My new FREE grain mill

Hi all,

After using a corona mill for the last year, i at last got fed up with inconsistant crushes and more than an hour of crushing time ( very valuable time too ) per batch.
My brother works as a mechanical engineer at the Oxford University, so i asked him if he could make me a grain mill that i could attatch a drill to that i could also adjust the crush.
Now this only hold 300grms of grain in the hopper, but my god its soooo much better, it take just under 10 mins to go through 7 kilos of grain.
Fantastic for a freebie i think

Here's a photo of it.
Looks weird but im amazed how well it works.
Will post a video once youtube verifies it.

That's awesome that you got that for free! Even if I did all the engineering that would cost me over a thousand dollars to have all that aluminum machined!

Cool, but what are you drinking in that photo, it's so pale. Miller 64 maybe? Next thing: ask him to make you a larger hopper to bolt-on.

Well funny u should mention the price, my bro did say that in theory that £900 worth of work lol.
Im drinking a bud clone that i through together for the hardcore bmc drinkers.
Very close to bud....... Just a bit tastier, apparently not a good as bud according to father in-law.
I once poured him a bud a told him it was homebrew, he didnt like it apparently but bud is one of his favorites.
Funny how if it aint got no label and isnt made by a pro then it aint nice

Looks great! What is the bar in the middle of the hopper?

Thats just a removeable plunger, comein handy when crushing wheat to put more pressure accross the grains

MattGuk said:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=c4-feed-u&v=Z7eiP-9LLOg

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Lookin good!

Curious - why was the corona taking so long? I can crush 10lbs in about 3 minutes with mine, drill powered. I go at full speed, only thing that slows me down is refilling the hopper.

MattGuk said:

Now this only hold 300grms of grain in the hopper,

Click to expand...

That's a beautiful piece of gear. You could easily fashion a large capacity hopper from plywood or plastic sheet to hold as much grain as you need.

THAT is a beautiful piece of machinery!!

Because i couldnt attach my drill onto it for some reason. I managed to attach a friends drill but the mill started a loosen off and the crush wasnt very good.

BigEd said:

That's a beautiful piece of gear. You could easily fashion a large capacity hopper from plywood or plastic sheet to hold as much grain as you need.

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That will be my next project.
I wonder how manufacturers make these things for around the £250 mark, when this in theory would cost over a grand.

MattGuk said:

That will be my next project.
I wonder how manufacturers make these things for around the £250 mark, when this in theory would cost over a grand.

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Custom, one off fully engineered piece vs production line qty (engineering spread costs spread out over many units).

501irishred said:

Custom, one off fully engineered piece vs production line qty (engineering spread costs spread out over many units).

Click to expand...

Makes sense.
Maybe i should get my bro to start a milling machine company lol

I was wondering why the machining that Oxford University is supposed to be doing for me was taking so long.

Is your brother in the Physics Workshop? Tell him to get on with the paid work...

Cool, nice mill. Put a motor on that thing and it will really look badass!

this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/mm2-mill-powered-garage-door-opener-401345/

dyqik said:

I was wondering why the machining that Oxford University is supposed to be doing for me was taking so long.

Is your brother in the Physics Workshop? Tell him to get on with the paid work...

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Lol yeah he is actually.
I dont mind him not doing his paid work of im getting things like this made for me

MattGuk said:

I wonder how manufacturers make these things for around the £250 mark, when this in theory would cost over a grand.

Click to expand...

Getting anything machined for you is insanely expensive, particularly a one-off. Mass-production methods are a ton faster and cheaper.

I used to do work in a machine shop in a physics lab. This mill looks exactly like I expected it to. Including the fact that he could have chosen to use much thinner aluminum.