Beau815
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Anyone know what the cheapest mill that works well is? I don't care if I have to hand crank for an hour.
Hard times cheapest most practical grain crusher/mill?
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Two options, both work...
The common cheapo is the corona style...Charlie Papazian has been using his for sevearl decades and gets 87% with it...
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-ugly-junk-corona-mill-station-90849/
And people are also modding pasta machines...which can be gotten as low as 15.00 from Michaels or Joanne fabric with a coupon...
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/using-pasta-maker-mill-grain-75784/
The common cheapo is the corona style...Charlie Papazian has been using his for sevearl decades and gets 87% with it...
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-ugly-junk-corona-mill-station-90849/
And people are also modding pasta machines...which can be gotten as low as 15.00 from Michaels or Joanne fabric with a coupon...
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/using-pasta-maker-mill-grain-75784/
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Beau815
Well-Known Member
This a good deal or is it too old and crappy? VINTAGE LANDERS FRARY&CLARK CORONA CORN MILL GRINDER - eBay (item 380118320633 end time Apr-24-09 18:01:37 PDT)
Looks fine...just watch the shipping charges, these things are heavy...
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Beau815
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k thanks Revvy!
Beau, I'll build you one of the pasta maker mills with knurled rollers and a hopper for like $40 + shipping. 
or $30 without the hopper and $5 for shipping just the mill.
or $30 without the hopper and $5 for shipping just the mill.
This is mine. Hopper is small, but fits a cut juice bottle well. I've ground 4 batches, no problems. My store is right down the road. They were out of stock, but shipped it to my door, 31 bucks total. I'd get another. but don't plan to. The handle screw is metric if you want to hook up a drill. H7775 Cast Iron Corn / Grain Mill
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Beau815
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I was just reading that pasta mill thread... i got to page 10 of 30 and it seemed at the time that it wasn't proved to be a good item, im guessing a year later its been proved good? And yeah having to knurl it myself sounded like a pain seeing I have no clue how. Right now i'm just researching... I'm pretty broke... maybe in a couple months I can take you up on that offer.
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Beau815
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Cayuga! Wow for 22 bucks that's nice, looks similar to Corona! Yeah 31 bucks including shipping... that's the best deal Ive seen on a real mill. Thanks for the info.
In the first part of the thread, noone tried it and just did their usual "conjecture" bs..but I re-bumped the thread, showed how it was modified to fit a motor, and then suddenly people began to try it, and the nay sayers went away...
Keep reading, you will see.
Keep reading!
There have been advances in "knurling" over the past few months that seem to be working pretty well for folks, including sending them to others on the board for knurling services, or just using an electric drill over the rollers to rough them up...
I built a crusher for myself at work, but many many people effectively use a corona mill every day. They are not expensive. The very popular LHBS that I sometimes go to have two of them set up for crushing. That is what I would recommend to anyone wanting to go bulk and save some cash. The pasta roller looks interesting, but is more of a DIY project than a ready to go option.
Just ordered that mill from grizzly. I was in despair about being unable to find a corona copy for less than 50$ shipped and planning to buy a Barley Crusher, but for 30$ I figure the copy-corona is worth a shot. They threw in some free leather work gloves that will come in handy too, something about a promotion.
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Beau815
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Nice Nugu, i wish i could get one now but im job hunting and SWMBO would probably kill me.
I just ordered one, too. $30 seemed too good to pass up. Props to Cayuga for the heads up!
I'm using the $15 (with coupon) pasta mill from Michael's, roughed up with a drill bit. Other than my cardboard-and-tape hopper being a little leaky (anyone have plans for a good plywood hopper?), I'm happy with it, and was pleased with my efficiency on my first mash with it. I do a double-crush, fyi, seems to work well.
I have the grizzly. Once it's set, it's fine. I'm getting over 70% with it.
Mine came from Amazon for about $30, shipped.
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Mine came from Amazon for about $30, shipped.
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MgMt_Home_Brew
Well-Known Member
Have any of you guys rigged up a hopper for these grizzly ones? If so can you post some pics? I am trying to figure out if I bought one how I would make the hopper.
Also can you get a drill onto it? Or do you have to go old school manual?
Also can you get a drill onto it? Or do you have to go old school manual?
2 liter pop bottle will be my hopper extender probably, almost any rounded top bottle should work I'd think.
And you can hook up a drill, there's more info on that in a Corona thread but you need to buy something fairly cheap to do it.
And you can hook up a drill, there's more info on that in a Corona thread but you need to buy something fairly cheap to do it.
I use a 2 gallon bucket from HD:
Cut hole in bottom of bucket (I used an adjustable hole cutter, then finished it with a knife.
drill holes for zip ties.
Tape the bottom to make sure the grain doesn't escape!
Although the threads might be metric on the real unit, I used a piece of 5/16" all-thread ($.88 at HD) I cut it in half, and threaded it in as far as I could by hand. Then I put the factory handle on the mill, and a drill on the all-thread. I held the handle in place and fired up the drill. Once the all-thread was in as far as it would go, I took off the drill and the handle.
