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Gunshow · 01-07-2010, 03:23 AM

I have had a malt mill for awhile and I'm planning to motorize it. I pulled a 1/4 horsepower motor out of an old dryer that turns at 1725 rpm. I have been reading that these malt mills work best in the 300 rpm range so I need some sort of reduction. Where is a good place to get pulleys? The closest I could find at Lowes or Home Depot would be replacement wheels for lawnmowers that have a nice groove with the "tire" removed. I thought maybe a piece from an old sewing machine but I'm not sure where to look. Any help is appreciated.

ShaneKasey · 01-07-2010, 03:47 AM

when i want to find something like that i go to the big thrift stores that have lots of stuff like habitat for humanity. and you might be able to find a big pulley there. you could find a broken sewing machine off of craigslist, consider what it would cost vs. the cost of just buying a high torque drill from harbor freight. if that's cheaper, then you could just sell your motor on craigslist. i love to see peoples grain mills

michaeltrego · 01-07-2010, 04:23 AM

I recently motorized my Maltmill with a dryer motor as well. Traded some homebrew to my local appliance shop for the motor. I went with a 10" sheave on the mill and a 1.5" sheave on the motor to reduce the the RPMs from 1725 down to about 190.

I have been meaning to post a DIY with some of the build photos.....it works great. Now I just need to build a bigger hopper, a cover for the motor and a safety guard.

Here is the list of parts I bought from Grainger via http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/drillspot-146635/

And here is a short video of it in action:

YouTube

stephan132 · 01-07-2010, 07:12 AM

not to be hijacking but i use the corona mil with a drill attached to a bolt from he auger. last week i milled 12 lbs through it in a couple minutes. u get the setting on the mill right and let a 18v dewalt rip. it milled it all in maybe 5 minutes. i attached a larger plastic container made from a protein shake container. cut the top off and you got a good 3-4 lbs hopper.

works marvels. i do mostly biab so a finer crush grain works good with a high speed drill

**Laughing_Gnome_Invisible** · 01-07-2010, 10:41 AM

TSC has a small selection of pulleys.

**Hang Glider** · 01-07-2010, 12:53 PM

Gunshow -
great question, and welcome to the board.
You will find that lots of sources get mentioned on this board and you can find just about anything.

Local stuff - Grainger, Tractor Supply, and the big boxes (HD, Lowes)
Online - McMasterCarr is a big favorite for all kinds of fun stuff

if you get into electronics, and want to build a thermistor for your temp control, they're 77 cents at Digi-Key, and shipping is like a dollar or two.

etc.

Just tell us what you're building, ask for sources and you'll get several of options over a couple of days.

mariojr · 01-07-2010, 04:10 PM

This is what I consulted when building my mill station.

http://hbd.org/carboy/motorizing_a_malt_mill.htm

baer19d · 01-07-2010, 04:28 PM

I do something similar and it works fine for me as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by stephan132

not to be hijacking but i use the corona mil with a drill attached to a bolt from he auger. last week i milled 12 lbs through it in a couple minutes. u get the setting on the mill right and let a 18v dewalt rip. it milled it all in maybe 5 minutes. i attached a larger plastic container made from a protein shake container. cut the top off and you got a good 3-4 lbs hopper.

works marvels. i do mostly biab so a finer crush grain works good with a high speed drill

Gunshow · 01-07-2010, 10:38 PM

Thanks for the info, this will def get me going in the right direction. The hbd link pretty much spells it out. I just finished my keggle (last piece in the 10 gal batch upgrade) and milling the bigger grain bills by hand didn't sound like a whole lot of fun.