Hoppo's Rustic Motorized Grain Mill Cabinet and Grain Storage Bin

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Hoppopotomus

Cedar Hollow Brewing
Joined
Nov 18, 2010
Messages
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Location
Ortonville/Oxford
Here's a thread to chronicle my newest creations to properly outfit my rustic brewery. The next stage of the process is to build a cabinet to house my grain mill and motorize it. The cabinet will be built of similar materials as my keezer, bar, fermentation chambers, etc. and will incorporate knotty pine, cedar logs, and tumbled travertine. I will also incorporate in this thread my grain storage bin and grain weighing station to be built of similar materials.

This first post is to show pics. of the Barley Crusher grain mill that I purchased from a gentleman off of craislist this week for $60. Overall it is in decent shape and cleaned up nicely. The base had some stains on it so I primed it and will shoot it with stainless steel spray paint if I decide to use it at all. Here are a few pics of the mill.

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You're idea of 'rustic' is a far stretch from mine. My rustic brewery is my carport with hogs and cattle just over the fence. $60 is a score on the mill!:D
 
For those of you who are not familiar with my other builds here are a few pics. of other things that I have built that have provided the inspiration for these up coming builds as well.

The first pic. is one of my rustic bar.

The second pic. is one of my rustic keezer.

The third pic. is one of my rustic fermentation chambers.

The fourth pic. is a current pic. of my progress in my brewery.

I will be incorporating links in the signature line of my profie for all of these builds if anyone is interested in my other projects. Enjoy! :mug:

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Ok....onto the milling station. This first set of pics shows the bases being framed and sitting next to my brewing station in the brewery. I wanted to add a little character to the cabinet and lower the grain mill to make pouring grains into the hopper easier. I recessed the middle 1/3 of the top of the cabinet and cut out the r/o for the door. The top will be trimmed out with knotty pine boards and then cement board and tumble travertine will be added to a 3 surfaces on the top. I will cut a hole in the top to allow grain to fall into a chute below to direct it to the bucket. The bucket will sit on shelf with heavy duty drawer slides, so that the bucket of grains can be pulled out of the cabinet for easy access. I will also cut a narrow slit in the top to allow for the pulley system to motorize the mill. The motor will be housed underneath the cabinet.

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A few more pics. of my progress tonight. This will be the approximate location of the mill on the recessed top surface. I am not installing flooring or a back to the cabinet until I have the motor in my possession and figure out how I am going to mount the motor underneath. I managed to install the casters after the bulk of the cabinet was built and rolled it into it's final resting place when the rest of the brewery is finished. The elevated top surface on the left will be where my grain scale will sit and the elevated top surface on the right is where I will put my IPad or a lap top. To the left of the milling cabinet will be a grain storage bin with a dehumidifier built in. It will also match the rustic decor. In one of the earlier pics. you can see the base for that project, but I didn't have enough plywood to build the cabinet box for that. That's it for the evening. :mug:

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You're idea of 'rustic' is a far stretch from mine. My rustic brewery is my carport with hogs and cattle just over the fence. $60 is a score on the mill!:D

That's some funny sh*t TNgabe! :cross:

Yeah, $60 is a great price. I have had a lot of great luck with craigslist purchases for my project. Now I need to get my hands on a proper 1/3 or 1/2 hp motor. I had a patient offer me one, but he gave away his larger motors when he went home to search and only has 1/8 hp and smaller. I have several people hunting for me and I'm checking CL daiy to find a great deal.
 
Got my hands on a 1/3 hp single phase, 115v, 1725 rpm motor today from a patient of mine. Another patient offered me a motor, but is yet to bring it in. In conversation while working with this gentleman I asked him if he had any leads for an electric motor and he said "yeah, in my basement". I went over to his house to pick it up. He wanted to just give it to me, but I gave him $20 for it, which he reluctantly took. Now I just need to order the 12" and 1 1/2" sheaves and the 3/8" to 1/2" sleeve for the shaft of the mill. I can pick up a belt here in town for around $10.

