My Ugly Junk- Corona Mill Station...

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I finally have some ugly junk. I started and finished it today. Didnt take to long. I want to get a bigger hopper eventually but for now it will do. Thanks for all the inspiration folks :mug: Im gonna post a picture of my crush that I did before I built my junk. Could you tell me how it is? It was a pain to hold everything steady and was quite the workout hand cranking 8lbs of grain through it while holding the 2x4 steady and trying to keep grain from flying everywhere. It should be much easier now I have the bucket setup and hopefully a good workout.I thought about motorizing it but I dont get quite the right amount of exercise I need so Im leaving it as it for now.

2011-08-24124452.jpg


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Dynachrome said:
from your post on top of page 22.

Why? ....and, "I am hereby not worthy".
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Me either. My reinforced braid is a beast. It took me 45 minutes to lauter my stout yesterday but damnit it all came out.
 
I called myself watching for this as I scanned through this thread but has anyone tried out the stone attachment for these mills? Pretty sure they would suck for barley mind you but I hate the grind it does on corn (or my adjustment sucks horribly perhaps).

http://www.nazko.com/corona_stone_kit.html
...for an example of the stone kit. Also hoping for more SWMBO support as that never hurts right? :)
 
Accidic said:
I called myself watching for this as I scanned through this thread but has anyone tried out the stone attachment for these mills? Pretty sure they would suck for barley mind you but I hate the grind it does on corn (or my adjustment sucks horribly perhaps).

http://www.nazko.com/corona_stone_kit.html
...for an example of the stone kit. Also hoping for more SWMBO support as that never hurts right? :)
Click to expand...

This is an awesome thread, but it has grown to a very long length.

Revy, would you consider conensing some of this back onto the first page. I can't, it's not my thread.

Accidic - Too fine a grind will give you flour. That will cause stuck sparges. Test it and see if you can get something that looks like the grind in the posts just previous to this.
 
Accidic said:
I called myself watching for this as I scanned through this thread but has anyone tried out the stone attachment for these mills? Pretty sure they would suck for barley mind you but I hate the grind it does on corn (or my adjustment sucks horribly perhaps).

http://www.nazko.com/corona_stone_kit.html
...for an example of the stone kit. Also hoping for more SWMBO support as that never hurts right? :)
Click to expand...

There was a thread about this- the short story is, if you're looking to grind actual fine flour, it might be worth $40. But that's twice as much as my Corona mill, delivered.....and my mill crushes malt for brewing just fine as is.
 
Dynachrome said:
Revy, I believe you asked for a picture of the bubber bushings my LHBS uses on his. My friend's rubber bushed setup:

[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/199/closeup1.png/][/URL]

[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/718/closeup2p.png/][/URL]

[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/263/closeup3q.png/][/URL]

He makes adjusting the grind look easy. The cotter pin is still in there too. I'm going to try mine without the mod.

Cheers all.
:)
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Who do I talk to to get that thiny?
 
Edit: Yes I get flour is bad but it seems like if you set the gap large (aka large corn grits for example) you could get around this. The large stone mill up near where I used to live had a spectacular coarse grind (looks like my hbs grind) but I don't know if it was cause of the stone size... Either way I may let the wife buy it. A whopping $50 investment for everything including the mill isn't the end of the world. Besides wife morale boost never hurts.
 
Beezy said:
Who do I talk to to get that thiny?
Click to expand...

From the pic, those look to me like the rubber grommets you buy to put in the lid of a plastic bucket to make a seal for the airlock. The answer is that I bought some from Midwest. They're 50 cents apiece.
 
Revvy said:
While at the hardwarestore getting the shelf and goop I came across this drain thingy....I thought it would make a great hopper...And it did.

hopper.jpg


The smaller side was a wee bit too large to fit the corona, so I used some gaffer's tape to build it up enought for a snug fit.

gaf_tape.jpg


And here with the drill in place it's all set to go....

with_drill.jpg


The red of the folgers can and the red of the drill complement each other nicely, don'tja think???

:mug:
Click to expand...

Awesome!
 
Dynachrome said:
Some of the grinders come with a hood, some do not. Mine did not.

I'm thinking of fabbing one out of a plastic jar. It may not even matter if I make a double bucket set-up like some of the guys have shown.
Click to expand...

Right on. Ultimately I'll go the bucket route. So no need for it really. Just thought if it was a cheap add on Id be interested.
 
Dynachrome,

What do the rubber washers do that steel washers do not?

I'm still having trouble understanding why people are putting washers in that location. My Victoria mill I can loosen up just by unscrewing that eye-bolt/wing-nut in the center. It unscrews to the point where my crush is way too coarse - so I don't understand the need for the washers on both sides. I can imagine putting them on one side or the other because manufacturing tolerances do not align the plates evenly.
 
