My Ugly Junk- Corona Mill Station...

Packman715 said:

note the zip lock bags that is the key and a stool out of camera it holds over 9 lbs of grain.:rockin:

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brewed today did 9.5 lbs of grain in 8 min for the grind.

duhviz,
nice at home always beats anywhere else.

duhviz said:

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My mill set up, done by hand with grains flying all over the place. I prefer this much better than the roller mill grind at the local store.

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I love this set up...It's the "lets set up the mill in three minutes w/ whatever is in reach"...the bricks cantilevered off the end of the serving table....sweet.

I prefer this much better than the roller mill worth repeating in light of all the naysayers

Here is my setup:



The hopper can handle about 8 kilo of malt at a time

I really want to find a rustic kitchen cabinet that I can mount the ugly junk in on the right side and allow it to fill BIAB bages on the left. I would love to find an older distressed ouk grain and put the motor and electronics out of sight. Then on brew day lift the lid, piur in a complete grain bill, turn on the switch and remove a BIAB Bag filed and ready to cook into wort. I was thinking of puttting a two tap tower on top and recessing a drain that would flow to the outside and have the Ugly Junk Corona set up inside. When not being used it could double as a kitchen cabinet for food prep or counter top storage, Sounds doable from my point of view. And I like the rustic mid century barn and farm decor which will fit in perfectly in the long run too,
Wheelchair Bobber

For all the guys/ladies looking for cornona mills that can't get them from ebay or else where try looking for them at Mexican grocery stores I saw one tonight with the kitchen utensils to grind corn it was more expensive but it will hook you up with one.

Do you guys recommend a particular vendor/maker/model of corona mill? There seems to be a lot of variance in pricing

All the mills are pretty much the same build just buy the cheapest and moded it for the application

Hi

Thanks guys for all the goods tips - extra washers, drill bits, cutting into the bucket, assorted contraptions for stopping flying debris..

I just put this baby together today. definitely stage 1. seemed to get a good crush however. On my 3rd all grain, still in the equipment accumulation phase.

I am living in china, so I bought this mill from the chinese site called oktoberfest.taobao.com

cost about 20 dollars including local shipping

You can (just about) work this site using Google translate through Chrome. not sure if they'll ship international though.

The mill had a pretty rough finishing, a bit of rust inside, also some sort of oil/grease on the roller/spindle thing inside (the hopper?). Has anyone else seen this? I tried to clean it off as best i could. Then let it dry out in the sun, and cover it with plenty of practice flour...
I assume since its a food product it is normal but who knows in this country..?!

Crush looks good. Make sure you have zero uncrushed grains though. Mine is a bit finer than that, personally.

I rigged mine up in an old 7 gallon bucket and cut the bucket lid so the hopper sticks out about an inch. Powered by a drill. It works great and it cost me $25, just hit 73% on my last batch (2nd all grain batch) and I'm very happy with that. I dont get the arguement that the corona takes long to crush, I did 12# (which I realize isn't a huge grain bill) in about 4-5 minutes.

Thanks to everyone who promotes these mills on the forums, they do a fine job!

It only takes a long time if you hand crank it which I do. Still then it takes me and my wife about 20-30 mins to do a grain bill between 15-20 pounds and I enjoy the time with the wife so it's win win for me.

Finally got mine from Discount Tommy. Had a few buckets lying around and read this thread so it was a slam bamm.. Thanks for the tips!

If you have an extra bucket lid you should throw it on top these mills kick up a lot of dust

JoeyChopps said:

If you have an extra bucket lid you should throw it on top these mills kick up a lot of dust

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Good idea Joey I have an extra lid thx

Your two bucket system is kinda the opposite of most here, but whatever works. The idea behind the other setups (with empty bucket on bottom, mill bucket on top) is that the bottom bucket represents a completely full bucket of grain when done, and if the mill bucket can be elevated, there's less chance that it get's "swallowed" up by grain as levels rise. In fact, I need to put blocks on my top bucket to elevate it some as milling 20+lbs. of grain DOES reach the bottom of the mill near the end.

tre9er said:

Your two bucket system is kinda the opposite of most here, but whatever works. The idea behind the other setups (with empty bucket on bottom, mill bucket on top) is that the bottom bucket represents a completely full bucket of grain when done, and if the mill bucket can be elevated, there's less chance that it get's "swallowed" up by grain as levels rise. In fact, I need to put blocks on my top bucket to elevate it some as milling 20+lbs. of grain DOES reach the bottom of the mill near the end.