I also have been gradually cannibalizing an old entertainment center and using up the remaining lumber in my builds. I built an exhaust hood and my lager chamber out of repurposed lumber. I had a couple of drawers from it left over and decided to incorporate them into the cabinet of the grain milling station. I used up some more of the lumber to box in the r/o's for the drawers and will, as well as the drawer glides. Of course, I'll swap ot the drawer fronts with some knotty pine ones when I get a chance to cut them to size and router the edges. Another bigger drawer will be used as the pull out for my grain bucket underneath. Here's a few pic.

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Thanks. I hit Menards yesterday to purchase all of the T&G knotty pine and trim boards to dress this thing out. Need to get back down to my parents' property to get a few more cedar logs to rip down for trim pieces. I'll try to get it covered in knotty pine and fully trimmed out this weekend, but my daughter is having a b-day party tommorow starting at 3:00 p.m., with 8 girls spending the night. :eek: Last night at dinner, I told my wife that I was going to lock myself in the basement brewery room from the time the party starts until the next morning when the all leave. My daughter, who is 8, said that she doesn't want me to be "making a bunch of noise building stuff in the basement" during her party. :drunk:
 
I was hoping to get some advice from the forum members. I was planning on purchasing a 12" pulley for the grain mill shaft and then use a 2" on the motor for a 6:1 ratio. That would drop the 1725 rpm down to 287 rpm....still a little faster than the mfg. recommendation. I have a Grainger warehouse 3 miles from my office, so I went onto their site to check some prices. Holy sh*t! The larger pulley is $37.90, the smaller pulley is $5.66, and the 3 pack of 3/8" to 1/2" reducing bushings is $7.19. Grand total is $50.75, which is more than I care to spend, but will do so if it's my only choice.

Does anyone have any other leads on someplace with better pricing, or is this standard for the industry. I am not find anything cheaper on ebay and the like, so I was hoping that someone would have some advice. I am also not opposed to going in a completely other direction to gear this down if someone has any other cost effective options. Thanks! :mug:
 
Made some more progress yesterday. I continue to reuse pieces and parts from my old entertainment center. I am using all of the knobs, handles, hinges, and drawer slides. They were originally finished in antique bronze, so I primed and painted them with stainless steel paint. I had an oversized drawer that will be used as the slide out for the grain bucket. I took off the front and cut a notch out of the facing of the drawer to make getting the bucket out easier.

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Next I got to work on installing all of the drawer slides and installing the door. Clearly I am not a professional cabinet maker, so not smart a$$ comments about the process that I used or craftsmanship. Although it looks a bit rough now, it will all be covered up with knotty pine soon. :D

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I did manage to get the exterior of the cabinet covered in T&G knotty pine paneling with the help of my 8 y/o daughter. She was eager to help, so that I would be done "making noise" when her birthday party/sleep over started. Here are a few pics. of that process. Next onto trimming out the door.

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.....And finally, I trimmed out the door and installed everything. I'm having a bit of an issue with the drawer slide for the grain bucket rubbing on the door, even when it's fully opened. I'm going to have to make a few modifications on it. That's one of the problems of building stuff on the fly without pre-planning or using google sketchup I suppose. :D

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Thanks! :mug:

I got quite a bit more done today and will post some pics later tonight. I got most of the trim done as well as the new drawer fronts cut, routered, and installed. Now I just need to knife a few logs and install them before I finish with travertine tile. I need to pick up my pulleys for the mill this week, so I can cut the top for the grain chute and a slit for the pulley on the mill. It's getting there.
 
Pics of the progress. Logs, polyurethane, and tile next....then onto the grain storage bin. Once these two projects are complete, I'll move onto the drywall in the brewery, cement board, tile, trim, etc. Then I will start the keggle conversions.

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Looked at McMaster Carr yet for the pulleys? Grainger is ridiculously expensive for everything.
 
