Monster Mash
Well-Known Member
It was hard to tell with the pics but it sounds like you have it under control. Nice work!!
It was hard to tell with the pics but it sounds like you have it under control. Nice work!!
Hoppopotomus said:Here are a few pics....one with my daughter assisting. What can I say, she's a daddy's girl and is always eager to help out with my brewing.
Wait a minute, you finally brewed? Crap, I had my $5 on the first week of Jan 2013.
With my mill that is motorized in a similar fashion If I start the mill before dumping the grain in it tends to work just fine. But if I pour the grain in first it tends not to work. At that point I just turn the large sheave backwards by hand. Then start the motor it will start milling at that point.
They do indeed make great brewing assistants! Mine love squeezing the trigger on the Dewalt to help grind the grain, and are even now brave enough to help out with some of the hop additions. Great setup, glad to see you we're finally able to take it for its maiden voyage!
Thanks for the compliments.
I went with a 12" pulley on the mill with an 11.85" pitch diameter. I went with a 1 1/2" pulley on the motor with a 1.35" pitch diameter. I ended up using a 60" belt, which makes a distance between the mill shaft and the motor shaft 19.64 inches.
My motor is 1/3 hp at 1725 rpms. This pulley configuration yields and 8:1 ration, to slow the mill speed down to 215 rpms. Works great. Check out THIS document by Mike Dixon on how to motorize a grain mill. It has very specific formulas for calculating all of this stuff. I'm so glad that I came across this because it was extremely helpful during my build. Bear in mind that it's an older document, so the pricing isn't accurate for current rates through Grainger. Hope this helps......let me know if I can be of further assistance. Good luck!
FWIW here's a pic of my mill setup. My motor is sitting on a longer board that's "hinged" at the front where it's held in place with 3 long wood screws and washers that pass through oversized holes and are loosely attached. I'm thinking I could drill through the board just in front of the motor and drill through the bottom of the cabinet. Then I could pass a long bolt from underneath such that it extends a few inches above the board, place a compression spring over the bolt, and then use a washer and nut to apply spring tension. Do you think that'd do the trick? Thanks, Kevin
That's what I was thinking too. I'm sure there will be a few arguments against using it, but for now that's my plan. Thanks man!
I am not sure what the issue was with the wood you lined the inside of the hopper with getting wet, but this might present a minor issue if you ever decide to do Malt Conditioning. Sorry if you have already thought of this or addressed it somewhere else.
Nice work!
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