Corona Mill or Pasta Maker Mill

Have read the seemingly endless threads (ugly corona mill and Using a pasta maker to mill grain) and trying to decide which way to go. I think I’m leaning toward the Corona at this point. Does anyone have experience with both and which do you prefer and why? Also, other than on-line, where can you buy the Coronas? I know the pasta makers can be had at the hobby shop type stores, but most of the Corona references I’ve seen have been on-line. Would like to actually see it before buying. Thanks!

Edit: will be doing BIAB so stuck sparge from fine crush not an issue

I have a pasta maker and I couldn't get grain to feed through it with the slick rollers but my cheap Corona style knock-off works great.

corona mill

Corona mill don't waste your money on a pasta roller I got my corona mill knock off at grizzly.com.I think it was 25 dollars or so.

abrew2u said:

Corona mill don't waste your money on a pasta roller I got my corona mill knock off at grizzly.com.I think it was 25 dollars or so.

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Just got one of these grizzly mills yesterday for $29.99 shipped on amazon.

Grizzly! (Corona-like).

Thanks for the replies. Lots of love for the Grizzly. Will check that out.

CORONA MILL, I have used both, and both will work...but the corona will outshine a pasta roller...oh and FWIW, I think a corona is a grizzly is a corona...all the same chinese junk...but the junk works

Corona would be a lot better than a pasta roller.

Corona

btw after some playing around i can squeeze 80-82% efficiency out of my corona mill

I have a corona type mill that I bought on eBay. It was a p.o.s. until I reworked it. It had too much play on the adjustable end.

I just got this one.

http://www.wayfair.com/Weston-Cereal-and-Multi-Grain-Mill-36-3601-W-WEN1065.html

It looks exactly like the picture. I crushed a small amount of grain last night and it seems to work well.

It looks like Walmart has the same one.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Prago-Cereal-and-Multi-Grain-Mill/14223932?adid=bzv_fb_revshr_001

In fact on the back of the owners manual on the Weston one, it has a "Pragotrade" logo. The good thing about the one from Walmart is that you can do ship to store and pay no shipping.

cincydave said:

Have read the seemingly endless threads (ugly corona mill and Using a pasta maker to mill grain) and trying to decide which way to go. I think I’m leaning toward the Corona at this point. Does anyone have experience with both and which do you prefer and why? Also, other than on-line, where can you buy the Coronas? I know the pasta makers can be had at the hobby shop type stores, but most of the Corona references I’ve seen have been on-line. Would like to actually see it before buying. Thanks!

Edit: will be doing BIAB so stuck sparge from fine crush not an issue

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I read a bunch of threads on the merits of the corona mills and feel like they may provide a good alternative to the more expensive crushers and systems on the market. I have read that consistency and hull tearing are two big complaints but once properly set up these issues resolve themselves. So I think an empirical approach to setting the mill up will yeild benefits quickly. Before we had all the new fangled techno stuff how did they do it then. If it was good enough then it should still be good enough today. I am trying to return to old skool brewing at home and don't mind a few extra minutes or an extra step or two to eliminate electricity or modern machinery. So my Corona is on the way and I can hardly wait to use it and design the overall system and enclosure. Thats a good part of the hobby, tinkering to produce needed equipment or results. Have fun, I know I am so far!!!!
Wheelchair Bob

Stan, Like the looks of the one you got. Larger hopper and a cover over the grinding wheels to keep the grain from flying out the top. And yeah, looks like the walmart ship to store would save the shipping costs. Have you tried powering yours with a drill? Looks like the pin thing that goes through the handle has some kind of loop on it and wasn't sure if that would attach to a drill. How long would you estimate it would take to crush 10 pounds of grain by hand?

I bought the corona mill and did some tweaking based on reading this forum. After working to get the grinding surfaces to run parallel the thing works great. I don't think I've ever bought anything that I didn't modify to my own needs.
Grain won't feed through the pasta mill without roughing the roller surfaces.Don't fear the ugly mill!