Yup....McMaster Carr was more expensive when I checked. I think they were over $40 for the 12" pulley. I'll double check again. I did find one site that sells the exact same pulleys as Grainger, but this smaller site rakes you on the shipping. I may just bite the bullet and stop into Grainger and pick them up, as it's just down the road from my office. Thanks.
 
I knifed a few logs and mitered the ends to finsh trimming out the front of the grain mill cabinet. Not sure if I like what I have going on here, but it's all I could come up with having recessed the center portion of the top to lower the grain mill. I think that once I get the logs cleaned up a bit more, sanded, and finished in polyurethane, they will pop and give it more character. I may do a log trim piece return on the right side of the cabinet where it butts up to the brewing table and will be visible to the room. Any feedback is appreciated. I also cut the r/o's for the electrical, which are the blue boxes above the drawers. I'm a bit OCD when it comes to symmetry, so rather than installing just a switch to run the mill I decided to rough in a plug on the other side to balance things out. You can never have enough outlets and I hated the look of just the switch.

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I also had a little more time before the kids got off of the bus, so I framed the cabinet for the grain storage bin, cut a lid to size, installed the casters, and rolled it into position next to the grain mill. My wife is taking my daughter to gymnastics tonight, so I may recruit my son to help me get the box covered in knotty pine and get the pine trim boards installed on the lid. I have one ripped piece of log left that is just barely long enough to trim the front of the grain bin. I need to get down to my dad's place to get another longer log to trim out the front and sides of the ventilation hood when I get back from vacation. I'll post some more pics later if I have time to get some more work done. :mug:

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Thanks rockinmarty.....much appreciated! :mug:

Here are a few more pics of the progress made this evening. I got the grain bin covered in knotty pine, the top sized and fitted, and started a little trim. Thought I better throw in the towel for the night, because my wife is getting a little irritated with my "projects". :eek:

I'll post some pics once the grain bin is fully trimmed and the log trim is in place. I'll tile the tops of the grain mill cabinet and the storage bin at the same time and then grout everything in the brewery at the same time.

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what will be the system to organize your grain in your bin? Showed the pics to my wife and she loves all of it. BTW when are you going to the islands, thought you left already?
 
Haven't figured out an organizational system yet, and am not sure if I need one. My biggest reasons for building the grain storage bin is to allow me to purchase base grains in 50 lb. sacks (2-row/torrified wheat/etc.) and to balance out the room for more countertop space. There are some specialty grains that I use quite often and will likely purchase 10lbs at a time, however, I will continue to purchase most as needed batch to batch, as I don't need large quantities of crystal 120 or buiscuit malt on hand. My wife works near my HBS, so I call ahead and they have whatever I need waiting for her to pick up for me. They are great! I came across a humiditiy controller for cheap and plan to place a small dehumidifier in the bin to electronically control the humidity for ideal storage conditions. I am open to any and all suggestions though!

BTW....I'm leaving for the Caribbean on Saturday at 10:10 a.m. and will be gone all of next week. :ban: We have had this trip booked for several months, but in stereotypical fashion we are scrambling to try to get everything packed last minute. It used to be much easier before kids. They are staying the week (along with our dog) at my in-laws, so we have to pack all their crap as well. I'm working a 1/2 day today, so that I can get home and catch up on all of the lawn work and get my stuff ready. Thankfully my wife is off tomorrow, so she can get eveything packed into the suitcases, etc.
 
Hoppopotomus,

If you haven't yet purchased the pulleys, check out heating & air conditioning shops in your area. Around here quite a few furnaces have been replaced and blower motor & pulleys are available. Modern air handlers use a motor concentric with the blower, but older ones use a belt & pulley system. They become available as furnaces get replaced and scrapped. Quite often you can find bearings and pillow blocks that are useable as well.
 
WOW! Everything looking awesome. I can't show this to the wife... I have to much to do already. I do wish I was back in a place that had a basement, I miss that.
 
