Using a pasta maker to mill grain.

[cklages]

It sounds like my mill is in a bit better shape than yours, but it too has been retired in favour of a new crankandstein. In the end, the only real problem I had with the pasta mill was keeping the rollers rough enough to feed at a reasonable rate, and running 1/2 per minute or less was starting to wear on me a bit. It seemed like you had to roughen the rollers between every batch, although malt conditioning certainly helped with that.

That being said, it was this machine that allowed me to get into all-grain at a reasonable price, and I'm certainly glad I built it. I will probably keep it for backup.

 

[bryanjints]

You guys that wore yours out already: what RPM did you run your drill at when crushing? If you didn't use a drill what did you use and how fast?


I run my Milwaukee as fast as it will go and I am afraid the little pasta machine isn't going to last very long. I don't have the cash to replace this thing right now. I have only run about 50lbs through it so I think it will last me a while longer. Just want to know how much abuse I can give it so I can save for a new barley crusher.

I got 84% efficiency today using it. The best I have gotten. The other batches I used it for only got 72% or so. I got 72% both conditioning and running grain through dry. Also using setting 7 or 6. Today I ran it through twice after conditioning. The first time through it wouldn't go through on setting 5 so I ran it on 6. Then ran it through again on setting 5.


Before crushing my own I was using Brewmasters Warehouse and getting consistently 85%. So today puts my system back where it was back then. It was hard for me to make a beer below 5% alcohol when useing BMWH. Then the first batch I crushed myself I am shooting for 4.3% Guinness clone. Only got to 3.7%. Today's beer is a Mai Bock that should finish out around 8%. It is a birthday present for my dad. Everything I have brewed up to this point has been an Ale and he doesn't really like Ales all that much. An 8% Mai Bock should be able to be enjoyed by both of us. Hopefully I can ferment, lager, and bottle condition by Memorial day.

 

[gingerdawg]

I had an issue with the bushing wearing out on the drive roller, behind the drive socket. It is some type of cheap, thin flange bushing that appears to be steel, with some low-friction coating. The flange of the bushing takes thrust loads and spinning loads, and it split into two pieces. I replaced the bushing with an oillite bronze bushing that I got from the hardware store. I had to ream the bushing out to some oddball dimension, and thin out the flange, but it is working great now.
I don't know how much grain I have put through it. Two years worth of brewing at a moderate pace. I run it with a drill at 1/3 to 1/2 speed.
Conditioning the malt is a really good idea.

 

[RedIrocZ-28]

I usually ran mine at max, and I can imagine that after 2 years I easily put 300+ LBS through this thing. For my investment of $26.50 I am not going to complain. It would take me 8 years of brewing to equal the cost of a barley crusher if I were to convert 4 of these things. Although, it is much better if you run it at a lower RPM because when the rollers are moving too fast, you actually crush slower.

 

[WCrane]

What's everyone's setting? Mine has 1-9 in the dial and I've had trouble getting it right. I usually set it at 4 (+/- 1).
In the past I was about 70% Eff. wehich is fine, but there is room for improvement. I do need to tweak my batch sparge technique a bit, but I'd like to see what other have going on as far as their setting on the pasta mill. I'd love to consitently get over 75% eff.

 

[Pickngrin]

It sounds like my mill is in a bit better shape than yours, but it too has been retired in favour of a new crankandstein. In the end, the only real problem I had with the pasta mill was keeping the rollers rough enough to feed at a reasonable rate, and running 1/2 per minute or less was starting to wear on me a bit. It seemed like you had to roughen the rollers between every batch, although malt conditioning certainly helped with that.

That being said, it was this machine that allowed me to get into all-grain at a reasonable price, and I'm certainly glad I built it. I will probably keep it for backup.

Ahh. I've had to re-gouge my rollers multiple times, and since no one had mentioned this in the thread (as far as I noticed, anyhow), I thought that I was doing something wrong here. Have people that have had their rollers knurled found them to hold up better?

 

[dutch-brew]

Ahh. I've had to re-gouge my rollers multiple times,

I took a dremel and cut grooves all along the rollers. They are nice and rough, and never had to re-gouge my rollers. Here i am a few hundred #'s of malt later and it is still going.

