MaltZilla Review

[@duncanbayne3078]

Bradley, I've been using this mill about 4 months. Same issue with free wheeling as well. I found it happened less with a narrower gap. Set at 0.75 on the adjuster dials ( but this gap is really 1.25 mm). Good efficiency and cracking, I'm using guten 70 litre ( like robobrew, grain father etc). I use 18v battery with the alligator clips and this means I can reverse the mill when it freewheels and this tends to make it work again when switched back. I do condition the grain with 2.5% by weight of water at least 4 hours before milling, but have left overnight and all good. I made a board big enough to fit over a 45 litre square plastic bin. This is hence dust tight. I use another one with a lid to do the pre conditioning. When finished I just flip the mill over and it is safe inside the box. It's dust free for inside use this way and also reduces the noise even more.. I've found the mill free wheels because the non powered roller gets a bit of grain powder stuck to it and this gets trapped between roller and casing. When this is knocked off by reversing motor it all works again. Ideally needs both rollers motored. It's nearly perfect, better results than brewshops milling by far.

[@CrazyAboutVinylRecords]

I bought one of these and used it for the first time today. Love this thing. I ran 12lbs of malt through it in a few minutes after I made the initial gap adjustment. The crush was nice and even. I didn't build a table for mine but instead went for a 6 gallon bucket and the PPE base board. I am using a 5 gallon water jug with the bottom cut off as a hopper. Perfect for my needs.

[@PortlyGentleman]

💯🍻

[@patrickglaser1560]

Hey Bradley, figured out the issue with the maltzilla, the bearings on the rollers come rusted. You either need to lubricate or replace the bearings and it runs smooth.

[@PortlyGentleman]

O man 🤔

[@patrickglaser1560]

@PortlyGentleman yup, finding nsf rated lubricant is the hard part. I sprayed wd-40 silicone and rusty liquid came flooding out. The bearings are not sealed well. Wd40 silicone is only nsf h2 not the desired h3, btw.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Great video Bradley. I've not tried this mill but certainly graincrush is everything.

[@PortlyGentleman]

Amen to that my friend, I wonder who instill that in me 🤔...

[@BEERNBBQBYLARRY]

Dang. I feel old now. After 20 years, I’m still using the same old power drill driven JSP Malt Mill. It’s never given me any problem, so I never bought another one..yet. Too bad they went out of business due to a fire. Was a good affordable grain mill.

[@PortlyGentleman]

If it ain’t broke don’t fix it that’s some wisdom that I often struggle with.... thanks for watching Larry and commenting means a ton 🍻

[@madsteff1097]

Hi Bradley, thanks again for doing a review on this item. What is currently according to your opinion the best malt mill for homebrewers. The current one we have is of poor quality and affects our efficiency, so we are looking for a better one.

[@dannymars]

Commercial brewer here. We never allow the full weight of a feed hopper’s malt sit on the rollers. Best to add a little sliding gate in between the rollers and the hopper. Then adjust that to match the crush rate, so that only the malt you’re crushing is in contact with the rollers. Hope that helps! Basically the roller is stalling due to the weight of uncrushed malt on top.

[@PortlyGentleman]

Nice

[@GenusBrewing]

My next mill is going to be a geared mill for a similar reason - larger kernel grains are hard to catch on the independant roller and some of my heritage or import grains have larger kernels. The other thing I've struggled with is wetter or denser kernels like Carapils, Rye, or unmalted wheat. Can't wait to see what improvements/new products kegland brings to the market in 2021!

[@PortlyGentleman]

Thanks for watching I am a fan! I couldn’t agree more with you on all points to be honest! I hope you guys are doing well in Washington!

[@GenusBrewing]

Fasho! Home Brewing community is the best and I love seeing people doing cool stuff with it on YT :)

[@rlp1905]

Great review. It's surprising how little information about this mill is out there. I'm looking to add a mill to my setup, and because of size restrictions and the fact I don't like the drill idea, and this would be ideal. It's a shame, really. The other option I have is the grainfather mill. But it's quite expensive.

[@dcastropty]

Oh wow, finally a mill that's surprisingly great for the price. Agree, cannot wait to see v2, the stopping really is unacceptable but mills are always notoriously awful, so this seems like a great step to solve that.

