Paper Shredder Mill

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Apr 23, 2009
Messages
37,027
Reaction score
17,746
Location
☀️ Clearwater, FL ☀️
This was attempted a year ago, but I thought the idea had merit and I gave it a try myself. I don't know what kind of shredder was used in the last attempt, but I had outstanding results.

I have a motorized MaltMill, so this was just a fun Sunday morning experiment.

A few notes:

  • 1st pass did a fair job, but there were still some (not many really) whole kernals, so I sent it through again.
  • Motor had no problem whatsoever with grain. Seemed like easy work for it.
  • Thin paper slot was about 1.5 grains wide, so feeding into it is a bit of a chore. I rigged a quick chute out of a paper weight and some electrical tape. It chews up the grain pretty fast. A custom hopper would make this a breeze.
  • I had to put a piece of opaque tape over the paper sensor (infrared LED) to keep the motor running.
  • DANGER! Don't kill yourself here.

Shredder...
Shredder.JPG


Shredder, with field expedient hopper installed...


The working end...
Shredder_Teeth.JPG


Before...
Grain_Before_Shredding.JPG


After 1 pass...
Grain_After_1_Pass_in_Shredder.JPG


After 2nd pass (click for closeup)...


Another (click for giant)...
 
Last edited:
It's difficult to view grist in a bowl or in a pile. It would be much better to spread it out on something with a black background in a single layer. It looks much better than I would have expected and it may be better than it appears piled up in the bowl.
 
That's much better. The grist looks pretty good. Many of the kernels are severed rather than crushed and there seem to be a lot of large chunks of starch, but I don't think either will be significantly detrimental. Next step would be to actually brew some beer with it ans see what happens. Someone is bound to get hysterical about the potential for contaminating the malt with toxins left behind by the shredded documents. Want to bet?
 
Ok, here you go Catt22, here is the "hysterical" comment, the paper shredder blades have oil on them to help them stay sharp/cut "paper". If someone could figure a way to clean the blades of this oil used and use something like cooking oil to do the same trick it would be a good "oh crap my mill went out, what do I use" option.
 
Ok, here you go Catt22, here is the "hysterical" comment, the paper shredder blades have oil on them to help them stay sharp/cut "paper". If someone could figure a way to clean the blades of this oil used and use something like cooking oil to do the same trick it would be a good "oh crap my mill went out, what do I use" option.

There is no noticeable oil on my shredders. I'd definitely file this under hysterical.
 
There is no noticeable oil on my shredders. I'd definitely file this under hysterical.

Thats cause you don't take proper care of your shredder! :p

But seriously, the shredders at work get a line of oil on a page about every 100 sheets or so.
 
I wonder how much abuse the shredder can take. A moderate 5g grain bill could burn up that motor, continuously shredding. Plus there's the oil thing. You've already taken it this far, though, you may as well see what it's capable of.
 
I wonder how much abuse the shredder can take. A moderate 5g grain bill could burn up that motor, continuously shredding. Plus there's the oil thing. You've already taken it this far, though, you may as well see what it's capable of.

+1, my paper shredder has a thermal cutout that shuts it down when the motor overheats. I would guess that every couple min of continuous operation this thing is going to just stop and you will have to wait almost that long for it to cool off. Although I would like to see you confirm or disprove my hypothesis.
 
Anyone who wants to further this experiment is welcome to it. I have a great mill and I'm probably not going any further with it.

Edit:
OK, that's a lie. If I brew this wkend I'll grind with my paper shredder. I guess I'm easy that way.

So, I'm guessing the "beer namers" will get involved about now.
 
Anyone who wants to further this experiment is welcome to it. I have a great mill and I'm probably not going any further with it.

Edit:
OK, that's a lie. If I brew this wkend I'll grind with my paper shredder. I guess I'm easy that way.

So, I'm guessing the "beer namers" will get involved about now.

as in "paper wheat" :D
 
Different appliances? I always use an old Waring blender to "crush" my grains. I get about 75% efficiency, no tannins. The blender was bought second hand and is decades old. It takes about 15 minutes to grind 11lbs of grain. I started on the lower speeds and pulsing it in accordance with a process read on another forum. Each batch I'm a bit more confident in the blender, and I've upped the speed. Basically I watch it until I don't see anymore whole kernels. I have done about 20 batches this way, shared them all with friends, family, other homebrewers. While some batches have not been successful, it has always been another identifiable problem: fermented too high, infection, tea ball hops didn't steep. I have submitted 4 brews to BJCP events, scoring between 25 and 37 ("Good" to "Very Good"). I'm not suggesting that everyone scrap their mills, or go out and buy new blenders. But even new, most are cheaper than anything but a Corona Mill. I got mine secondhand cheap. Flame away if you wish. I'll just keep making beer, and learning more about yeast and water and things which will really affect the outcome.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top