For what it's worth, i don't run my drill full speed though. Nice and low and slow and the rollers have plenty of bite.

 

[Pickngrin]

I took a dremel and cut grooves all along the rollers. They are nice and rough, and never had to re-gouge my rollers. Here i am a few hundred #'s of malt later and it is still going.

For what it's worth, i don't run my drill full speed though. Nice and low and slow and the rollers have plenty of bite.

Oh, that's a good idea. Can you give me an idea of the pattern you cut the grooves in?

 

[dutch-brew]

I just cut them straight in the length of the rollers. Even did it with the rollers in place in the pasta maker. Use the re-inforced discs. Make sure to wear eye-protection! Those blades are notorious for shattering, esp the regular cut-off discs. Think i might have used 5 discs on it all together.

I used to have a pic up some where of my pasta roller. Will give the link if i can track it down.

 

[st0neski]

I bought this pasta maker and built my grain mill this weekend. I haven't used it yet, but remembered seeing posts about the crankandstein.

When i looked at the pics of the crankandstein i remembered seeing rollers like that somewhere sometime in my life, and today it came to me. Bike Pegs

http://www.biking.com/buy-bike-accessories/lead-foot.html

For two pegs, it would cost $20 plus shipping

These rollers are usually 3.5 inchs to 4 inchs long, so that is pretty close to the crankandstein at a lower cost, plus parts to put them together. What do you guys think?

 

[Revvy]

I bought this pasta maker and built my grain mill this weekend. I haven't used it yet, but remembered seeing posts about the crankandstein.

When i looked at the pics of the crankandstein i remembered seeing rollers like that somewhere sometime in my life, and today it came to me. Bike Pegs

http://www.biking.com/buy-bike-accessories/lead-foot.html

For two pegs, it would cost $20 plus shipping

These rollers are usually 3.5 inchs to 4 inchs long, so that is pretty close to the crankandstein at a lower cost, plus parts to put them together. What do you guys think?

I think you should buy a couple, and make a grain mill out of them, put together a tutorial on homebrewtalk about it, and have folks worship you, prost the thread and name their first born kid after you.

In other words don't ask for opinions, prove it by making it work.

 

[st0neski]

I think you should buy a couple, and make a grain mill out of them, put together a tutorial on homebrewtalk about it, and have folks worship you, prost the thread and name their first born kid after you.

In other words don't ask for opinions, prove it by making it work.

I am wondering if the knurl on these things is good enough

 

[Revvy]

I am wondering if the knurl on these things is good enough

I'm sure they're gonna be better than folks on here roughing up the rollers on pasta machines with files. The only way to know is to try. Besides not every kind of mill uses knurled rollers. I've seen wooden and even poured concrete rollers that are pretty smooth and rely on pressure alone. I'm sure you could find a happy medium.

 

[st0neski]

I'm sure they're gonna be better than folks on here roughing up the rollers on pasta machines with files. The only way to know is to try. Besides not every kind of mill uses knurled rollers. I've seen wooden and even poured concrete rollers that are pretty smooth and rely on pressure alone. I'm sure you could find a happy medium.

nice, i dont plan on buying these until my pasta roller fails on me or I just feel like spending more money.

 

[Psych]

Thank you SO much for this thread! I spent the last three hours massacring my 40% off Michael's Pasta Maker and transforming it into the mega-cheap grain crusher. Mounted it on some plywood and wha-bam it grinds grain! I only had some pre-crushed stuff on hand but was able to get a much finer grind on it, so it definitely pulls stuff in.

I used a drill bit made for metal and went to town on the rollers while they were attached to the machine, only had the one side off at the time. Took 30 minutes or so but eventually they got pretty well knurled.

Used a 2 liter pop bottle on top for a hopper (cut bottom off, screwed into 1 inch hole I made in a scrap bit of plywood, threaded nicely and it's very secure!), have it flush with the plates above the rollers so nothing leaks out up top. The only thing yet to do is put a guide on the bottom so the grain doesn't fall partly into the hole in the plywood below, and partly onto the plywood itself. A heating duct sort of shape would work there, flared out. Or really even tinfoil or something I bet would work...hmm...