[@PortlyGentleman]

I would agree thanks for checking at the video man I truly appreciate your support🍻💯

[@mattxander12]

Excellent as always! Couple questions: - How easy is it to adjust gap settings? - Does the "diamond roller" claims live up IRL? Is the crush/hull-integrity any better than your typical mill - Does the small throat size get annoying? Seems it would jump up milling time. Probably only really affects people that mill while heating strike water. - When are you getting the Blichmann mill :) ?

[@PortlyGentleman]

The Blichmann milll that things pretty spend lol but I am tempted, truthfully my experience with their customer service regarding my glycol chiller has put me off from the brand. The mill Gab setting is quite accurate I found. There’s no in between settings you pretty much have to set it to their settings there are many settings though. Having said that it isn’t as simple as just measuring it it does crush differently. I think the crush is actually pretty good actually really good. The speed crushing is quite reasonable. If you’re crushing commercially probably not the best option.

[@buck71164]

The diamond coating is garbage

[@Oelsvingen]

Did you forget to show us some sample crushes? Would be great to see crush from different mills. I have looked at buying this product, so your review was really helpful. Thank you for putting out great content, Bradley. Cheers!

[@PortlyGentleman]

I didn’t show a sample crush for a reason, crush is very subjective what crush are use is likely different than The crush you use. I also crush different grain into different dimensions. Having said that drop me a line on Instagram I can take care of you🍻

[@paulbrodie6929]

Hi Bradley, great video and I love the battery idea for the Maltzilla. Just one question, what is your experience with the cleaning of the mill after several brews, I think that in my case I found that the un-driven roller stopped after five brews and all I needed to do was disassemble and clean and put it back together and all was well, found a lot of malt debris and rolled oats inside the body of both rollers, just wondering if you have experienced something similar. Love your videos and hope to see more. I do BIAB with a mesh basket and I mill finer than normal, maybe I will open it up a little, I am getting good efficiency. Paul

[@PortlyGentleman]

Similar experience to yours. I think if they had a couple of nylon bushings on either side of the roller it would stop debris from getting in there and it would operate more smoothly longer.

[@Nathocraig33]

Thanks for the great video. When you refer to your gap size, are you talking mm or the markings on the mill? What gap in mm or marking would you recommend starting with? Thank you

[@PortlyGentleman]

🍻🍻

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Good video. Looks like a decent mill and a good value. Thanks for the honest review.

[@PortlyGentleman]

Thank you very much my friend I can’t wait for your next video 😬

[@OldNorsebrewery]

Good value always end up to be twice as expensive

[@jonmccombs1711]

Great job! Very cool about the battery option. Maybe the unit has a self clearing function after so much time.?

[@PortlyGentleman]

It doesn’t self clean that I’m aware of not yet anyways 🍻

[@atomictyler]

I thought for sure you were going to end up with the Blichmann mill! I ordered one on Monday and I'm still waiting for it to ship, but I saw your SS Brewtech video and decided to just go for the big daddy.

[@PortlyGentleman]

Nothing is set in stone yet !

[@atomictyler]

@@PortlyGentleman well my Blichmann grain mill came in today. The rollers aren't parallel 🤦🏼‍♂️. With it on the medium setting the left side of the rollers is .046" and the right side is .036". imgur.com/a/8rg0qX2

[@woodshedbrewingco.481]

Very cool mill Bradley! Very cool set up! Might want to upgrade my mill down the line. Ill have to look at this when Im ready to pull the trigger. As for the canning sidebar...gotta disagree with you there. I am a Oktober SL1 owner and couldnt be happier. 2 full boxes without a failure. Comes fully set up and dont have to mess with feeler gauges and set up like the cannular. Was canning flawlessly right out of the box. Sláinte!

[@PortlyGentleman]

I trust you I stand corrected I didn’t realize that the October was that reliable . other conversations I’ve had Led me to my conclusion in the video. 🍻🍻🍻

[@woodshedbrewingco.481]

@@PortlyGentleman No disrespect at all brother! Just have had a great experience with it so far. No fails at all and no messing with the crimps like on the Cannular. Hope all is well! Sláinte!