Hoppopotomus,

If you haven't yet purchased the pulleys, check out heating & air conditioning shops in your area. Around here quite a few furnaces have been replaced and blower motor & pulleys are available. Modern air handlers use a motor concentric with the blower, but older ones use a belt & pulley system. They become available as furnaces get replaced and scrapped. Quite often you can find bearings and pillow blocks that are useable as well.

Thanks for the info. I'll check around with a few of my past HVAC patients to see if they have anything laying around. Unfortunately my HVAC contractor that did my house committed suicide a couple of years back and they dissolved the company after that. Did the older style furnaces have large pulleys....like 12 inchers? I would hate to blow $38 on one pulley if someone has one in a scrap pile.
 
Thanks for the info. I'll check around with a few of my past HVAC patients to see if they have anything laying around. Unfortunately my HVAC contractor that did my house committed suicide a couple of years back and they dissolved the company after that. Did the older style furnaces have large pulleys....like 12 inchers? I would hate to blow $38 on one pulley if someone has one in a scrap pile.

I have one in my garage with the entire squirrel cage blower that has a 14" pulley on the fan and a 1.5" pulley on the motor. Came from an old Reliance AutoGas furnace. Lots of these should end up at the junk yard after salvage of copper from motor windings.

Great job on the design and construction of your equipment. I'm afraid to let my wife see your pictures, she'll make fun of my amateur construction. At least mine is all kept in the garage/workshop area.
 
Thanks for the advice ChuckO! :mug: I just contacted an HVAC business here in town and they come across these older systems all of the time, but currently don't have any laying around. They took down my name and number and stated that they likely will come across something in the next week or two. I am in need of a quote for a hydronics system to heat my basement floors, so I killed two birds with one stone and they are coming out to quote a system as soon as I get back from vacation. I'm going to take your advice and call a few more places and maybe a couple of salvage yards. Thanks again! :mug:
 
Snuck out of work a little earlier than expected. I finished up the last of the trim on the lid of the grain storage bin a few minutes ago and knifed/cut to size the last log trim piece. My goal was to have all of the trim complete before leaving on vacation. When I get back, I just need to sand for a few hours and get 3-4 coats of poly on the two pieces, then finish off the tiling/grouting. Hopefully one of the HVAC places that I called can hunt down a 12" to 14" pulley....if not, I have to bite the bullet and purchase through Grainger. Thanks to those who are following along. :mug:

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Seriously Hoppo, do you even have time to brew? Working 60 hrs and 3 brews a week doesn't leave much time for knotty pine here. Please tell me this vacation of your's is in the Smoky Mountains and you'll have time to stop by and build me something nice!
 
Sorry, not heading to the Smokey Mts. this go around, but I was just there in late July though. My family loves the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area, so we rent a place in Chalet Village every year in Gatlinburg for a week in the summer. Next time I'm down there I'll drop you a PM and we can get together for a beer or two. :mug:

I also work around 60 hours per week, but I work three 14 hour days and two shorter days. I do not work weekend, so my weekends and Tue/Thur afternoons are when I build this stuff. I don't brew as often as I would like and have resorted to doing 2 to 3 batches over one very long brew day every couple of months. Once I get the new system built and running, I will have plenty of time to brew more often.....I hope. :D
 
????????Didn't know there was a FB page. Since I "de-activated" my FB acct., I guess I can't check it out.

Edit: I was able to re-activate my old account.....thanks rockinmarty for letting me know. I'll likely re-de-activate the FB acct in a couple of days though, because I can't stand people that I haven't seen since 1st grade coming out of the woodwork and trying to contact me. The reason I closed it quite a while ago was because people that I barely knew from my past were trying to contact me to join sh*t like AmWay, QuickStar, etc.
 
Just create an account with a bogus name just to follow stuff you like, like bands, breweries, suppliers. I had taken this to show you. but oh well, enjoy your vacation

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Man, what an under achiever............Just kidding. That build looks awesome. Gets a fire under my butt to get something done with my setup. Keep up the great work!
 
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