My Ugly Junk- Corona Mill Station...

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...I hit 87% once. Expecting 75%. I had to scramble to adjust hops on the fly. Since then I have just settled into my easy to duplicate 80% rhythm.
I'll take consistent, reasonable efficiency over unpredictable high efficiency any day for just the reason you mentioned. If you can't predict what's going to be coming out of the kettle from one brew to the next it's pretty tough to create recipes.
 
:ban::ban: Brewed a cream stout today and got 84.31% did what yous said and adjusted till i was scared and i got the 84.31 im happy with that.The hydro sample tasted great.If it comes out good will post recipe.thanks for the pointers
 
Okay guys...how scared is scared?? 90% flour with rice hulls? Or 30% percent flour, 30% shredded/torn and 30% crushed a bit (ignore the other 10 percent I suck at math) I have seen pics..but to my eyes the pics and real crushed grain look different.
 
my lhbs crush was bad i was only getting in the 60s so my crush looked way to fine so i was scared.I was going by what i was used too.
 
Okay guys...how scared is scared?? 90% flour with rice hulls? Or 30% percent flour, 30% shredded/torn and 30% crushed a bit (ignore the other 10 percent I suck at math) I have seen pics..but to my eyes the pics and real crushed grain look different.
You'll know it when you see it. If you're not crossing your fingers as you mix the grains into the tun you haven't crushed it enough. :D

Check out the evaluating your crush page on the wiki. The corona mill example is mine. I get high 80's with that crush on my system (again, everyone's system is different of course).
 
well heres a pic of my setup i copied a few ideas from this thread and I mounted a 2x4 in the bucket to clamp the mill too then cut out the bottom of the bucket and it fits in another bucket to catch the crush i throw a bag over top to keep the flying pieces in.The hopper is small but works good enough for me i can hold drill and pour in more as needed

IMG0052A.jpg
 
All right you guys have me convinced. I'll take a pic tomorrow so you really understand what UGLY is.
 
My pokert has served me really well. I always adjust for each grain separately and I've never been disappointed. I'm also in the hand crank crowd... I have the ground bolt for the drill, but for some odd reason I like grinding all my grain by hand.
 
My pokert has served me really well. I always adjust for each grain separately and I've never been disappointed. I'm also in the hand crank crowd... I have the ground bolt for the drill, but for some odd reason I like grinding all my grain by hand.

You must be doing PM. My batches with average 12-16 # grain bills are just too much to crank out.

I'm curious why adjust for each grain??? I would think that the final size is all that matters and that you would want a very uniform consistency but adjusting for each means each grain is a different size in the grist.
 
You must be doing PM. My batches with average 12-16 # grain bills are just too much to crank out.

I'm curious why adjust for each grain??? I would think that the final size is all that matters and that you would want a very uniform consistency but adjusting for each means each grain is a different size in the grist.

Nope, AG. My last few batches were around 13 pounds each. It surprisingly doesn't take me that much time to crank it out; I clamp the mill to the left of the sink and most of the rogue grains fly right in.

I've found that I have to do an adjustment for most grains to achieve an almost ideal grind. I'll run a half-pound through and then do an adjustment, it only takes me a little extra time. Works like a charm!
 
photo-713666.jpg


photo-736497.jpg


My setup changes a little every time, but the basic is mounted on a saw horse like contraption and then into a box with a bag in it on top of a bucket. I need to take a newer picture but these are from about five brews ago. I need to add a hopper out of something for sure. It sucks putting 30lbs of grain in at 2.5# at a time.

My junk needs some more Uglification or something. WTF...how is uglification a word and yet definitly is spelled wrong! No red underline on it.
 
I promised a pic:

Ugly_Junk_corona.JPG


And for good measure here is my cold smoker. I have a three pound slab of coho in it at the moment.

Cold_Smoker.JPG


And here is a item I have pulled from service in my coffee company. This sucker grinds a pound of coffee down to drip consistency in 40 seconds. The burrs are adjustable so I can loosen up the grind a bit and will have a feasible mill grinder. It will do a pound in less than 15 seconds.

