My DIY Grainmill

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michaelm

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Joined
Mar 23, 2009
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Location
Franklin,Ohio
Personaly I am not a big fan of multi roller malt mills.... seems they are hard to get setup "just right" and if you need to change your gap well.... everything needs to be cleared out, gap set, add grain and hope its where you want it...(ok ok I know thats a bit overdramatic lol) when I first started brewing I lived in southern ohio not to terribly far from listermanns(home of the phil mill and a bunch of other "phil" products) and I grew to love the simplicity of the Phil Mill's adjust on the fly abilities along with what I have always felt as a superiour crush compared to multi roller mills... then I moved a bit north and had to stop brewing for a spell... Now I am back into brewing but unfortunatly Listermanns is just to far of a drive and well the phil mill hasnt been made since like 2008/2009... so I setout to make a single roller mill similiar to the phill mill just bigger(ok alot bigger)

basics
Roller
2"diameter X 4.5" long
Crushplate is made from 1/8 steel plate
Frame is 1/4" thick 4x5" steel tubing
bosses are welded on 1/4 inch plate
and bushings and such is bearing bronze

and a few pics of the build!!

Roller Stock
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rough cut to length
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Rough Frame and Roller
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Roller ends faced and small recess machined for the face of the bushings
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Bronze bushing being turned and then parted from the bronze stock
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bosses welded to the box to add alittle more support for the bushings(I KNOW I suck at welding LOL they are ugly as sin but its a strong weld :) )
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welds cleaned up a bit
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holes bored for bushings and shafts
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then there was the general facing, drilling and threading for the shafts and knurling of the roller... shaping and cutting the crushplate.. and all the other odds and ends of drilling holes tapping for screws etc etc... honestly I kinda got into a groove and forgot to take pics of most of it :) but this is what I ended up with

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and the most important part... the crush :)
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as you can see almost completly intact hulls and the grain itself is seperated from the hulls and pulverized with very little flour... and this thing is a beast.... the one complaint anyone really ever had about the original phil mill is it was slower then the multirollers...... this bigger single roller mill is fast....and I mean FAST :) next time I brew I will make a video of the grain crushing to show how fast it is :)
 
That's pretty awesome and I'm glad to see there's someone that's a worse welder than me ;)

Seriously though, nice job. That looks like it will last a lifetime and your crush looks great too.
 
Great innovation, but this picture made my sides hurt from laughing.
But it doesn't take much after a few beers. :drunk:


20130207_210049_zps2bcd4472.jpg
 
Great innovation, but this picture made my sides hurt from laughing.
But it doesn't take much after a few beers. :drunk:


20130207_210049_zps2bcd4472.jpg

LOL I promise I didnt file through the bar....(it took long enough with a chop saw...) I always have a few files laying around and about.... and the box labled tools is an old file box I used to use when I was a bench tech for a electronics company :) its full of half used sand papers and emery cloth now :)
 
Hmm, I have been thinking about making a mill myself but never thought of a single roller. I guess that's cause I have never seen one! It really crushes the grain enough for a good efficiency? I may have to think seriously about going this route instead of the tripple roller I was going to build. I'm glad you used 2" hot roll, I'm going to use 2" myself but both I and the supplier are out of 2" hot roll. So I guess i will use CR instead.
 
Great job! You've inspired me... I've been thinking about doing this exact project.
 
really nice. looks like a perfect crush, too. too bad i suck at that kinda stuff. my jsp mill works great, but might be going out of round soon. i bet yours will never do that
 
How does the roller assemble into the frame? Are the axles screwed in after the roller is in position?
Looks good!
 
Hmm, I have been thinking about making a mill myself but never thought of a single roller. I guess that's cause I have never seen one! It really crushes the grain enough for a good efficiency? I may have to think seriously about going this route instead of the tripple roller I was going to build. I'm glad you used 2" hot roll, I'm going to use 2" myself but both I and the supplier are out of 2" hot roll. So I guess i will use CR instead.

Imho the crush is as good if not better then multi roller setups.. its also super easy to adjust.. you just tweak the crushplate with the thumbscrew to adjust.. dont even have to stop the mill...

Great job! You've inspired me... I've been thinking about doing this exact project.

I always loved the original phil mill so when I couldn't even find a used one I just decided to make it bigger

How does the roller assemble into the frame? Are the axles screwed in after the roller is in position?
Looks good!

Yup the shafts are 1/2 tool steel threaded 1/2 x 20 (well the drive shaft is. .. I got lazy and used a grade 8 1/2 x 20 bolt for the other shaft... a hardened grade 8 bolt is plenty tough enough for the job) the roller ends was trued in the lathe then bored and tapped then the shafts where made on the lathe then I threaded the shafts to the roller chucked it back into the lathe and trued the face of the roller to the shafts then knurled the roller..

The crush plate is not flat.. its curved to fit the face of the roller giving a longer crush area as well... will take a pic of the bottom and post it.. it shows the curved crushplate and simple gap adjust better
 
LOL I promise I didnt file through the bar ... the box labled tools is an old file box I used to use when I was a bench tech for a electronics company ...
Yeah. It was the box labled tools that made me laugh. Although on a forum where people pride themselves in their "ugly junk" it fits right in.

BYW, crush looks good! I'm not a fan of the flour that some people go for. Break all the husks and you're good to go.
 
Yeah. It was the box labled tools that made me laugh. Although on a forum where people pride themselves in their "ugly junk" it fits right in.

BYW, crush looks good! I'm not a fan of the flour that some people go for. Break all the husks and you're good to go.

thats one of the cool things about single roller/crushplate type of mills.... its almost hard to go TO fine.... you can crank that crushplate down till your scared and it will just pulverize the grain leaving the husks more or less intact while crushing the hell out of the grains itself.... it seems to produce VERY little flour especialy if you run it at a slower speed...

Speaking of which here is a pic of the bottom of the mill... you can see how the crushplate is formed and curved around the roller... that was a real pain to do.... I dont have any type of metal bender/hydraulic press in the shop so I had to form that plate by hand.....

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That is fantastic. I would love to have the equipment to be able to make one of them... well make that and more.
I have the welder, everything else would have to be farmed out and I'm guessing that wouldn't be cheap.
Thanks for the great write up. Well done.
 
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