DIY grain mill

Williams 728
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the_bird said:
I need to post pics of mine tonight. I ended up making some elongated holes to allow for adjustment (probably more elongated than they need to be, but onceI get it dialed in they won't be adjusted again). I made the frame out of angle iron - unfortunately, all I could get my hands on was 1 1/2 inch, 2 inch would have worked better. This gives me a ton of strength, plus I can directly attach the frame to the (to be built) wood hopper.

Since I can't weld, I just built the end pieces out of the angle iron (subsequently sanded down and painted to deal with surface rust), the parts that the axles fit into. To hold THOSE together, I bought a length of threaded rod. Two pieces about a foot long, a couple holes near the edges of the angle iron. Eight bolds tightened down later, everything is extremely snug and secure.

Again, I'll post pics tonight.
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Bird, if you need help welding, I know a guy in North Adams with the equipment, if not the greatest skill ;) . Split a 10 gallon AG batch of Red with him and I'm sure he'd help you with whatever you need.

It'll also give him a reason to get his basement straightened around after the big move.
 
evanmars said:
Bird, if you need help welding, I know a guy in North Adams with the equipment, if not the greatest skill ;) . Split a 10 gallon AG batch of Red with him and I'm sure he'd help you with whatever you need.

It'll also give him a reason to get his basement straightened around after the big move.
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orly.jpg


Dude, that absolutely rocks, I didn't know that.... can you teach me to weld?

Three-tier system, here I muthafriggin' come... :D
http://www.synthstuff.com/mt/archives/orly.jpg
 
The mesh I ordered is pretty fine, I'm hoping not TOO fine :D Cheyco used regular window screen (SS), but I'll be damned if I can find any in friggin' February.

I probably ordered the wrong mesh, actually.

"Strainer-Grade Woven Wire Cloth 304 SS, 100 X 90 Mesh,.0040" Wire Dia, 12" X 24" Sheet (Same as 9241T44)"

Finer than I thought it would be (what can I say, this isn't my area of expertise), so I'm going to use as much as possible and hope that it lets enough wort in.
 
Since it took me a day to design the hopper, designing the base would have taken forever. I like to make sure that I covered all the bases. So I bought a crankandstien and built myself a hopper out of aluminum, it can hold 3 pounds of grain but I just feed it continually until I have enough.

179-HPIM0826.JPG
 
pics...

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4050-IMG_6459.JPG


Way more adjustment than I would need, but won't hurt. Haven't tried it out yet for actually milling grain, but seems like it'll work perfect. I did need to get a bigger drill to drive it, but I really needed a corded drill anyway.
 
I picked up the 60/40 mesh from mcmaster which looks pretty good to me. I'm in the process of folding it up and sewing it closed with some small gauge stainless lockwire. I found that it's best to fold a "hem" of about 1/4" all around the perimeter so that it won't try to unravel on you.

Bird, how did you plan on closing yours up? Stainless wire also? From where? My father actually had some of this stuff laying around but I'd love something a bit smaller gauge.
 
Nice work, bird - hope those rollers work well for you. Good luck with the hopstopper - sounds like something I might have to try when I get home!
 
Bobby_M said:
I picked up the 60/40 mesh from mcmaster which looks pretty good to me. I'm in the process of folding it up and sewing it closed with some small gauge stainless lockwire. I found that it's best to fold a "hem" of about 1/4" all around the perimeter so that it won't try to unravel on you.

Bird, how did you plan on closing yours up? Stainless wire also? From where? My father actually had some of this stuff laying around but I'd love something a bit smaller gauge.
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The hopstopper? I'm going to fold it over two or three times, put it in the vice, maybe hammer it down, clamp it with the vice grips, etc. and see if it holds. That's what Cheyco did, and it worked for him.
 
I just had a brainstorm on how to motorize my mill! I have an 11 Amp variable speed sander/polisher that runs 1000-3000 RPM. All I have to do is machine a pulley that will fit on the arbor, and run a belt to drive a larger pulley on my mill. I just ordered an 8" pulley and 36" v-belt from www.mcmaster.com. I figure something around a 4:1 reduction will work pretty well. More to come, of course!
 