BlackJaqueJanaviac said:
Dynachrome,

What do the rubber washers do that steel washers do not?

I'm still having trouble understanding why people are putting washers in that location. My Victoria mill I can loosen up just by unscrewing that eye-bolt/wing-nut in the center. It unscrews to the point where my crush is way too coarse - so I don't understand the need for the washers on both sides. I can imagine putting them on one side or the other because manufacturing tolerances do not align the plates evenly.
Click to expand...

He can still reply to that but,.... Many on this thread agree - if it ain't broke don't fix it. Me, I didn't mod anything. I simple tightened it up and get 75-78% efficiency. I am happy with that.
 
I haven't modded anything. Not needed. Maybe someday I'll get the slow drill and do the bucket thing.
 
camiller said:
Some mills are made to different tolerances. Some apparently will not open up enough without the washers.
Click to expand...

Yes- "tolerances" is in itself a loose word when applied to a Corona Mill. If you've owned one, as I do, and compared it with the various stories in this thread, all you can say is to make whatever adjustments any which way you can until those plates are about the thickness of a credit card, mas o menos. I replaced the cotter pin and didn't have to use any extra parts, so I was lucky. YMMV, though.
 
I was inspired by this thread... Order a Victoria mill from Amazon for $19.95 with free 2 day shipping with other books I needed another project and this is the ticket. Bulk grain here I come!!!
 
The advice for using these mills is just too funny.

"Tighten up the adjusting screw until you're scared, then give it an extra twist" This is of 'course only after you've added spacing washers so that the grinding plates are farther apart. :drunk:

I think I understand though. IF you have a mill that won't loosen enough you MAY have to add washers. If ON THE OTHER HAND you have a mill that is properly fit you should tighten it up more than you'd think would be necessary.

So anyway, I mounted the mill inside a bucket. My next question is why are people cutting the bottoms out of these buckets and nesting them inside another bucket?
 
ACESFULL said:
keeping the dust and flying grain to a minimum. that and leaving enough space for the collection of said grain.
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Yes, exactly. These pix from when I was doing my build:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-ugly-junk-corona-mill-station-90849/index21.html#post1408147

.......show the bucket-in-bucket design. I used it with a cardboard box with a sack in it for a few batches, because I wasn't happy with the capacity of the bucket I was going to use for the lower "catch" bucket. But the box arrangement isn't very stable. Then I just used an extra 6.5 gal "Ale Pail" I had, and have been happy ever since.
 
Rico, Ace,

I understand the idea of dust control. But so far I've got my mill mounted inside my bucket w/ cover on and hole in lid for hopper. However, I'm looking at the bottom and thinking a 10# grain bill should be able to stay inside the bucket so I may just leave the bottom on. Then when it comes time to mash in I'll just invert the whole thing and let the crushed grain pour into the MLT.
 
BlackJaqueJanaviac said:
Rico, Ace,

I understand the idea of dust control. But so far I've got my mill mounted inside my bucket w/ cover on and hole in lid for hopper. However, I'm looking at the bottom and thinking a 10# grain bill should be able to stay inside the bucket so I may just leave the bottom on. Then when it comes time to mash in I'll just invert the whole thing and let the crushed grain pour into the MLT.
Click to expand...

With a 10 lb grain bill, that should work. There will not be enough grain to get high enough to impede the grinding plates, or flow out through the crank hole in the side of the bucket. When you get up to those 13-15 lb grain bills......not so much.
 
BlackJaqueJanaviac said:
Rico, Ace,

I understand the idea of dust control. But so far I've got my mill mounted inside my bucket w/ cover on and hole in lid for hopper. However, I'm looking at the bottom and thinking a 10# grain bill should be able to stay inside the bucket so I may just leave the bottom on. Then when it comes time to mash in I'll just invert the whole thing and let the crushed grain pour into the MLT.
Click to expand...

Exactly what I do...I left the bottom on a 6-7 gallon pail and can crush around 17-18 lbs and then simply dump the grain in the MT. I crush inside so the open bottom bucket would drop dust if you were to set it down after crushing.
 
I read through this thread today, and decided to go out and order a corona mill from.... WALMART. yes they have them site to store. I was given 150#+ of grains including about 25 different specialties. I just finished and ugly tun from spare parts from work. I have some small steel salvage drums I am going enclose mine in after seeing the b-in-b method. Thanks y'all for the insight and a nudge.
 
I liked the cover integrated with that one but am skeptical of how well it might have worked. I ended up picking up one off Amazon shipped overnight for $22 total. Plus I didn't have to go into WM! It's a double win!
 
walmart is literally a 5 min drive up the road from me, and I like to take POWM pics while I'm there. plus they also carry some craft beers if I have no HomeBrew. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is my go to brew. I'm sure it will fuel my DIY metal mill tower. I think I am going to make it unnecessarily elaborate just because I have junk..errr parts laying around
 

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