Efficiency with Corona Mill

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BangorBrewer

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Anybody know what the average efficiency is using a Corona mill on grains? It's definitely a cheaper alternative to the barley crusher, and a gateway to bulk grain purchases. Thanks.
 
Depends on several facotrs (including your equipment). I know Yooper has been experimenting with this a bit recently.

You from Bangor, Maine, home of Julie the Cat Gaffney?
 
I just switched from a corona mill to a barley crusher. My efficiency has pretty much stayed the same. The corona mill crushes a lot slower - that is about the only downside.
 
Julie the Cat is my girl, dawg.

Seriously, I think I'll just get a Corona if the swings in efficiency aren't too severe. I've got a cooler with a SS braid.
 
I have gotten between 70 and 80 percent efficiency using my Corona mill. I generally batch sparge. However, I tend to get higher efficiency on lower gravity brews than higher gravity brews because I generally only sparge until I have about 6.75 gallons of wort for a 5.5 gallon batch. It is certainly possible to get higher efficiency by reducing the gap between the Corona's plates for a finer crush. Since my Corona does shred the husks some, I haven't bothered reducing the gap for fear of a stuck sparge.
 
For what it's worth, I found myself asking this question and others like it a LOT several months ago. What I determined was that for $40 I could get a Victoria Mill which is corona style, crank by hand, and try to get the results I wanted. In the end I said screw it, paid $80 more and bought the Barley crusher, as many here recommended.

Every AG batch I've done using their factory setting, which I confirmed with a gap tool. The crushes are easy and done with drill. Only once I missed my original gravity, and that was mash related. All other batches have averaged 75% to 80% efficiency. I highly recommend it.
 
I consistently got mid to high 80's with my corona-style mill. I think the average is probably somewhere around 75%. The corona mill is a great mill if you take a few minutes and a pound or two of malt to get it dialed in. With a drill modification it takes only a couple/few minutes to process a grist bill.
 
With a drill modification it takes only a couple/few minutes to process a grist bill.

Yeah, I would NOT recommend crushing by hand. I had to do this once when my power went out and it was the longest 20 minutes of my life...

The Barley Crusher seems to crush roughly twice as fast with the same drill speed....I've been enjoying that aspect of it, along with the fact that it's configured to fit snugly over the top of a 5 gallon bucket. I had the Corona Mill attached to my workbench and collected the crushed grain into a large bowl that I had to keep rotating and emptying during the crush. I would lose bits of grain that would fly out. I COULD have rigged something up to make this part of it easier, but I like the fact that the barley crusher is ready to go out of the box.

If you need a hopper for the Corona Mill, I used this with good results:

9" Anti-Splash Funnel with Strainer :: Midwest Supplies Homebrewing and Winemaking Supplies
 
Charlie Papazian get's a steady 87 percent with the Corona that he's been since the 70's...He's happy with it.

He feels he doesn't NEED anything else...like a Barley CHrusher or Malt Mill that people always seem to feel the need to peddle when someone asks about a Corona...Lots of people on here use them...

This is from the Aussie Craftbrewer Site;

Corona mills have gotten a lot of bad press over the years, with claims that they are unsuitable for brewing as the give a very poor crush (i.e. tear the grains rather than squeezing them) leading to flavour and extraction problems. The claims have usually originated from either the manufacturers or owners of the more modern roller mills.

But before roller mills (such as the PhilMill, Valley mill and MaltMill) were available for small-scale brewer, Corona mills were the only ones available. Many brewing books had sections on using and adjusting a Corona type mill. Dave Miller's book from the late 80's had a whole chapter devoted to using and adjusting a Corona mill, and he is often quoted as obtaining extremely high extraction rates from the grain.

There's some info and links here in my thread for tweaking them in my thread. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-ugly-junk-corona-mill-station-90849/

I figure at on average 25-40 bucks for a corona as opposed to the others, means 100 more bucks for other toys or two 50 pound bags of 2-row...


And if it's good enough for Charlie. :D

And although I'm pretty happy with my Corona, I've been following this thread for it's sheer DIY ingenuity.....https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/using-pasta-maker-mill-grain-75784/

Especially if a 20 dollar pasta machine can make a mill that looks, and acts just like one of the more expensive roller mills....