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Great point. I'll keep that in mind. I do mostly 1-3 gallon batches but I was thinking of switching to a bigger 6.5 gallon bucket just so it could hold more grain for the larger batches but now I see that I could just buy the bigger bucket to put under it and cut the bottom out of the first one.

JoeyChopps said:

It only takes a long time if you hand crank it which I do. Still then it takes me and my wife about 20-30 mins to do a grain bill between 15-20 pounds and I enjoy the time with the wife so it's win win for me.

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Wow. I wish that's how it was for me and my wife. My time of crushing a grain bill goes like this( all quotes are from my wife): crank, crank, crank " I don't know why you choose to do that by hand." Crank, crank, crank " wouldn't it just be easier to have the guy at the homebrew shop do it?" Crank, crank, crank " that seems like such a waste of time." Crank, crank, crank " I don't know why you don't just let the guy do it" crank, crank, done. " see, don't you wish you would've had the guy do it?"

That's funny my wife usually grabs a beer and we sit and grind and take time in between loads to bs. She's the best

WesleyS said:

Wow. I wish that's how it was for me and my wife. My time of crushing a grain bill goes like this( all quotes are from my wife): crank, crank, crank " I don't know why you choose to do that by hand." Crank, crank, crank " wouldn't it just be easier to have the guy at the homebrew shop do it?" Crank, crank, crank " that seems like such a waste of time." Crank, crank, crank " I don't know why you don't just let the guy do it" crank, crank, done. " see, don't you wish you would've had the guy do it?"

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Too funny! She could also recommend getting a drill...

MMJfan said:

Too funny! She could also recommend getting a drill...

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She would never recommend anything that costs more money. She doesn't drink beer so she thinks the whole thing is a big waste of time and money. But, she knows I enjoy it so she doesn't really complain.

WesleyS said:

She would never recommend anything that costs more money. She doesn't drink beer so she thinks the whole thing is a big waste of time and money. But, she knows I enjoy it so she doesn't really complain.

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At least you have that! My wife isn't a big beer drinker, but she has drank more of my homebrews than any of the craft beers I ever buy. She doesn't really help me during my brew process, but she is usually there to bs with me like JoeyChopps wife...

tre9er said:

Your two bucket system is kinda the opposite of most here, but whatever works.

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don't feel bad so is mine and I coined the system...my question to the guys that have a mill mounted in an open bottemed bucket is, "Where do you put the open bottomed bucket without dumping the remaing grain dust on the floor?"

granted if you are outside it does not matter...that's why I like the one bucket...one stop shopping so to say...

^ into a 3rd bucket?

Here's mine made tonight. It's pretty standard, I think. I haven't used the mill yet so there will be plenty of tweaks for crush. I also "need" a bigger hopper and a "drill bit," though I have an AC drill my father gave me / let me borrow indefinitely.

The best part about this thing... no serious measuring. Measure once, cut twice. I even used my sawzall to cut the board. The holes in the top bucket and lid were cut with a dremel and a metal cut-off wheel (best option I had). I'll probably need to find a way to seal the board holes or deal with a bit of escaped grain.

wilserbrewer said:

don't feel bad so is mine and I coined the system...my question to the guys that have a mill mounted in an open bottemed bucket is, "Where do you put the open bottomed bucket without dumping the remaing grain dust on the floor?"

granted if you are outside it does not matter...that's why I like the one bucket...one stop shopping so to say...

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what's a tiny bit of dust? I give it a shake before completely removing it from the bottom bucket. The dust is minimal. I can't imagine pouring grain into my mash tun from a bucket with a mill mounted in it.

tre9er said:

what's a tiny bit of dust? I give it a shake before completely removing it from the bottom bucket. The dust is minimal. I can't imagine pouring grain into my mash tun from a bucket with a mill mounted in it.

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I used it this weekend for a 5 gallon batch. I don't think I will change anything. It held 14 lbs of grain just fine. The top bucket is really only there to prevent grains from flying around and that worked great. If I was going to about 16 lbs, I would have had to dump it once. But since I dumped my grain into another small bucket for my brew, it was no big deal to have the mill mounted. Just hold on to the mill and dump. Worked great. Thanks for all the tips and now I can mill my own grain!

One thing I noticed is the plate that crushes the grain is quite a bit off centered causing it to wobble pretty bad. It still worked great and I ended up with 77% efficiency this weekends brew. Is there any mod to help make this run any smoother?

Remove the cotter pin and try a screw or something else in there. Or a larger cotter pit. First try to rotate the cotter pin in the hole, it might seat it right.

You could also go seriously had core and jb weld it to the driver screw but you have to be careful because if you don't have it perfect before it dries, you're hosed.

