Using a pasta maker to mill grain. - Page 15

Nostrildamus · 01-26-2009, 01:55 AM

I started building a simple box style hopper for my mill today. Looks like it will hold around 15 pounds of grain in a single go. I had a bunch of 1/2" plywood around that I had used to build some shelves. Went out yesterday and bought a new B&D laser sight circular saw because despite having built houses for years, I'm **** when it comes to cutting a straight line without one.

I can't wait to swing this mill into full batch action in the next couple of weeks. I'm going to throw caution to the wind and crush till I'm so scared I nearly brown my trousers and see what sort of efficiency I can pull out of a $35 investment.

I'll post my results, good or bad.

Nostrildamus · 02-01-2009, 08:27 PM

And here's the finished product:

The crush selector:

The opposite side has the crank exposed:

And I put an angled bottom in so that the grain falls into the rollers:

What can't be seen is an additional box built underneath the rollers which guides the crushed grain past the baseboard and into the bucket. I tried it out and it works like a charm. The baseboard even supports my drill so I can always have one hand free.

brown_dog_us · 02-07-2009, 09:22 PM

I thought I would add my pasta mill:

I have a whopping $0 in this baby!

The hardest part was "roughing up" the smooth rollers so the grain would feed through. I tried an acid bath and that didn't work. I ended up closing the gap on the rollers all the way down and scaring them with a drill bit. I used a 1/8th inch bit and just went back and fourth and let it score lines across the rollers. It worked perfectly and took maybe 3 minutes.

Here is a pic of the rollers:

I know pretty blurry, but you can see the scoring on the rollers.

I ran 2 cups of grain through on the middle setting and this is what I got:

It crushed them pretty good. The whole pieces you see are actually just husks with out anything inside.

This worked really well and is worth a shot for anyone looking for a really cheap mill. I'll post back some efficiency numbers after I brew.

**Revvy** · 02-08-2009, 04:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brown_dog_us

I thought I would add my pasta mill:

I have a whopping $0 in this baby!

Looks awesome!!! Is yours motorized?

brown_dog_us · 02-08-2009, 09:50 AM

It's not motorized yet. I need to cut the crank arm off just after it comes out of the mill and hook that up to my drill. I'll bet I remember where my hack saw is while I hand grind 10 lbs. of grain.

brown_dog_us · 02-10-2009, 09:14 PM

I brewed with pasta mill crushed grain today and got 86% efficiency per beersmith. I usually get 70-75% efficiency using LHBS of internet supplier crushed grains, so the pasta mill is a big improvement. If anyone has a pasta roller laying around the house collecting dust and they want to mill their own grains they should give it a try. Close the roller gap all the way closed and walk the the drill bit back and fourth across the rollers. This will score the rollers and give the mill the friction it needs to pull the grain through.

Nostrildamus · 02-11-2009, 05:43 PM

Nice work Brown Dog... I can't wait to see what sort of efficiency I get on a full batch grind. How tight did you close your rollers down to get that crush?

brown_dog_us · 02-11-2009, 06:13 PM

Thanks, I set it on "2" and ran all the grain through. I inspected it thoroughly and noticed a few grains that were barely crushed so I sent it through again on the same setting. On my pasta mill 1 is the largest gap and 5 is the smallest. I had a fair amount of flour in my crush and I might have been worried if I was fly sparging, but it went great batch sparging. I would have been floored to get 75%.

**PintOfBitter** · 02-21-2009, 11:05 PM

Hey your idea of ramming a drill bit between the closed rollers sounds really smart. I just finished my pasta maker mill, but took apart the whole thing and ground lengthwise grooves with a dremel and cutoff wheel. Took forever to get all the steel/abrasive dust cleaned out of all the nooks and crannies. I figure any amount of steel dust would be a sure way to make 5 gallons of rusty tasting brew.

My end product looks quite a bit like yours. Works great, can't wait to brew with it.

FWIW, I used the "Craft Pasta Machine" sold for clay at Hobby Lobby. With a 40% off coupon from their website, it was right around $15.00.

TerapinChef · 03-03-2009, 01:23 PM

I ended up doing about the same thing as PoB. Hung my dremmel off the edge of the workbench with the cutoff wheels I use for my kegs hooked up, and used the edge of the wood to guide a nice straight line. It looks like poo. I did, however, just remember that I have a friend who's father owns a metal cutting shop. I'm wondering if I can get him to cut me aluminum billets to look like a monster mill for my pasta rollers to sit in. If this is true, and works, I'll probably buy another pasta roller and actually take the time to get it to a gun shop and see if they will knurl it for me. While researching grain mills (looking through the Northern brewer in the bathroom) I noticed that their rollers are cold rolled steel, not stainless. Hmmm....could our mills be better than theirs...and cheaper? Where does the $150 price tag come from?