Corona style grain mill at ebay

Has anyone bought one of these corona style mills from this seller? Looks like a good deal, decent size hopper, are these all pretty much the same made in china corona style mills that sell on ebay? I currently buy my grain crushed from my supplier but it would be nice to buy in bulk and crush fresh grain the day of the brew.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Cast-Ir...014?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3374ffb07e

 

Pretty good price with the free shipping. Looks identical to the Corona I've had for years. I bought a mill a year ago but before that the Corona served me well. Its not as good as a crusher but it does give you the independence from store crushes and short shelf life. I still use my Corona for crushing unmalted grains that are really hard compared to malt.

Put a couple washers on each bolt that holds the turning plate, that will give you a more consistent gap.

 

Discount Tommy has similar for $25 free shipping...

http://www.discounttommy.com/p-189-...er-for-wheat-grains-or-use-as-a-nut-mill.aspx

 

I did see that neither of these has a cover over the grinding surfaces, mine has a metal cover. Not sure if this is going to result in more of a mess when you crush. YOu could probably drape a baggie over it to keep things from shooting in all directions.

 

Thanks guys for the replies. I picked one up for $24.99 shipped. I'll take the advice on the washers for sure and figure out some way to keep the mess down with a plastic bag or? Gonna do some searching to see how people have their corona type mills set up. Will also do the conversion to a drill instead of hand crank. I can get a 50# bag of 2 row for about $45 shipped to my door in 24 hours so this will definately save on my brew costs in the long run.

 

Double bucket system is easiest. Cut a 2x4 to fit inside the bucket, cut bottom out of said bucket, screw 2x4 into said bucket, mount mill to said 2x4, drop milling bucket into another bucket to catch the grains. I drape a hand-towel over the top of mine. I took the crank "bolt" to the HW store and found the same diameter/thread pitch hex-head bolt. Drill hole in mill bucket and notch out spot for bolt and crank shaft in secondary bucket. Thread bolt into crank shaft and use hex socket in drill. Done.

 

Good price on domestic malt, guess you aren't far from a maltster up there. Definitely cheaper to buy malt in bulk.

 

Very similar to what I did, but I mounted the mill low enough that I could cut a hole in the lid and the only thing that sticks out is the hopper. I also found an allen head a bit easier than hex.

 

Just a heads up...only some corona mills need washers if the grind is too tight from the factory...this is not a "must do". But rather an option if all you can produce is flour

 

All good ideas, I'll check how well it crushes first to see if I need the washers. I saw a pic of Revvy's corona setup and it looked to be pretty easy to do and I have all the parts, including the foldgers plastic coffee container.

 

I could set mine for a loose crush but it was touchy since the bolts/wingnuts were kind of loose. Once I put the washers on it, the thing seemed to be more consistent.

 

Considering adding a water-jug hopper (from the water dispenser systems) on mine and if I do I'll hope to have it just go into a bucket-lid. I think I mounted mine low enough that I can get a lid on it with no hoppers.

 

So, what was the verdict on this cheap mill?

 

I got one of the Discount Tommy versions. It has worked great for 3.5 years. Here is the mounting I worked out for it, which is of the "double bucket" variety with an old water jug as the hopper. I drive it with the Craftsman 1/2" drill shown in the pix:

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-ugly-junk-corona-mill-station-90849/index99.html#post3974135

 

Alright, got my discount tommy mill. Tommy required proof of delivery in person so i had to go down to the post office this morning.

I don't understand at all what people mean by setting the gap with washers on the bolts that hold the grinding mechanism onto the frame, but i'll accept that not everybody needs that mod.

On mine, however, the inner plate was sitting at an angle because the lower mount point is a couple mm proud, so i put washers under the upper two mount points to level it out. Looks ok, will try grinding something tomorrow.

I'd rather have the plate sitting flush, so i will probably visit a friend with a grinding wheel soon.

 

Mine was one of those that didn't need any washers, but the plate (like a lot of them, apparently) was wobbly. When the main center bolt is tightened down enough to get the desired crush, though, any unevenness in the plate doesn't seem to matter.

 

Yes, likely it is best to have the stationary plate and the rotating plate aligned, but if the rotating plate is "freed" up a bit and allowed to wobble, it may tend to align itself...sounds like you have the mechanical insight to get it done...

My assumption on the washers is that some mills don't have the range of adjustment to provide anything but flour...therefore the washers are required to move the rotating plate "out".

It's not rocket science...usually it is apparent that something is "crooked' and needs a little adjustment which can be aaccomplished various ways. Good idea w/ the washers under the static grinding plate....should work fine.

This...and if not, free up the rotating plate on the shaft to self align during grinding.

 

I have read most all the ugly mill station post and have the bucket in bucket mounting and used the washers and have a gallon mayo added on to the factory hopper right now to hold about 6#s. Its been a very consistent little mill I usually always get the same efficiency out of it and also did the bolt mod to run it with the D drive drill from harbor freight. I am about to redo the hopper since I have a better bottle that got 2 cracks in the bottom and leaked 2/3s of pbw water all over my floor. I have mine set to get 1/3 or a little more of flour most of all the husks are not shredded just split and an ok amount of grain bits. I was skeptical about it after all the hear say about it but I am happy with mine probably ran 200# through it so far with no issues.

 

I never motorized mine nor did I enlarge the hopper. Probably should've, I don't have fond memories of cranking 5lb of grain through it. Then again I do need all the exercise I can get.

As far as wobbly plates, when you're pushing grain through things stay nicely spaced.

 

The only downside I've read about is that the Corona type mills are really designed to produce a flour. Can you get a good crush without a high percentage of flour dust?

 

The crush I got with the Corona isn't too dissimilar to what I'm getting with a monster mill. Of course I like a good crush with a decent amount of flour.

 

There are probably thousands or tens of thousands of brewers or maybe even hundreds of thousands who use these and get a good crush.

I got mine for Xmas. After 10 minutes of adjustment I get a great crush and consistently get in the 70% range for efficiency.

I am going for a plumbing on my brew porch, fermentation chamber and kegging before spending on a roller mill.



Mill = Xmas present
washers = already had them
drill = already had it
plastic for dust control = already had it.
coffee container for hopper expansion = already drank the coffee.
hole saw to drill through the workbench = already owned it.
pants leg stapled under the bench to control the dust = from worn out pants.
Buckets for the grain = already had them. $1.50 ea from local dairy.

Out of pocket for this project = $0.00

 

I can't decide if I want to purchase this or the Stir Starter. I have some extra cash in Paypal that's burning up. I usually steep grains for every batch I do now so I think this would be the rolling pin and serve my need. And I don't want to invest in a really nice grain mill until I am doing all grain brewing. But I don't know if this is any better efficiency wise than the rolling pin. I'll have to think...