DavidSteel
Well-Known Member
Looking to order grains in bulk to save money and so they don't go bad in two weeks. Suggested mills to buy, small or large? I'm looking to spend as little as possible :cross: so I wouldn't mind a 2lb mill. Suggestions?
Where is the best place to find a Grain Mill?
- Thread starter DavidSteel
- Start date
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corona mill maybe around $50 you can somtimes find them cheaper.
I have a 15lbs Barley Crusher and I think it's worth every penny. $140
http://www.barleycrusher.com/
I have a 15lbs Barley Crusher and I think it's worth every penny. $140
http://www.barleycrusher.com/
Take a look around the equipment forum - one inexpensive option that you can search for is a Corona mill.
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DavidSteel
Well-Known Member
Thanks, I'll look into it. I really want to get a 7lb one but I'll have to wait and see
Llama
Active Member
I have a crankandstein 2S. It's awesome for $76. You can either buy his hopper or build one yourself, then hook a drill up to the crank and off you go. Great crush, too! Not much more than a corona without all the shredding 
Heres the link:
http://www.crankandstein.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7&products_id=12&zenid=c6a4042b980d33c7f6d1d33d55d0a383
Heres the link:
http://www.crankandstein.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7&products_id=12&zenid=c6a4042b980d33c7f6d1d33d55d0a383
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DavidSteel
Well-Known Member
I have a crankandstein 2S. It's awesome for $76. You can either buy his hopper or build one yourself, then hook a drill up to the crank and off you go. Great crush, too! Not much more than a corona without all the shredding
Heres the link:
http://www.crankandstein.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7&products_id=12&zenid=c6a4042b980d33c7f6d1d33d55d0a383
I'd need a mill before I could buy that lol.
Does anyone know why you can't use a Prago mill?
rico567
Well-Known Member
I got my "Victoria" Corona knockoff (actually, I think all the variants are pretty much the same) from Discount Tommy on eBay for $24 delivered. They're pretty crudely made, and some take a little tweaking, but with with only a little bit of that, mine does a great job of crushing grain.
The following thread started by "Revvy" was of great help to me in getting mine set up:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-ugly-junk-corona-mill-station-90849/
The following thread started by "Revvy" was of great help to me in getting mine set up:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-ugly-junk-corona-mill-station-90849/
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DavidSteel
Well-Known Member
Thanks a lot, I am actually going to look into buying one of these. Been reading through the thread and wondering if there is anything specific that stook out to you? The most valuable post I read so far is the post saying they would adjust it so it would spit out the whole grain and then they'd turn it 1/4th a turn and usually get 80 percent efficiency.
Schnitzengiggle
Well-Known Member
+1 for the Barley Crusher, comes assembled and ready to rock, and it has a fantastic crush with the factory setting. 81% Brewhouse Efficiency on my first AG, and I think the mill had alot to do with it.
Livendadream
Well-Known Member
Search the forum for cheap pasta maker grain mill. I got it for $12.50 + tax. Scuffed up the rollers just like the guys on the thread said to, and it works great. J
If that is truly the criteria, well than the pasta roller can do it cheap!! Michaels craft store sells them for 25 bucks or so but they have 40-50% off coupons every other week. I bought one and fitted it out, they can give a good crush, running through twice seems to help as the rollers are very small. You need to be a bit handy w/ this this cause it is far from plug and play.
My mill of choice is the corona style below, again not plug and play, but will give very good results IMO
http://www.discounttommy.com/Shop/Control/Product/fp/vpid/3433758/vpcsid/0/SFV/32282
Or for open the box and start milling in ten minutes, the barley crusher will work very well
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/index.php?cPath=178_33_82_91&osCsid=f37b6247b8aede284f04c213a7e854d0
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DavidSteel
Well-Known Member
As of right now, I'm going for the corona. I plan on messing around with it and seeing if I can get it to simply split grain without buying anything extra. Any suggestions besides adjust it so it will spit out the whole grain and then turn it 1/4th a turn?
I have the 7lb barleycrusher, and I like it a lot. I brew no more than 5 gal batches, and I don't tend to make any beers over 1.060 OG
It can be run off a drill if I was going to mill a ton of grain. I kinda like the exercise though.
Ksosh
Well-Known Member
From what I've seen on other threads about grain crushing, you want to crush fine enough so you're scared. You shouldn't have any intact grains in your crush.
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DavidSteel
Well-Known Member
Scared? lol. That's the point of the 1/4th turn, so it only cracks the grain and doesn't pulverize it.
Ksosh
Well-Known Member
I don't make the rules, I just parrot them on internet forums with no citations to support my statements
However, I'll make an exception in this case:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/corona-mill-users-evaluate-my-crush-please-133814/#post1507113
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/grain-crush-38416/#post376374
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/grain-crush-99590/#post1091684
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/picked-up-10-points-double-crush-114240/#post1261415
Ksosh
Well-Known Member
+1. I got a 'grizzly' (Corona knockoff) for about $20 shipped, and after 'fixing' it using Revvy's thread, and adding a cut out 3 gallon water jug to the tiny feeder, I can now crush about 5 pounds of grain at a time without reloading, and it'll run off my corded drill. Currently around 70-75% efficiency, but I need to crush a little finer I think.
Just be certain you are ready to tweak. I got one of the "Discount Tommy" Corona-style mills, and the quality control on those is non-existant. I spent probably 8 hours total trying to get the plates relatively parallel. I'm finally good enough on it.
Some work almost as is, some (like mine) require alot of filing, trips to the hardware store, drilling, tweaking, etc. The point is that, compared to a Barley Crusher, you are trading time for money. Barley works out of the box, the other requires an amount of time to get it going that can't be predicted.
BTW, if you do decide on a Corona mill, use google to look for "corn mill". Others have used one called the Grizzly mill, which costs about the same as the ebay (Discount Tommy one), but looks to me like a little better casting. I think Amazon has one or more sellers of these things as well. Garage sales are another place to look.
And I would forget about the 1/4 turn rule. You may wind up hitting the plates together if 1/4 turn goes in too far on the one you buy. One person broke his using a drill, assumedly because the plates locked up while spinning.
There are no less than 6 different mfg. of these things in China, so the castings will vary alot in quality, and you take your chances. I got mine working great now, motorized it cruises through grain and doesn't fly it all over as I assembled into a bucket with a protected lid. Just be aware it isn't plug and play...
Rich
Some work almost as is, some (like mine) require alot of filing, trips to the hardware store, drilling, tweaking, etc. The point is that, compared to a Barley Crusher, you are trading time for money. Barley works out of the box, the other requires an amount of time to get it going that can't be predicted.
BTW, if you do decide on a Corona mill, use google to look for "corn mill". Others have used one called the Grizzly mill, which costs about the same as the ebay (Discount Tommy one), but looks to me like a little better casting. I think Amazon has one or more sellers of these things as well. Garage sales are another place to look.
And I would forget about the 1/4 turn rule. You may wind up hitting the plates together if 1/4 turn goes in too far on the one you buy. One person broke his using a drill, assumedly because the plates locked up while spinning.
There are no less than 6 different mfg. of these things in China, so the castings will vary alot in quality, and you take your chances. I got mine working great now, motorized it cruises through grain and doesn't fly it all over as I assembled into a bucket with a protected lid. Just be aware it isn't plug and play...
Rich
