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Author Topic: Monster mill - Issues  (Read 7716 times)

Offline Joe Sr.

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Re: Monster mill - Issues
« Reply #15 on: November 25, 2013, 03:01:02 pm »
is it just me or is customer service among Homebrew related companies just a step or two above and beyond the norm?

It is not just you.  I've had good customer service just about everywhere homebrew-related.

Local craft breweries and distillers included.
It's all in the reflexes. - Jack Burton

Offline HoosierBrew

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Re: Monster mill - Issues
« Reply #16 on: November 25, 2013, 03:43:40 pm »
Without question.  Other businesses could learn a lot about quality service from homebrew-related businesses.  Customer service has almost gotten adversarial and standoff-ish at most places. Definitely a pet peeve of mine.
Jon H.

Offline duboman

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Re: Monster mill - Issues
« Reply #17 on: November 25, 2013, 03:46:43 pm »
Well, they get a big +1 for service.

I gave them a call to see about the mod fix. I have the 1.5 inch mill and they did not make the retro fix for that one because people weren't having the same issues with it as the 2.0. So no luck there.

But he spent 15 minutes on the phone with me going over the mechanics of the mill and giving me some ideas to try. He indicated that it matters which direction you turn the adjustment knobs.

if you turn them clockwise (if facing the drive shaft side of the mill) the idle roller moved up and towards the drive roller, while counter clockwise, it moved down and toward the drive roller.

Clockwise means that the thumb screws are above the center line of the knob so if the idle roller tries to move away from the drive roller it hit s the thumb screw. Counter clockwise, on the other hand, means the center point of the knob is ABOVE the thumb screw and as the idle roller moves away from the drive roller it moves down as well, eluding the thumb screw and loosening enough to jam.

I don't know if this will be the answer or not but I will give it a try over the next few weeks and see what happens!

is it just me or is customer service among Homebrew related companies just a step or two above and beyond the norm?

It's nice to know and you got some explanation and resolution!

I agree that customer service in our hobby/industry always seems to be pretty top notch!
Peace....Love......Beer......

The Commune Brewing Company-Perfecting the craft of beer since 2010

Offline Jeff M

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Re: Monster mill - Issues
« Reply #18 on: November 25, 2013, 04:45:29 pm »
is it just me or is customer service among Homebrew related companies just a step or two above and beyond the norm?

It is not just you.  I've had good customer service just about everywhere homebrew-related.

Local craft breweries and distillers included.

If you consider how small the population of homebrewers is you cant really afford to have your named smeered all over the internet as being crap.  Granted noone should want that to happen, but there is a certain amount of inevitability if you are a large company.
Granite Coast Brewing Company.
Building a clone of The Electric Brewery to use as a pilot system for new recipes!

Offline Thirsty_Monk

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Re: Monster mill - Issues
« Reply #19 on: November 25, 2013, 07:57:27 pm »
I noticed the same thing as singletrack, and for the same reasons.  In my case the fix was to rebuild the table it was mounted on to stiffen the surface, square everything very carefully, and eliminate the gap between the rollers and the end plate.  It helped tremendously.  After running (literally) tons of grain through it in the last year it is starting to act up again.  I'm going to have to look at it and see if I need that upgrade kit.
Take it apart and clean it. This should solve your problem.
I run about 2000 lb every month thru it and had to do it once.
Grain gets between plate and rollers. Then free spinning rollers will stop to spin.
Na Zdravie

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http://www.lazymonkbrewing.com

Offline singletrack brewer

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Re: Monster mill - Issues
« Reply #20 on: November 26, 2013, 04:48:43 am »
I noticed the same thing as singletrack, and for the same reasons.  In my case the fix was to rebuild the table it was mounted on to stiffen the surface, square everything very carefully, and eliminate the gap between the rollers and the end plate.  It helped tremendously.  After running (literally) tons of grain through it in the last year it is starting to act up again.  I'm going to have to look at it and see if I need that upgrade kit.
Take it apart and clean it. This should solve your problem.
I run about 2000 lb every month thru it and had to do it once.
Grain gets between plate and rollers. Then free spinning rollers will stop to spin.