StanJohnson said:

It looks like Walmart has the same one.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Prago-Cereal-and-Multi-Grain-Mill/14223932?adid=bzv_fb_revshr_001

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Wow that is a great deal.

Sorry to change the swing of this thread, but if you can afford it I would go with a monster mill. It is far superior. Uh oh the corona mill folks are gonna be upset with me...

Thought about a barley crusher, but with the $100 I'd save with a corona, I could get 2 sacks of grain. And people seem to have good success with the corona.

Corona mill with a home depot bucket, and a bolt to hook a drill to instead of a handle works. I did a 12 lbs grain bill earlier today in less than 10 minutes and with conditioned malt it comes out great.

You can spend all the money in the world on a monster mill, and I'm sure they are great. I have $30 bucks onto my mill set up which saves money for a whole bunch of grain or other brewing equiptment.

I say pasta roller. I just picked one up from michaels for 16 bucks. You do have to rough up the rollers. I used a drill and ran it backwards. Did a great job and i can run 25# of grain in about 10 minutes. Try that with a corona mill. You'll have forearms like Popeye. You hadbetter better eat you spinache.

LarMoeCur said:

I say pasta roller. I just picked one up from michaels for 16 bucks. You do have to rough up the rollers. I used a drill and ran it backwards. Did a great job and i can run 25# of grain in about 10 minutes. Try that with a corona mill. You'll have forearms like Popeye. You hadbetter better eat you spinache.

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I can run 25lb through my Corona in under 5 min....people actually still use the crank?

Euphist said:

I can run 25lb through my Corona in under 5 min....people actually still use the crank?

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Sure, but I already had Popeye arms.

Euphist said:

I can run 25lb through my Corona in under 5 min....people actually still use the crank?

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Dang you must be really cranking on that thing! That's moving some grain for sure. With my drill on max blast it could do 5 minutes but the crush looks suspect to me. So, I slow it down a bit just to make sure I get the crush I want.

I got a corona style for Xmas. The one I tagged was $19. I was told the shipping on that one was too much so I would guess that it was about the same.

Added two washers, found a bolt to use to attach a drill, drilled a hole in my work bench, cut a water bottle to catch the grain, made a shield, used a plastic coffee can to extend the hopper.

Total expenditure = a few cents. Around 75 pounds of grain milled so far. Average efficiency about 70 to 80%. The worst was BIAB and ending up with less loss to grain absorption than expected?, maybe!

For the savings I probably have 3-4 brews!

If this gives out I will be looking at a Monster Mill or the one at Rebel Brewers.

LarMoeCur said:

Dang you must be really cranking on that thing! That's moving some grain for sure. With my drill on max blast it could do 5 minutes but the crush looks suspect to me. So, I slow it down a bit just to make sure I get the crush I want.

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I run the drill wide open. I BIAB, so stuck sparge is not an issue. According to Brewsmith, my Mash Efficiency is running 83-85 percent.

cincydave said:

Stan, Like the looks of the one you got. Larger hopper and a cover over the grinding wheels to keep the grain from flying out the top. And yeah, looks like the walmart ship to store would save the shipping costs. Have you tried powering yours with a drill? Looks like the pin thing that goes through the handle has some kind of loop on it and wasn't sure if that would attach to a drill. How long would you estimate it would take to crush 10 pounds of grain by hand?

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I don't know. I plan on doing a 2 gallon BIAB next weekend. The grain bill is only 5.5 lbs. I'll let ya know how long it takes. It has 5 different grains, so sorting and weighing the grains will probably take longer than the crush. It's the Bee Cave Robust Porter that I've scaled down to 2.2 gallons. I went to a friends house today and we did the whole 5.5 gallon batch. We did a regular mash, not a BIAB.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f126/bee-cave-brewery-robust-porter-56768/

cincydave said:

Thought about a barley crusher, but with the $100 I'd save with a corona, I could get 2 sacks of grain. And people seem to have good success with the corona.