I show that here.

divrguy said:

One thing I noticed is the plate that crushes the grain is quite a bit off centered causing it to wobble pretty bad. It still worked great and I ended up with 77% efficiency this weekends brew. Is there any mod to help make this run any smoother?

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Many opinions on this...I used JB weld to eliminate the wobble, but had to do it twice as the fisrt try was bad! Now I think that wobble or letting the mill plate float might not be a bad thing. You could try a new straight cotter pin...or open up the holes a little bit so the mill plate has a nice range of motion and not wobbling. If the mill plate is free to move the grain will likely center it.

At the end of the day, it's all in the crush...just check that you have NO whole pieces.

I have more flour on one side than the other, but it evens out so I don't mess with the unevenness. 80% every time, so...

Ugly junk pic to come...


1st go round with my mill today, think it went well until...

Bad luck #1 drill battery died after 1#

Bad luck #2 hydrometer broke

Bad luck #3 water heater took a #2 during boil and filled my basement with water

With said bad luck streak complete I digressed into a handful of homebrews

Revvy said:

Remove the cotter pin and try a screw or something else in there. Or a larger cotter pit. First try to rotate the cotter pin in the hole, it might seat it right.

You could also go seriously had core and jb weld it to the driver screw but you have to be careful because if you don't have it perfect before it dries, you're hosed.

I show that here.

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wilserbrewer said:

Many opinions on this...I used JB weld to eliminate the wobble, but had to do it twice as the fisrt try was bad! Now I think that wobble or letting the mill plate float might not be a bad thing. You could try a new straight cotter pin...or open up the holes a little bit so the mill plate has a nice range of motion and not wobbling. If the mill plate is free to move the grain will likely center it.

At the end of the day, it's all in the crush...just check that you have NO whole pieces.

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Revvy and Wilser, thanks for the replies. I will try the cotter pin or screw first. That makes sense. I guess you're right Wilser, when it really comes down to it, repeatability is the key and making sure the grain is crushed. 77% is pretty good first go at it and it will only get a little better as i tweak it a bit. I do know that it sure was worth the money i spent on it!

divrguy said:

I do know that it sure was worth the money i spent on it!

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Worth the 12 bucks...oh and about another 12 for shipping, more or less. The fact that these heavy cast iron junks "ship free" just tickles me! As we all know, nothing is really free!

The plates on my mill station are not completely flat. I'm getting VERY uneven crushes (1/3 flour, 1/3 perfect, and 1/3 uncrushed). Soooo... I'm going to try using a torch to heat up the cast iron and hopefully bend it straight. Never done anything like this, but hopefully I won't ruin it.

Anyone have this problem too?

Cast iron is CAST...trying to heat it and bend it is a bad idea IMHO! Try to fiddle it so the grinding plate is "looser" and will follow the stationary plate. Or simply tighten the mill to you have no uncrushed.

I got my mill about a week ago and it was pretty far off. I started by changing the cotterpin with an 8/32 bolt. That helped but it was still off so I decided to file the auger end til it fit the plate better. The casting was the problem so once it was straight the plate fit alot better. I'd say 40-50 file strokes. I also used a two paper gasket made from gasket stock to help keep the pate and the auger tight to the 8/32 bolt. i put one between the auger and the plate and one between the plate and the collar with the cotterpin in it. It only took about 30 minutes and the thing was perfect. I did have to add the washers between the carriage bolts on both sides.

Here's my ugly junk totem pole...

wilserbrewer said:

Cast iron is CAST...trying to heat it and bend it is a bad idea IMHO! Try to fiddle it so the grinding plate is "looser" and will follow the stationary plate. Or simply tighten the mill to you have no uncrushed.

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??

Isn't cast just another way of saying that it is molded?

I'm worried that if I tighten it anymore, I'll have more than 50% flour.

I should put a pic up of my ugly, dusty corona mill. I love that thing, but it's fuglier than Paris Hilton on a bender. I get perfect mixture of medium/fine crush with the exception of Carapils. I swear that grain is blended with cement. I still use the hand crank, so I have to give it the ole heave to bust through the initial crank. Everyone needs a good workout.

Haputanlas said:

??

Isn't cast just another way of saying that it is molded?

I'm worried that if I tighten it anymore, I'll have more than 50% flour.

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Cast iron is brittle not malleable. Chances are if you try to make it bend it will just break.

beernut70 said:

Cast iron is brittle not malleable. Chances are if you try to make it bend it will just break.

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Damn, I'll keep tweaking. Thanks.