This is how I crushed my grains yesterday:

4688-grainmillmotor.JPG


4688-grainmillmotor1.JPG


The polisher/pulley setup made REALLY short work of 40 lbs of grain. I thought it'd be best to run it at the slowest speed. It turns out that max speed works much better (6,000 RPM at a 4:1 reduction to get 1500 RPM at the rollers).

As usual, I can't wait to brew again!
 
I just have to say you guys rule I had seen the link for the home made grain mill and youv' gave me even more ideas, I have a lathe but no access to a mill Ive been brewing for almost a year and have made a cool mini mash system but I need a mill now and then Im going to do an AG can't wait,,,,money time,,,,
 
Yuri_Rage said:
Mine'll be twice as big for a quarter the price.

If you ever hear that on a street corner - run far, far away.
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Yuri, you posted the above in reply to beer4breakfast's post about the crankandstein complete system for $139 back on page 3.
So where you able to produce yours for roughly $35.00. I noticed your price you would charge others to make another one but that also included time and labor. Could this project be made by others for less than $40.00?
 
Yuri_Rage said:
I just had a brainstorm on how to motorize my mill! I have an 11 Amp variable speed sander/polisher that runs 1000-3000 RPM. All I have to do is machine a pulley that will fit on the arbor, and run a belt to drive a larger pulley on my mill. I just ordered an 8" pulley and 36" v-belt from www.mcmaster.com. I figure something around a 4:1 reduction will work pretty well. More to come, of course!
Click to expand...

thanks for the Brain storm.
looking to motorize with an old Pro-con pump motor .the rpm's are 1750
with 120 vac. 1\3 hp 5.5 amp.
just need to do the math as to what sized pully's to use.
we are hooking up to a Barley Crusher model.
 
this is an old thread but maybe i could have a question answered? i have two rollers being made for me , and was thinking of doing the same rig , but i dont understand how the adjustable roller stays in place. are there just two screws going to the eccentrics and the force of the screws keeps them in place?and why use eccentrics when i could just use a flat cylinder with an offset hole? might my definition of eccentric be off? I googled steel eccentric and got pics of "offset pipe" IDK? Any help would be appreciated
 
and one other thing what size did you make the diamond pattern?? how many diamonds in an inch? and how tall or deep did you make the cuts?
 
Awesome just what i needed to know . Did you ever try making i three roller? What would be the purpose of the extra roller ? I saw monster mills 3 roller and it looked as if the top 2 rollers were stationary and the bottom was adjustable? Do you think that is the way to go (3 roller)? Either way i appreciate your write up and responding to my Q's!
cheers-
 
If I had it to do over again, I'd make a 6 inch wide mill with 3" or even 4" diameter rollers. They would provide a longer "squish," and likely keep the husks more intact, which is the goal of a 3 roller mill.
 
i was going to do 6 inch wide and 2 inch thick, but the 3" or even 4 " is no problem , and would you have gone with a 3 roller with that large of diameter rollers?
 
Great . I will post pics of mine as i build parts. I will be doing 6" long 3" dia steel 2 rollers.
 
If you're going to all this trouble, one really should use some variety of tool/high carbon steel or surface treatment. Machine as normal and send off to Peters Heat Treat (or the like). Probably will cost less than $20 for the service. Perhaps they will carburize the surface so you can stick with mild steel and save $$ on the raw materials. A large enough blob of 01 for 3'' rollers is probably a chunk of $$. Maybe 1075 or 1084 would be feasible. I would imagine that larger commercial producers of roller mills use a surface treatment over a solid chunk of tool/carbon steel though.
 
I live in Europe, so this is out of the question. The cost of a mill is bigger than my entire brewery. Corona style grinders are also hard to get, and more expensive that the same thing in the US. Now i use a vintage cast iron Corona style grinder, but the grinding wheels are old and i get a lot of flour from my malt. A roller mill would be a great piece of equipment to own.
 

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