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I can get three bags of grain for that :grin:

I can get three bags of grain for that :grin:

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I'm jealous. Best I can find locally is in the $42 to $46 range for 2 row- plus tax. No group buys in my area that I'm aware of.

Yeah, group buys are the way to go. Gallon of StarSan for $30 is nice, too.

I've got a modified Pasta, and it works okay. When it breaks I'll very gladly move up to a commercial mill. But until then the pasta will do. My biggest complaint is the hopper. I bolted a 2 gallon plastic mop bucket and it's not an ideal setup. Not the mill's fault, though. Go with whatever is cheapest and easiest, I'd say. Kyle

Corona Mill hands down. I was using a pasta machine to mill and it would take about 40min with a drill to get through 10lb of grain. Used the corona for the first time this weekend and did a 10lb bill by hand in 10min.

Just picked up my Walmart Corona mill today (free ship to store). Washed in hot soapy water and dried in the oven. This thing is a lot more substantial than I was expecting. Went with this one due to larger hopper and cover over grinding plates.

LHBS closed on Mondays, so couldn't get barley to try it out. Did run a little rice through it. Have a feeling this will be 30 bucks well spent. Yes, maybe not as good as a dedicated roller grain mill, but for a once a month brewer (BIAB) should work just fine.

cincydave said:

Just picked up my Walmart Corona mill today (free ship to store). Washed in hot soapy water and dried in the oven. This thing is a lot more substantial than I was expecting. Went with this one due to larger hopper and cover over grinding plates.

LHBS closed on Mondays, so couldn't get barley to try it out. Did run a little rice through it. Have a feeling this will be 30 bucks well spent. Yes, maybe not as good as a dedicated roller grain mill, but for a once a month brewer (BIAB) should work just fine.

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I got the same one, a Weston/Prago, only not from Walmart. The hopper is nice, though I had to put some tape around where it mates to the mill to seal it because of the slight gap. The cover over the grinding plates is great. I had a real easy time adjusting the plates to get the correct grind. I only had a 5.5 lb grain bill, so I ground by hand. I also do BIAB. I did my first brew a couple of weekends ago and my mash efficiency was over 80%.
I think you'll be happy with it.

Hey Stan,

Got some grain and tried it out tonight. Went through a couple pounds of specialty grains fairly quickly. Then looked at the 10 pounds of 2 row and started looking for a bolt to put in the drive shaft to use the drill.

Didn't have anything that fit, so until I find something, will use the handle. Not too bad. Can certainly use the excercise. Love the crush and so easy to adjust on the fly. So much better than the LHBS crush. Love this thing already

Somewhere on the "ugly junk corona mill thread", I think someone posted that it's a 13mm bolt.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-ugly-junk-corona-mill-station-90849/

cincydave said:

Love the crush and so easy to adjust on the fly.

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While this may be true, I would suggest tightening down the adjustment w/ a pair of pliers so as not to have any inadvertant adjustments mid crush. Once your satisfied, tighten it good so it won't loosen.

Sounds like i need to get me a Prago mill.

Edit: I just bought the mill online from Walmart like the poster mentions above. I cant thank you enough for the input and Happy brewing to ya mate.

My first brew with this grain mill, Stone's Sublimely Self Righteous Clone. Its been put off for too damn long!

Thanks again, its gonna ship to store and I ll be ready to brew by months end.-

I've only done two all grain (BIAB) batches. My efficiency went from 65% to 70% with the coroana ground batch. Hoping to bump it up even more.

CastleBlack: Glad to hear you ordered a Prago mill. I think you'll be happy with it.

cincydave: Do ya squeeze the $h!t out of your bag? I think that, plus I do a sparge step with mine, helps with my efficiency. You can see a pic of my 3 gallon mash tun in my gallery.