[@HopsANDgnarly]

Looks cool! I'm in the process of adding a mill to my setup - super helpful!

[@PortlyGentleman]

Happy I was able to help out can’t wait to see what you do 🍻

[@thomasschleis2545]

Think there is too much friction in the free roller?

[@PortlyGentleman]

I think it gets clogged up by fine dust we could use some sort of a nylon bushing or something on either side

[@shaunhancock]

Bradley, I know it's been awhile since you made this video. Did you say 1.25 on the B80? Seems that may be a wide gap... I'll give it a go and see with some pilsner malt.

[@mitchellcox1912]

Outstanding job.

[@PortlyGentleman]

Thank you I truly appreciate it 🍻

[@HOMEBREW4LIFE]

he's back!

[@PortlyGentleman]

🍻🍻

[@djupaa7255]

Love videos, what mm crush you use on your setup?

[@PortlyGentleman]

On this mail lately I’ve been @1.5 on other mills 1.2. Truthfully nowadays I’m crushing more off of luck than the actual measurement.

[@r0b123456789]

So which mill did you decide to stick with? This one or the MillMaster?

[@PortlyGentleman]

The millmaster it's super good

[@smallbatchbrewingco5675]

How you getting on with this mill ? Are you still using it mate ? cheers Dan

[@PortlyGentleman]

I am still frustrated by the fact that it stops some time . I think for the money it’s still a pretty good option. i’m actually putting out a review of the MillMaster later on this week.

[@smallbatchbrewingco5675]

@@PortlyGentleman Cheers Bradley , will keep an eye out mate

[@smallbatchbrewingco5675]

Might need this upgrade 👍🏻

[@PortlyGentleman]

Happy I was able to help

[@sixpots]

Hey Bradley, what's your go-to mill for the B80 these days? The crush from my local homebrew shop is far too coarse for my B40 so it's time to level up, but I'm finding a lot of higher end mills (I'd prefer quality over anything (go figure, Brewtools users like nice things)) aren't easily available in the UK :/

[@PortlyGentleman]

I’ve actually done a video on a mill called the mill master I like it quite a bit it’s from Australia. I think it represents pretty good value.

[@sixpots]

@@PortlyGentleman in all my searching I never came across them, thanks for the tip!

[@DavidAbraham504]

Very smart! Thanks for sharing.

[@PortlyGentleman]

Anytime 🍻

[@OldNorsebrewery]

I had my monster mill 3 roller for about 4 years and I would never exchange it for anything. I got the pro drive 3/4" drive axle and I love it

[@PortlyGentleman]

I’m very curious about those 🤔

[@dionpeoples]

Great video, thanks for the information!

[@PortlyGentleman]

I’m Happy I was able to help🍻

[@georgecompton-180brewing5]

Thanks for a great video

[@PortlyGentleman]

Anytime thank you for watching 🍻

[@Swans_And_Ducks]

Try a Millars Mill. Will last you a lifetime.

[@PortlyGentleman]

I will look into it 🍻

[@buck71164]

Shit mill I've said it over and over kegland refunded me but I don't see how they can stand by a failed product! V2 needs to be released.. this time work on clearing the dust better and hopefully change out those crap diamond wheels for something more durable :)

[@PortlyGentleman]

Definitely some sort of nylon bushings on either side of the rollers I think would help it from getting clogged up. I’ve only crushed about 70 or 80 pounds with it seems pretty durable in that aspect only time will tail 🍻

[@carbonbandit9440]

I believe the diamond coating on the stainless steel rollers have already been upgraded. Are you sure your rollers were spinning in the correct direction as well?

[@buck71164]

@@PortlyGentleman yeh definitely a month later I seen this reply

[@AndrewLynch9]

Too much DIY associated with this. It should come with a hopper. The rollers not having raised teeth is prob why it's not grabbing the malt and it getting stuck.

[@PortlyGentleman]

Truthfully I really like that I can use a jug that holds over 20Lbs or 9kg of malt that literally cost $6. The fact that the rollers are smooth has no bearing on it getting stopped. It’s a factor of their adjustment method I believe, as well as tiny gaps on the right and left of the free spinning roller it gets caught with superfine dust. If you condition the malt it goes away.