There's many flavors of mills, no one is better than the other, they all have plusses and minuses with them...as you can see with tweaking you can get high efficiencies with a Corona mill, just as high as with the barley crusher or any other mill...They all have the potential to make great beer, or make pond water, depending on the brewer.....

At my friends using his corded drill (rather than my cheap cordless) I burned through 14 pounds of grain with a great crush in about 5 minutes on my little corona...So with a good drill speeds not an issue...I have also ground an entire grain bill buy hand and it really was no big deal either...

You have to ultimately decide...on how much tweaking or how much money you want to spend on it, but if anyone says that one mill is BETTER than the other, they are FOS....
 
I just got a corona "style" mill as a surprise Christmas present..... after I ordered it myself on behalf of my benefactor.

It's a Grizzly mill, bought on Amazon for $25.... I got 80% efficiency on my first use. However, I'm not sure the ratio between crushed grain and uncrushed is that terrific. I think you probably get what you pay for, but $25 is a hell of a debater against $100+ :)
 
I get 74-76% with the corona without trying for more. If I had a spare $150 to drop I'd likely buy a CO2 tank and not a $$$ mill.

If you can get a used Corona locally (ie, $10-$20 and no shipping) then it's hard to say no. Throw in a bolt and an adapter bit and you are ready for the drill...

Is the crush perfect? Probably not. But my sparges flow fine (I do use rice hulls when working with large percentages of wheat) and I have no husk astringency.

 
Oh boy, this debate. Revvy, time to update your sig. ;)

FWIW, I just got a barley crusher for Christmas. I adjusted the gap to .036in and did my first brew with it yesterday. 89% Efficiency.

However, using my LHBS crush(motorized Corona mill), I hit 65%. To be fair, there was alot of wheat malt in that grain bill that prolly should have gone through twice. They claim that their customers get 80% with their crush.

Northern brewer crush, 70%.

I've never had a stuck sparge with the LHBS corona crush, so the husk shredding wasn't a huge factor I guess. I just got my mill so I could control my own crush, and the bucket fitting feature is pretty nice too.
 
Oh boy, this debate. Revvy, time to update your sig. ;)

.

But that's the point of the sig..there really isn't a debate...it's a matter of preference...they all make beer...and in the case of Charlie Papazian, he makes great beer with it...So that pretty much proves that the Corona is not the piece of poop many who haven't tried it (or have and weren't willing to tweak and trick it out) want to casually dismiss it as...

Hell I betcha there are a handfull of people on here who make great beer, and get a great crush with a rolling pin...and they are willing to do it to 12 pounds of grain...
 
If the Corona mill is suitable for Mr. Papazian then it's clearly suitable for me.

He is my everything.
 
If the Corona mill is suitable for Mr. Papazian then it's clearly suitable for me.

He is my everything.

LOL...you just ended up in the memorable quote thread....:mug:

You know, if you end up hating it you will only be out a few bucks, and can always buy anotehr mill, there's also several designs to make your own roller mill if you are inclined. Yuri Rage has a plan, and there are a couple here...

Build Your Own Grain Mill
Gav's Roller Mill

But although I am still dialing mine in...I've made several tasty batches with them...and although I haven't calculated my effeciency yet (I hate math) I have nearly always hit the target OG range of my recipe in beersmith... SO right now that's good enough for me.

:mug:
 
But that's the point of the sig..there really isn't a debate...it's a matter of preference...they all make beer...and in the case of Charlie Papazian, he makes great beer with it...So that pretty much proves that the Corona is not the piece of poop many who haven't tried it (or have and weren't willing to tweak and trick it out) want to casually dismiss it as...

Hell I betcha there are a handfull of people on here who make great beer, and get a great crush with a rolling pin...and they are willing to do it to 12 pounds of grain...

I hear ya. The old "there's more than one way to skin a cat" saying applies to homebrewing more than anything else I can think of. Listening to Jamil one day, he was saying that every year some guy doing an extract batch on his stovetop places in the nationals, probably beating out a guy brewing the same beer with a RIMS system, shiny stainless conicals, and computer controlled mash and fermentation temperature. It's why I love this hobby so much, it rewards those who are innovative.
 
Those things actually get good efficiency and can be rigged with a drill?! Now I'm wishing I had gone that route and put the money toward a PE conical or something to control fermentation temps...

Revvy, I read your thread. That's a neat set-up.
 

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