grain mills

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beerman6

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i have been looking on ebay to buy a manual grain mill.i have seeing two types ,a corona grain mill and one that looks to be a genaric corona grain mill.my question is ,is the chaep genaric one as good as the corona.i plan on using it to make 2 ag batchs a month,will it hold up.
 
I've never had a Corona mill, but from what I've read on this board, they're pretty much junk. I'd look into a roller-type mill like a Crankandstein (which is what I have) or Barley Crusher. Well worth it to spend the extra dough now and get it right the first time.
 
I've never heard anyone report that they were thrilled with a Corona mill. At best, people will say that they're good enough to keep them from spending the extra money on a good mill.

I'd suggest spending the extra money and get a Barley Crusher or a Crankandstein.
 
Corona mills are fine for steeping and partial mash brewing. I got a Porkert knock-off for $20 brand new, and I have never had a problem with it (once I got it adjusted). It doesn't always give the most consistent grind, but some good advice I got was to set it a bit coarse and crush the grains twice. Works perfectly now.

However, if I ever decide to switch to all-grain brewing, I will probably spend the $140 and buy a Barley Crusher just because it is far more efficient. So I think your choice may largely depend on the type of brewing you intend to do. Hope that helps.
 
I brew 2x a week and use my cheap Porkert for all my grinding.I run it with an electric drill and it takes 20-25 mins to grind 20-25 lbs of grain.I had to customise it a bit to attach a drill chuck but it works great.I'm grinding pretty fine these days and doing better than 80% effic.For anyone's general info,go finer with your grind.
Cheers:mug:
 
Bernie Brewer said:
And what you may do in the future. In this hobby you need to think ahead.

Perhaps. But I probably would never have progressed into steeping or partial mashing if I hadn't found a cheap mill, cheap 3 gallon cooler, etc. A lot of this hobby has do to with growth, and often that happens in baby steps, not from far and perfect foresight. I see a lot of guys give advice like "Oh, make sure you are going to get that bigger mash tun, or don't skimp on that aluminum pot and get a big, expensive stainless steel one." I sometimes wonder if those comments originate partially with their personal regrets regarding past purchases, moreso than providing the best advice to someone still exploring the hobby. If spending $40 or $50 gets you to the next level, that's money well worth it in my opinion, especially if 'thinking ahead' and buying the 'good stuff' would cost you 4 or 6 times the money. A lot of guys may not have bothered if the next step cost that much, and that would be a real shame.

Anyways, I am certainly not disagreeing with you, but at the same time, a small purchase like $20 for a Corona mill really can't hurt, especially if it helps you to be a better brewer and enjoy the hobby more.

My two cents.
 
Well, I used a corona mill for my first AG batch and a barley crusher for my second, which I did today. Both batches had 10# of grain.

My arm ached after the corona mill, but the crush was excellent.
The barley crusher ground the grain in 15 minutes but, at the factory gap setting, was too fine. I had gain bits in my wort.

With the Corona, I had some dust and some fairly whole grains, but no grain residual in my wort.

I will adjust the barley crusher to a more coarse grind next time and see how that goes.

All in all, I recommend the barley crusher primarily for the time savings.
 
Well, I used a corona mill for my first AG batch and a barley crusher for my second, which I did today. Both batches had 10# of grain.

My arm ached after the corona mill, but the crush was excellent.
The barley crusher ground the grain in 15 minutes but, at the factory gap setting, was too fine. I had gain bits in my wort.

With the Corona, I had some dust and some fairly whole grains, but no grain residual in my wort.

I will adjust the barley crusher to a more coarse grind next time and see how that goes.

All in all, I recommend the barley crusher primarily for the time savings.

Actually if you have bits of grain in your wort that means either you didn't vorlauf enough or it could be your manifold.
 
Waldo said:
Actually if you have bits of grain in your wort that means either you didn't vorlauf enough or it could be your manifold.

Yep, I'd say the same thing.
I use a porkert which is a corona knockoff and get no particles of grain from my sparge into my kettle.
 
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