Bunn_Coffee_Grinder_Grain_mill.JPG
 
It's big and old, but it works good and fast too, don't think its a corona though, probably monkey wards?
3289195321_d51d8af849.jpg

Vern:rockin:
 
Hey Dontman -

Here's my experiences with a coffee grinder. I have a commercial coffee grinder that (up until my last brew) was the only "mill" I had ever used for my brewing grains. (Will post a pic here as an edit when I get one - it's similar to yours)

The mill itself is much more aggressive than a standard corona type setup. Even though it is fully adjustable, it does not provide nearly as consistent a grind as does the corona. It shreds the grains as opposed to crush. I found I got more flour, a lot more shredded husks, and a lot more uncracked grains.

I have had a corona gathering dust for years, but never used it, as I had the coffee grinder. I finally motorized the corona and used it for my last batch. My efficiency went from 65% to 72%. The mill was the only change in procedure. Also, I should state that my efficiency had been dead on 65% for years and many batches.

That said: the coffee grinder gets the job done....and QUICK!!! (Another reason why I was loathe to stop using it - with 60 Lbs of grain needed for one batch....) I never had a stuck sparge with it. The other advantage is it's a LOT less messy.

I had thought about grinding down the teeth on the coffee grinder to see if it would improve the results, but now I think I am gonna stick with the Corona as I am very pleased with its performance and the efficiency increase.

Just my experience - YMMV! Cheers!

And BTW, my corona set up is none to purdy either....:mug:
 
I must get a camera. Mine makes yours look store made.
My middle name should be cheap

Oh so you're saying your junk is fuglier than mine????

Bring it ON!!!!!!! :D

I hereby dub this the ugliest milling station thread...

Sadly living here I no longer have a ton of "junk" to cobble stuff together with..I used to have an entire spare bedroom piled hight with "Parts" and that was before I discovered this hobby...I keep thinking about all the stuff I used to accumulate...some if it may have come in handy in brewing...



I got a camera again

3466575152_9790ec12e5.jpg


3465761247_db1753a0c4.jpg



Do I win:)

I got 95% efficiency yesterday with this, so my Mild turned into a Brown
 
Being fairly new, this is the first reading of this thread for me. I have to be honest with you. It's not that ugly and it doesn't look like a piece of junk either. Good job.
 
Function before beauty wins every time with the end results. Later if you wish you can build a cleaner design to make the bling people happy but this does not increase the quality of the end product. hats off to you for sharing.
 
CORONA MILL BUCKET SYSTEM V. 2.0


I decided that my Corona mill station needed some upgrading.
I was looking for clean dust free operation for indoor milling, and a larger hopper calibrated so as to avoid the hassle of weighing out
base grains. My original CORONA MILL BUCKET SYSTEM V. 1.0
can be seen here if you have no need for an oversized hopper,
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-ugly-junk-corona-mill-station-90849/index3.html#post981526


Same mounting as before, except the mill is completely
lowered into the bucket. I upsized the bucket to a 6 gallon
for a bit more capacity. Mount the mill about a 1/4" to 3/8"
below the rim of the bucket, so the lid will be snug at the top
of the mill, and actually be pressing down on the mill opening,
yet still snap firmly on the bucket.. Four 1 1/4" drywall screws
through side of bucket secure the 2 X 4 inside bucket (see photo 4).


HPIM0579.jpg


Drill a 1/4" hole in the bucket lid, centered on the mill opening.
Make about 10 radial cuts w/ a razor knife about an inch long to
accept the hopper. You will need to deform the tabs w/ a pair of
pliers prior to inserting the neck of the bottle. Keep the cuts as small
as possible to retain a nice snug, snap fit of the hopper. Best to use a fairly
heavy duty HDPE lid. This one was from a joint compound bucket, and really
secures the hopper / water bottle.

