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**Hoppopotomus** · 11-13-2012, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TNGabe

Wait a minute, you finally brewed? Crap, I had my $5 on the first week of Jan 2013.

I know, I know.......It's been a while. I brewed 3 batches the weekend before last and really need to get on a 4th asap. I have a keezer with 4 empty kegs in it and an empty keg sitting in cold storage. Talk about piss poor brewing performance.

On the plus side, my fermentation chambers are working flawlessly, so I'm happy about that.

**Hoppopotomus** · 11-13-2012, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazyirishman34

With my mill that is motorized in a similar fashion If I start the mill before dumping the grain in it tends to work just fine. But if I pour the grain in first it tends not to work. At that point I just turn the large sheave backwards by hand. Then start the motor it will start milling at that point.

Do you mean that if you pour the grain in first and then turn it on that it doesn't have enough torque to turn the mill? or Do you experience what I was experiencing.....that the drive roller spins, but the passive roller doesn't, so the grain just sits and doesn't get pulled down through? I tried it both ways and had the same problem until I opened up the gap a bit, then it worked great. The motor has plenty of torque to start underneath a grain load without problems. Thanks for the comment.

**Hoppopotomus** · 11-13-2012, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kscarrington

They do indeed make great brewing assistants! Mine love squeezing the trigger on the Dewalt to help grind the grain, and are even now brave enough to help out with some of the hop additions. Great setup, glad to see you we're finally able to take it for its maiden voyage!

Thanks man! My daughter is much more interested than my son in helping out nowadays. When I used to bottle beer, both were eager to help with that process, now my son not so much. I installed a 100 amp. 20 breaker subpanel on Sunday afternoon, because my orginal 200 amp. 40 breaker panel is completely full. I need more power for the brewery and the boiler system that I'm having installed to heat the basement floors, so I had to add the subpanel. She was by my side during the entire process, handing me tools, etc., so she's a great little helper.

**Gridlocked** · 11-21-2012, 08:14 PM

As far as your mill gap question goes, I don't have a scientific or measured way to do, well, really anything that I do, but I eye-ball gap my mill about the thickness of a quarter and run all of my grain through twice. It adds a few minutes to the brew day but that doesn't bother me. And it's worked well in the past, so if it ain't broke - don't fix it. My numbers are respectable and I have not had a stuck mash with the current gap. Took me 4-5 batches to get the distance dialed in, but it works well.

**crazyirishman34** · 11-21-2012, 10:56 PM

The motor i use will start with grain in the hopper. It seams to start milling more consistently when it is started before I add the grain. I have it set at the factory gap.

**diS** · 11-24-2012, 09:58 PM

This is looking great, like the way how you use wood as material.
I've seen you other projects and you are doing excellent work.

**Hoppopotomus** · 11-28-2012, 06:37 PM

Thanks for all of the replies, kind words, and advice

. I think I have the mill dialed in and I am taking Ted's advice and running the grain through the mill twice. Seems to be running smooth as silk with the slightly larger gap setting and I'm getting a good crush with good efficiency. Thanks again guys!

**perogi** · 01-07-2013, 11:00 PM

Hey Hoppopotomus,

I've been following this thread for the last week or so - awesome job! Awesome job on the keezer as well!

Question for you: Do you recall the distance and/or belt length between the pulleys?

Thank you,
perogi.

**Hoppopotomus** · 01-07-2013, 11:40 PM

Thanks for the compliments.

I went with a 12" pulley on the mill with an 11.85" pitch diameter. I went with a 1 1/2" pulley on the motor with a 1.35" pitch diameter. I ended up using a 60" belt, which makes a distance between the mill shaft and the motor shaft 19.64 inches.

My motor is 1/3 hp at 1725 rpms. This pulley configuration yields and 8:1 ration, to slow the mill speed down to 215 rpms. Works great. Check out THIS document by Mike Dixon on how to motorize a grain mill. It has very specific formulas for calculating all of this stuff. I'm so glad that I came across this because it was extremely helpful during my build. Bear in mind that it's an older document, so the pricing isn't accurate for current rates through Grainger. Hope this helps......let me know if I can be of further assistance. Good luck!

**perogi** · 01-08-2013, 12:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hoppopotomus

Thanks for the compliments.

I went with a 12" pulley on the mill with an 11.85" pitch diameter. I went with a 1 1/2" pulley on the motor with a 1.35" pitch diameter. I ended up using a 60" belt, which makes a distance between the mill shaft and the motor shaft 19.64 inches.

My motor is 1/3 hp at 1725 rpms. This pulley configuration yields and 8:1 ration, to slow the mill speed down to 215 rpms. Works great. Check out THIS document by Mike Dixon on how to motorize a grain mill. It has very specific formulas for calculating all of this stuff. I'm so glad that I came across this because it was extremely helpful during my build. Bear in mind that it's an older document, so the pricing isn't accurate for current rates through Grainger. Hope this helps......let me know if I can be of further assistance. Good luck!

Thank you! I have the same size motor and sheaves so I was thinking that your dimensions would work for me. I have a 48" belt laying around so I am going to give that try first.

Looking at your set up, I really like how you used the weight of the motor to help keep tension on the belt. I noticed that you used some springs but they don't appear to be holding any tension. Are they used to keep the board that the motor is mounted on from flipping over? Any chance you can take some close up pics of that area?

Thank you so much!
perogi.