Using a pasta maker to mill grain.

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If a corona mill is the same as a bench mill : http://www.williamsbrewing.com/BENCH-GRAIN-MILL-P2058.aspx
I have one of that, and they go for 55 euro here.

Yes looks the same or similar...perhaps search for corn grinder...the chinese are making them by the metric ton and I would be surprised if they are not shipping them world wide???

$25 US from discount Tommy...and he claims to ship worlwide...no idea what that might cost??? link below
http://www.discounttommy.com/p-189-...er-for-wheat-grains-or-use-as-a-nut-mill.aspx
 
The pastamachine arrived yesterday.
I jammed the thing with a drill bit :) First test run with a handfull of malt looks OK. If I turn the rollers with the handle and lay a finger on the rollers I can feel the rollers want to take my finger between them .. not sure how that would stay after a few kilos.

Made a first proof of concept, screwed the machine on a piece of plywood with a hole under the machine and put that on top of a 30 liter bucket. Driven the rollers with my electric drill and workedlike a charm (again, only with a handfull of malt).
Not sure on what bumber I should put the rollers, perhaps I will post some pics of different numbers later this day.
 
Not sure on what number I should put the rollers, perhaps I will post some pics of different numbers later this day.

As fine as you can yet still drag the grain through the rollers. When I breifly toyed w/ the pasta machine my experience was that in order to crush thoroughly, the rollers needed to be so close that milling got rather slow...my best results were a slightly larger gap that the grain would pass, but running the grain through the mill twice for a better crush. It helps to have the roller REALLY scarred and rough. The roller dia is so small that unless you rough the hell out of them, milling progress is slow and not as good as it should be.

rough rollers w/ 1/4 or 3/8 drill bit ...don't be afraid to "hurt" them good
HPIM0585.jpg
 
wilserbrewer, you've done a great job of gouging up your rollers, what size of drill bit did you use? I didn't get mine nearly as rough, I probably need a bigger drill bit. But I can still get a good crush with two passes, narrowing the gap for the second pass. It's a bit slow though, so I could do with more bite on the rollers.

Here's mine: http://beerandgarden.com/2012/04/the-pasta-maker-grain-mill/

and a not so great picture of the rollers:
pasta-grain-mill2.jpg
 
Made my pasta mill today after buying a 50lb bag of grain plus specialties for two planned brews a couple days ago. Roughed up the rollers once, worked fine at the smaller crush, ran it up a couple more for comparison's sake, realized the finer crush was probably best, reduced the distance again, and the mill stopped pulling grain through. Roughed up the rollers some more, and now it will pull through single grains on the smallest setting.

Even after you've mangled the rollers, mangle them again. I know it's been mentioned, but I thought I'd reiterate. Even though mine's working a handful at a time (I'm hoping to build the hopper and base tomorrow), I'll probably take the drill bit to them one more time before doing my first full brew crush.

Even though I'm sure it'll be slower than the purpose-built mills, I like being able to use something that I had a hand in fabricating.
 
If I recall, an option that works with the pasta mill is to simply run the grain through the mill twice, rather than struggle to get a nice crush with one pass.
 
Okay, so I just waded through most of the 61 pages of this amazing, awe-inspiring thread... because I picked up an Amaco pasta machine at the thrift shop for a fiver today and was looking for a good tutorial on how to convert it to avoid splashing out for a "proper" grain mill.

Kudos to you DIY madmen on here, you make a cheap bastard like me proud. The only question I'm left with after reading through it all is one of (groan with me now) health and safety.

I will admit to being a bit nervous about marring up the (plated?) finish of these rollers (cheaply mass-produced in China, so no doubt made with the highest quality materials and regard for human health and safety) and then using it to process grain that I will then be boiling and (eventually) consuming.

I know there are many that don't worry about stuff like that (the skateboard grip tape incident comes to mind :drunk:), but for me personally, if I'm going to all the time, expense, and trouble to create beer from scratch, I feel like I should do it in a way that I don't have to worry about random substances potentially going into it.

Anybody have thoughts on this?
 
I'm not sure about the material. But its not plated.

This got me into all grain and I liked it. But mine gave up the ghost after 2 years or so. One of the bushings wore out and I lost all adjustability. For me, its great if you want to get into it with little money. Long term, you should just start off with a regular mill.
 
So I should be able to tell if mine is plated, correct? As in, once I start mucking up the surface of the rollers the plating would be flaking off everywhere?

I ask because several other people in the thread have stated that theirs was plated, which isn't surprising... the machine being discussed in this thread has gone through a number of significant quality and manufacturing changes over the last however many years, including a move to China at some point, so I'm sure there's a fair bit of variation.
 
FWIW, I got the 'craft clay' machine originally described in the thread from Hobby Lobby for $17.50 or so after a 40% off coupon back in November, then got busy having a kid. About a month ago I did a parti-gyle barleywine and IPA, got an efficiency 4 points better than LHBS crush even on a pre boil gravity of about 1.070 or so. I'm pleased with mine, and it was a fun project.
 
As this thread started a long-long time ago (in a galaxy far-far away) in 2008th, I'm pretty curious are your original pasta mills still holding and doing their job today? I.e. does this thing last for a while, or not?

That said, I've already got my rollers knurled, so what's left is reassembly and launch :)
 
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