So sweet though, it pulls grain in just fine! I need to secure it to something a bit heavier to really give'r on the crank though, might bolt my plywood base onto something bigger that can hold a bucket beneath it.

$24 after tax and $10 for misc drill bits that I really could use for lots of other stuff now, so worth the money. Was a fun evening!

 

[Mischief_Brewing]

The only thing yet to do is put a guide on the bottom so the grain doesn't fall partly into the hole in the plywood below, and partly onto the plywood itself. A heating duct sort of shape would work there, flared out. Or really even tinfoil or something I bet would work...hmm...

I used the plastic bag from some specialty grain with the bottom cut out taped to the bottom of the pasta grinder. It hangs down into my bucket and really helps keep the flour dust down as well...

 

[Psych]

I used the plastic bag from some specialty grain with the bottom cut out taped to the bottom of the pasta grinder. It hangs down into my bucket and really helps keep the flour dust down as well...

That's a good idea! I'll give that a try.

 

[Jefathome]

I did the whole Mod thing yesterday and I found that this kind of bit for my dremel seemed to work the best. I was able to groove in some nice lines down the length of the rollers similar to that one non-diamond patter knurl.

I think this will pull the grains in very well but crush them as opposed to macerating them. Also might not get as clogged.

 

[Revvy]

I did the whole Mod thing yesterday and I found that this kind of bit for my dremel seemed to work the best. I was able to groove in some nice lines down the length of the rollers similar to that one non-diamond patter knurl.

I think this will pull the grains in very well but crush them as opposed to macerating them. Also might not get as clogged.

You haven't enough posts to put up pics yet, so I'll do it.

 

[Jefathome]

Thanks...

Here is the dremel bit I used:
http://www.hobbyplace.com/tools/drebits.php
Maybe this is better location:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31gk2YaJKrL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

and here is what my results are similar to... as posted by another member earlier in this thread.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5sUcJClYpcY/SxLsnlwCSCI/AAAAAAAAADI/z1CZgmlJAts/s512/IMG_0311.JPG

btw, how many posts would I need to be able to use the "img" function?
Not that I'm complaining of course, but I'm on two other boards (Reefcentral for my saltwater reef tanks and I'm a Mod on Ridemonkey com a Mountainbike site) and I've seen minimum posts for doing buy-sell but never for posting images. Well live and learn I guess.

 

[shortyjacobs]

You haven't enough posts to put up pics yet, so I'll do it.

hrm, can't see it. But here's what it looks like:

 

[Jefathome]

Thanks... that is the one I used.

 

[Mischief_Brewing]

Argh. Nearly a year and over 300# of grain, something isn't right with my pasta mill. After putting 25 of the 31.5# of grain through it for Tuesday's brew, I started hearing a loud metal clanking noise inside. I was able to finish up the last 6# but will need to take it apart before the next brew and see what I did.

I'm looking into the crankandsteins now, just in case. I like that you can buy them bare bones and it'll fit right into the mill stand I built for the pasta roller.

 

[Mysticmead]

Argh. Nearly a year and over 300# of grain, something isn't right with my pasta mill. After putting 25 of the 31.5# of grain through it for Tuesday's brew, I started hearing a loud metal clanking noise inside. I was able to finish up the last 6# but will need to take it apart before the next brew and see what I did.

I'm looking into the crankandsteins now, just in case. I like that you can buy them bare bones and it'll fit right into the mill stand I built for the pasta roller.

300lbs of grain over a year and you can replace the mill for $15 bucks.....that's a fair trade off. I'll be finishing my mill this week and brewing this weekend.

 

[Xalwine]

I just built one of these, (still need to knurl the rods some more, but here's a valuable lesson, DON'T USE PEANUTS TO TEST A MILL! you'll end up with peanutbutter.....

 

[wilserbrewer]

I just built one of these, (still need to knurl the rods some more, but here's a valuable lesson, DON'T USE PEANUTS TO TEST A MILL! you'll end up with peanutbutter.....

might be a good way to winterize the mill w/ all that peanut oil to keep rust away...what were ya thinkin bro...

 

[Xalwine]

might be a good way to winterize the mill w/ all that peanut oil to keep rust away...what were ya thinkin bro...