Now I just hook up a drill to the all thread when I use the mill.
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Cut hole in bottom of bucket (I used an adjustable hole cutter, then finished it with a knife.
drill holes for zip ties.
Tape the bottom to make sure the grain doesn't escape!
Although the threads might be metric on the real unit, I used a piece of 5/16" all-thread ($.88 at HD) I cut it in half, and threaded it in as far as I could by hand. Then I put the factory handle on the mill, and a drill on the all-thread. I held the handle in place and fired up the drill. Once the all-thread was in as far as it would go, I took off the drill and the handle.
Now I just hook up a drill to the all thread when I use the mill.
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Just got this from Grizzly in case anyone plans to order it & needs it in a timely manner. Luckily for me I have absurd amounts of beer already and have no problem waiting till May.
As a note, lol @ 'legal' paragraph.
As a note, lol @ 'legal' paragraph.
Bummer. Oh well, I guess I can wait.
DNW
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Happy to help out. I got mine in stock, but Grizzly usually gets there stuff in pretty quickly, in my experience.
I'll go snap a picture of mine.
I'll go snap a picture of mine.
Ok, here's the photoshoot. Grizzly Corn/Grain Mill
The hopper is tiny. Here's what I did. 3 pieces of stick on weather stripping to hold my bottle.
One carefully sliced juice bottle, 96 Ounce. Holds about 5 pounds. I use a plastic shoebox to catch. And a cut off PB container to keep grain from flying up.
Here is the screw for the handle. Metric (8mm?- do not quote me there). And the washers for setting the gap. In pic 2 I have one on each side of the mounting arm. Two washers made too much of a gap for me.
Enjoy.
The hopper is tiny. Here's what I did. 3 pieces of stick on weather stripping to hold my bottle.
One carefully sliced juice bottle, 96 Ounce. Holds about 5 pounds. I use a plastic shoebox to catch. And a cut off PB container to keep grain from flying up.
Here is the screw for the handle. Metric (8mm?- do not quote me there). And the washers for setting the gap. In pic 2 I have one on each side of the mounting arm. Two washers made too much of a gap for me.
Enjoy.
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Beau815
Well-Known Member
great idea with the juice bottle and weather stripping...PB too!
Well done with the mods. Now, if only the end of May would hurry up and get here so I'd have something to play with, too!
taylornate
Well-Known Member
Ok, here's the photoshoot. Grizzly Corn/Grain Mill
The hopper is tiny. Here's what I did. 3 pieces of stick on weather stripping to hold my bottle.
One carefully sliced juice bottle, 96 Ounce. Holds about 5 pounds. I use a plastic shoebox to catch. And a cut off PB container to keep grain from flying up.
Here is the screw for the handle. Metric (8mm?- do not quote me there). And the washers for setting the gap. In pic 2 I have one on each side of the mounting arm. Two washers made too much of a gap for me.
Enjoy.
How long does it take to mill?
How fast can you crank? If you can't blow out your own birthday candles, it'll take a while. If you hook up a drill on high speed, it won't take long at all. My wife did the last batch (PM) by hand and 6 pounds in about 6 minutes. She didn't want the kitchen messy.
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Beau815
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I really wouldnt mind crankin by hand... whats 6 min??? cmon were not THAT lazy! Besides, it feels more like you hand made the beer. Right?
MgMt_Home_Brew
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I have no desire to hand crank it because thats what power tools are for. yeah it's only six minutes but thats a PM grain bill. Start getting into AG 5 and 10 gallon batches and you are probably looking at much more than 6 minutes.
bierhaus15
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I have a grizzly and frequently grind 10-12lbs of grain by hand. Yeah it takes a while, around 1/2 hour, but it doesn't bother me as I get 80-85% eff and that's without shredding the husks. It makes for one hell of an arm/shoulder workout too.
I bought mine off amazon for $30 including shipping.
I bought mine off amazon for $30 including shipping.
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Beau815
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very nice bierhaus!
Most of the homebrew/grain stores around me have crushers you can use for free... And Free is a good price
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Beau815
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ill have to check mine... they may i never bought grain yet... they do have a mill sitting there and i thought it was just for looks. lol
MgMt_Home_Brew
Well-Known Member
Yeah my LHBS has a grain mill where you can crush your own grain. However if you buy some bulk grain you're gona need a grain mill at home.
camiller
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I work part time at my LHBS and I have crushed a 50-lb bag of two-row on a couple occasions for a guy that lives way out of town. I've also had guys that bought 50lb bag and later brought back what they needed to be crushed for the current batch. Depending on how nice your LHBS is you could probably work something out.
Just got a confirmation that my mill shipped today via UPS, so apparently they are back in stock. Should get here tomorrow! 
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Beau815
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Thanks for the update!
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