HPIM0573.jpg


Lid snaps onto bucket to feed mill

HPIM0581.jpg


There ya go, dust free milling, 20 lb hopper

HPIM0572.jpg


Remove the lid and hopper, and dump the grain out the front of the mill bucket, it is a little heavier w/ the mounted mill, but allows indoor milling with zero mess.

edit...you really want to use a heavy duty bucket and lid, NOT a thin cheap homer depot / lowes bucket and lid!!!


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The big question for me is how much grain can you mill before you need to stop and empty the crushed grain? How do you know when the lower bucket area is full?

Linc
 
That's fantastic! Have you weight tested the hopper yet? My only concern would be that it looks like it could tip over pretty easily.


Oh its sturdy, as sturdy as any mill on a bucket (B/C hint). The weight of the Corona mill keeps it firmly planted. The water bottle hopper snaps in fairly aggressively and will only come out w/ a hefty tug. Not saying that some drunk bast-rd couldn't knock the whole thing over and spill a batch of grist. Kind of hard to design around those parameters!!
 
The big question for me is how much grain can you mill before you need to stop and empty the crushed grain? How do you know when the lower bucket area is full?

Linc

Linc,

The bottom bucket is 6 gallons, so I'm not really sure of total capacity. I guess when the lid flies off and crushed grain is all about, the base bucket was overfilled.
 
The big question for me is how much grain can you mill before you need to stop and empty the crushed grain? How do you know when the lower bucket area is full?

Linc

If you're really worried about an issue with capacity, you could cut the bottom of that bucket, and slip it in another one. That bucket should ride higher in the other one, leaving plenty of room for grain.

Like this guy did.

IMG0052A.jpg
 
The big question for me is how much grain can you mill before you need to stop and empty the crushed grain? How do you know when the lower bucket area is full?

Linc

Or if you are really, really worried about capacity, you could cut the bottom of the bucket off and mill into something like this:























1799312198_e326681b8b.jpg


Sorry...couldn't resist.
 
Damn Man!
What are you doing? Milling Rocks!
That looks like a drill my dad had kicking around to core-bore concrete.



Nice Job!:mug:
Cheers
-David
 
If you're really worried about an issue with capacity, you could cut the bottom of that bucket, and slip it in another one. That bucket should ride higher in the other one, leaving plenty of room for grain.

Like this guy did.

IMG0052A.jpg

I got a camera again

3466575152_9790ec12e5.jpg


3465761247_db1753a0c4.jpg



Do I win:)

I got 95% efficiency yesterday with this, so my Mild turned into a Brown



It's hard to see, but I did that also
 
Damn Man!
What are you doing? Milling Rocks!
That looks like a drill my dad had kicking around to core-bore concrete.

Yea Man...that is my dads old drill. Milling rocks? No, not really, but that is one thing I like about the Corona style mills, there so damn sturdy, I swear you could mill a pile of gravel into sand.:rockin:
 
this may have been said revvy, but the old duck sauce bucket makes it particularly awesome.
 
Replaced my cotter pin with an 8/32 1 1/2" bolt and crushed two batches this past weeken... WOW! Tremendous difference in achieving a uniform crush. (Also got 90% efficiency on both batches).

Thanks for the tips gents!
 
Cyberbackpacker,

Good job, yea sometimes the cotter pin is just driven home w/ a big ass hammer in a third world country, and the milling plate is crooked as hell. A nice straight bolt or cotter pin will keep the mill better aligned.

The manufacturing on most of these units is pretty rough, I swear the blacksmith did better work 200 years ago!
 
Cyberbackpacker,

Good job, yea sometimes the cotter pin is just driven home w/ a big ass hammer in a third world country, and the milling plate is crooked as hell. A nice straight bolt or cotter pin will keep the mill better aligned.

The manufacturing on most of these units is pretty rough, I swear the blacksmith did better work 200 years ago!


The blacksmith 200 years ago was a skilled tradesman, these are made CHEAP in a factory where tolerances are never checked( or heard of)
 
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