That's exactly what I ended up doing, taking it apart and cleaning it.  No issues since.  I see you are running some fair amount of malt through yours.  What size system are you milling for? I ask because we are trying to find a mill for our 7bbl system and are borrowing another brewery's mill.  It's a good mill but we are hauling malt from our location to another and then back again.  So we are looking for options and have looked into several different mills. I don't want to get too far off topic here and will leave it at that.
Chris
Brewer, Push Brewing Co

Offline Thirsty_Monk

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Re: Monster mill - Issues
« Reply #21 on: November 26, 2013, 08:54:26 pm »
I noticed the same thing as singletrack, and for the same reasons.  In my case the fix was to rebuild the table it was mounted on to stiffen the surface, square everything very carefully, and eliminate the gap between the rollers and the end plate.  It helped tremendously.  After running (literally) tons of grain through it in the last year it is starting to act up again.  I'm going to have to look at it and see if I need that upgrade kit.
Take it apart and clean it. This should solve your problem.
I run about 2000 lb every month thru it and had to do it once.
Grain gets between plate and rollers. Then free spinning rollers will stop to spin.

That's exactly what I ended up doing, taking it apart and cleaning it.  No issues since.  I see you are running some fair amount of malt through yours.  What size system are you milling for? I ask because we are trying to find a mill for our 7bbl system and are borrowing another brewery's mill.  It's a good mill but we are hauling malt from our location to another and then back again.  So we are looking for options and have looked into several different mills. I don't want to get too far off topic here and will leave it at that.
I have 5.5 BBL brewhouse.
I double brew in one day.
It takes some time to mill all the grain but it works quite well.
I run my mill at about 260 rpm. I could speed it up to 400 rpm.
This would save some time.
I have been using this mill 3 years now.
Na Zdravie

Lazy Monk Brewing
http://www.lazymonkbrewing.com

Offline tschmidlin

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Re: Monster mill - Issues
« Reply #22 on: November 27, 2013, 01:37:19 am »
Take it apart and clean it. This should solve your problem.
I run about 2000 lb every month thru it and had to do it once.
Grain gets between plate and rollers. Then free spinning rollers will stop to spin.
Thanks, I'll do that.  I'm sure you're right.

That's exactly what I ended up doing, taking it apart and cleaning it.  No issues since.  I see you are running some fair amount of malt through yours.  What size system are you milling for? I ask because we are trying to find a mill for our 7bbl system and are borrowing another brewery's mill.  It's a good mill but we are hauling malt from our location to another and then back again.  So we are looking for options and have looked into several different mills. I don't want to get too far off topic here and will leave it at that.
I am brewing on a 2 bbl system, single batches.  It takes a while to mill the grain, but not as long as it takes to heat the mash water so it's not a problem for me. :)
Tom Schmidlin

Offline dnicholson

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Re: Monster mill - Issues
« Reply #23 on: November 27, 2013, 03:30:47 pm »
Not sure on Monster Mill construction - assume a driven and static roller - you guys are sure the edges on rollers are not smoothed not allowing driven roll to pull grain in? Sounds like you mill a lot - large agricultural mills have rollers sent to be recut for the same reason

Offline singletrack brewer

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Re: Monster mill - Issues
« Reply #24 on: December 02, 2013, 05:06:22 am »
Hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving! Anyway thanks for the info Thirsty_Monk and tschmidlin in regards to your brewing capacities and such.  I'll take that info and talk to my fellow brewer and discuss our mill issue.

dnicholson, you are correct on the Monster Mill set up, one roller is driven and the other(s) are static.  I'll have to check mine but I'm pretty sure the edges are not smoothed. 
Chris
Brewer, Push Brewing Co