-bollix-grain-mill-2-roller-p-3452.html

No experience of it but crusher and a hopper too at that price is good value  :)

I saw this on the HBC site yesterday, and had to laugh at the name..  ;D ;D

Good name   :)

The only things that would concern me with this would be "oil impregnated brass bushings",not sure if that would be an issue though ? ;D

Looks like the same one I have. It works a treat with a good even crush and good throughput. If it is the same the 'blue' is just the blue peel off protector on the aluminium.

It looks like the Cereal Killer but I prefer their name though :) But if it doesn't come with a base then you'd have to build one

I have the Cereal Killer, very happy. I think I bought it here (http://www.homebrewing.org/Cereal-Killer-Grain-Mill_p_2310.html). Used it for 40+ brews and no complaints.  I managed to get the crush down to the right size by using a feeler gauge. I bought it in the US but I assume Halfords etc. will have them available. See here for details  http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/grain-mill?page=3

Or a credit card

Looks the same as the brewferm mill. See here for write up - http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,8293.msg103732.html#msg103732

Actually it looks exactly like my grain mill which also came from the HBC,fell set the gap for me with his gold card  :P

Wash your mouth out it was platinum  :P

Quote from: CH on January 18, 2016, 10:37:49 PM
Wash your mouth out it was platinum  :P

So it was,my apologies  :P Great little mill though,have not had any trouble with mine thus far. ;D

Seemed robust enough alright lovely crush of the card

Looks the spit of the Bulldog one alright but has no base plate or bucket with it.

It arrived yesterday, looks great. I am planning to to put a Munich helles grist through it in the next few weeks

(http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w316/markhip/Mobile%20Uploads/90c0c786-f5f7-49a5-a827-bdd9072a483c_zpsigxzcyhq.jpg) (http://s179.photobucket.com/user/markhip/media/Mobile%20Uploads/90c0c786-f5f7-49a5-a827-bdd9072a483c_zpsigxzcyhq.jpg.html)

I still don't understand why breweries buy crushed
You will notice A big difference and on my god the aroma

Defo my next purchase

Quote from: CH on January 22, 2016, 12:20:11 PM
I still don't understand why breweries buy crushed
You will notice A big difference and on my god the aroma

Same here. Know a few doing it too and all it takes is buying a decent drill and mill. I was chatting with Tom, our BJCP judge who travels over from the US and he couldn't believe it. In his words, using precrushed malt is "like putting your milk in the oven for 20 minutes before you ship it to customers".

Wanted to bump this to see how you are getting on with this mill after nearly  a year. Considering getting one off santa.  8)

Quote from: irish_goat on January 22, 2016, 12:52:26 PM

Quote from: CH on January 22, 2016, 12:20:11 PM
I still don't understand why breweries buy crushed
You will notice A big difference and on my god the aroma

Same here. Know a few doing it too and all it takes is buying a decent drill and mill. I was chatting with Tom, our BJCP judge who travels over from the US and he couldn't believe it. In his words, using precrushed malt is "like putting your milk in the oven for 20 minutes before you ship it to customers".

I was a steward for Tom at the nationals back in February and he was telling me the importance of buying fresh wholegrain, and crushing it yourself. Makes complete sense. Even if you can't use the grain straight away wholegrain lasts a lot longer than crushed when stored correctly.

On the subject of the Blue Bollix, I'm looking at getting one myself. Tom's words stuck so all my recently ordered grain has been wholegrain. I've been borrowing a friends mill but it's time to invest in my own.

Quote from: Greg2013 on January 19, 2016, 08:14:25 PM

Quote from: CH on January 18, 2016, 10:37:49 PM
Wash your mouth out it was platinum  :P

So it was,my apologies  :P Great little mill though,have not had any trouble with mine thus far. ;D

I took a ten month break from brewing between end of last year and sometime in not too distant past this year.At time of my last post here i was off the radar but up to that point i had never had any issues with my blue bollix(ooh matron).As the man in the Merc will tell ya i am an intermittent brewer at best,i tend to binge brew.

Since i came back somewhat to brewing earlier this year though i have had nothing but grief with this mill.It got a good cleaning(dry wipe no liquids)and rollers sprayed with food grade silicone spray and a couple of hoppers worth of grain sacrificed to complete the process.Regapped the rollers with an atm card(cause i don't have a platinum one like some fellas) the rollers only work when they want to now.The geared roller seems to spin fine and the free roller also when the hopper is empty,however soon as grain goes in the geared roller spins and the free roller stays put.I have tried spraying grain from a water bottle lightly and it makes no difference,and tbh i never had to before anyway.

I only mention this as the roller mill is yet again in storage and i know the issues i am having are mechanical,i would say unless you use it at least once a month you should be maintaining it regularily. ;D

NB: This mill from HBC is a fine bit of kit and at that price it is a steal,i only mention the above so that others dont make the same mistake i did and not maintain it in storage.If i ever get back to AG i won't make that mistake again. ;D

Could be the weight of the grain pushing the metal sides to act on rollers like a brake
Just needs fettling

Should manage to use it once a month anyway. Also considering the 3 roller version either. Not sure if its worth the extra investment.

I would definitely advise anybody that is going all grain to crush your own grain for freshness and efficiency.
I have a 3 roller mill I got in the us
http://www.crankandstein.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7&products_id=13&zenid=7c9b284ef3cf987045e6bb5701fa5e63
3 are definitely better than 2 but not sure it's justifiable against today's quality 2 rollers if you only brew infrequently.

I have the blue bollix mill now about a year and a half and have no problems at all. Still working away goodo and happy with it

BTW I use a drill with it, no hand milling for me

How good a drill do you need? I've only got a cheap wireless one.

Quote from: CH on December 05, 2016, 03:46:30 PM
Could be the weight of the grain pushing the metal sides to act on rollers like a brake
Just needs fettling

I will keep that in mind thanks CH if i ever get back to using it again any day soon. ;D

there is an optimum speed with drills, too fast and you just rip and shred, it depends on the diameter of the roller of the mill but is about 90rpm afaik, I use a small clamp on the handle of the  drill to ensure its consistent and just feed

Quote from: Qs on December 06, 2016, 12:53:08 PM
How good a drill do you need? I've only got a cheap wireless one.

You need a decent battery drill, I had a semi pro Hitachi but it struggled, I bought a professional Bosch (blue not green) and it flies through the job. Alternative buy a cheap mains powered drill.

yep mines a decent dewalt, i've found if you start it and then pour in your grain you get over that requirement for initial high torque

Brew about once a month and use the brewferm mill. Never had an issue over the last 2 years.

We did a group buy a few years ago for frankandstein units from America and they are what they say on the tin,good. This unit comes with a hopper which our's did not so looks like it's the dog's bollix ;)

I just use a cheapo mains drill, its full of plasterboard n shit but that just adds to head retention

You also won't need to add as much gypsum to your mash.

I do add a bit as I like the extra gypsumy aroma

Just got one of these. How do ye get the drill to run it? Was expecting some sort of screw but nope.

Put chuck straight on drive shaft

Ah yeah, should have thought of that. Always expecting to have to buy something else.