The Blue Bollix, The Homebrew Company mill

[Leann ull]

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

[auralabuse]

Defo my next purchase

[irish_goat]

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".

[Qs]

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

[mick02]

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.

[Greg2013]

Wash your mouth out it was platinum 

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

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.

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.

[Leann ull]

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

[Qs]

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

[Leann ull]

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.

[auralabuse]

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

[auralabuse]

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

[Qs]

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

[Greg2013]

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.

[Leann ull]

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

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

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.