I thought "I have a grain mill! What can I mill that is similar in size to grain?" I got to eager. I got through like 7 peanuts before it made a mess.

 

[Mysticmead]

I just built one of these, (still need to knurl the rods some more, but here's a valuable lesson, DON'T USE PEANUTS TO TEST A MILL! you'll end up with peanutbutter.....

Of course if you want to make peanut butter now you have a mill

 

[Mysticmead]

might be a good way to winterize the mill w/ all that peanut oil to keep rust away...what were ya thinkin bro...

Winterize? You mean you don't brew all winter long?

 

[Mysticmead]

I just ran 5.5lbs of 2 row through my mill. The crush was as good or slightly better than brewmasters crush (they have a great crush). Buying in bulk is gonna make being even cheaper now

 

[bbbrew]

Some where along the line, someone asked how to make the pasta maker fully adjustable instead of using the pre-fab mounting holes.

Here are some photos and instructions.

See some previous posts of mine at #467 and #516 for further details. I've been using my original converted pasta maker for the past year and have great success. This past session however, my efficiency was below 65% and I attribute it to not cracking the grain enough. As it was, I was trying to make my biggest beer yet at 1.100 and 70% but fell short of that. Until now, I was satisfied with the prefab settings but think it could have contributed to not fine enough and as a result my efficiency suffered.

Regards,
BB

 

[Psych]

I ran 4.25lbs of 2 row through mine yesterday, this was the first major amount crushed in it. I found I got mostly flour on anything but setting 9, the largest. Odd...wonder if my settings wheel got messed up.

Looking at it further when I go from 9 down to 4 or 5 it lessens the gap between the rollers, and at 4 they're practically touching. 1-3 seem to do nothing for me. Must have damaged something with my drill, forced them askew or something.

But, setting 9 seems to be great! Husks don't look too bad, there's some flour but not massive amounts, no whole kernels come through.

I'm now using wax paper in a roll, fanned out underneath the rollers and through the hole in my wood base so it catches ALL of the grain. Pretty cool, wonder how long it'll hold up

 

[Mysticmead]

here's a pic of my crush using the "Noodle Crusher".

Brewed my first beer using it and went from my normal 72-74% efficiency using the crush from Brewmasters Warehouse (awesome crush from them) to getting 84% efficiency. If I can hit numbers like that on my next beer then that will be perfect!

 

[smoa]

Mysticmead, how long did it take to go through 5.5lbs and what is the alargest grain bill you have ran through this thing?

 

[Mysticmead]

Mysticmead, how long did it take to go through 5.5lbs and what is the alargest grain bill you have ran through this thing?

this was my first time using the mill. it went through 5.5lbs in about 2 minutes.

 

[snow145532]

I had mine set at 4 and it took about 45 minutes to go through 4.5lbs. moved the setting larger (i think 3) and it took about 15 minutes to go through another 5.5lbs. crush still looked good and overall i hit around 75% eff on my 1st batch with it

 

[gingerdawg]

How long it takes to mill grain is going to depend on how good of a job you did knurling your rollers. Early on, the rollers wern't rough enough and it took a long time to mill a 12# grain bill. Later, after going aftyer the rollers again, the 12# grain bill took less than 10min.

 

[bbbrew]

You will find that different grain will process differently. They definately vary in size from a standard Pale Brewer malt to a more plump Winter grain. So I second the comment on the condition of the roller to help pull the grain in and push it though. All the more reason to take 20 minutes and make it infinately adjustable for varying sizes of ingredients.
Good luck,
BB

 

[smoa]

Are the rollers thick enough material to put a true knurl on them? Are they hardened? I work in a machine shop and could probably knurl them, but I am doing 20lbs batches. Should I waste my time on a mill this small?

 

[Catt22]

Are the rollers thick enough material to put a true knurl on them? Are they hardened? I work in a machine shop and could probably knurl them, but I am doing 20lbs batches. Should I waste my time on a mill this small?

Not really. They are thin and hollow IIRC. Plated brass I think. No, don't waste your time on it. Just my opinion, nothing more. I would get the bare bones Monster Mill and go from there. The MM's are not very expensive at all.