My Ugly Junk- Corona Mill Station...

Most LHBS should mill it for free. I buy my 2 row in bulk 50 lbs, and save about .30 to .70 per lb. So I had no choice, but to pull ours out of storage, I line the 5 gallon bucket with an over size bag and hold the bag around the drop of the mill i loose less than a 1/4 teaspoon of grain! way less!

 

Well, I haven't done anything to corral the grain, expand the hopper, or even attach a drill yet, but it was time to test out my corona mill anyway. I just used a big plastic bag I had saved from a NB all-grain kit, and held it in place over the mill outlet. Anyway, it was my first time grinding my own grain, so I busted out the camcorder and uploaded the video to youtube.



I got some good close-ups of the crush. I'd be curious how it compares with the crush the rest of you get. It looked good to me, but it didn't even seem like I had the plates tightened together all that much. I crushed this today, so I can brew the batch on Saturday. So, I'll find out what kind of efficiency I get from this crush soon.

 

This grain mill is designed to grind grain into really fine particles, so don't be surprised that the plates seem awful loose. Your grind looks pretty good to me. I definitely wouldn't call it TOO fine, though.

 

I assume that means, it should be fine for this brew. But I could go ahead and tighten it up a bit the next time around.

Cool.

 

New to HBT saw this thread and wanted to post pictures of my ugly mill

 

OK, this setup is a take-off of wilserbrewer's design (post #144), with my own modifications. My Chinese Corona-style corn grinder is enclosed in a very sturdy food-grade bucket from Lowes, with lid. It's supported by a chunk of 2x4 Douglas fir, that's held in place with two pan head screws at either end. Yes, cutting and fitting that chunk of wood was loads of fun...

The bottom of the mill bucket is cut completely out. To use the mill, I drop it into a second bucket. When I'm finished grinding I simply pull the mill bucket out, leaving the grain behind.

My hopper is a 3 gal water jug from Winco, that I had originally bought for something else. I cut the bottom out with a Rotozip tool, but I wouldn't recommend anyone else doing it that way... if I had my druthers and could start over, I'd use the finest-toothed sabre saw blade I could find, and lay down a layer of tape first. Or better yet, cut it with a hot knife.

I set the mill off-center, so the shaft would stick through the side of the bucket and allow me to grind by hand. I had to put an extension on it anyway though, so the handle would clear the hopper. For power grinding with a drill motor, I just screw in the appropriate hex-head bolt and go after it with a drill motor. My battery-operated drills overheat and start smelling of burnt windings while I'm grinding, so I went to a heavy duty corded one. It downright sucks the grain out of the hopper...

I really like this setup. Setting it on a table or workbench places it at a good height for grinding, either by hand or with the drill. When I'm hand grinding, I lay my left arm across the lid to keep everything stable. But it isn't necessary when power grinding.

 

I just realized after looking at your setup that mine isn't official yet. It doesn't have any duct tape....

 

Nice work, I like the smaller water bucket, I am using the 5 gallon water container If I had to do it over again I would cut 1 inch below the taper, the reason for this is so I can put the bucket flat on my scale and fill the grain. the top would then snap on and could be inverted into the hopper, It would save me atleast 2 steps and dirtying a bowl!

 

Let me make sure I understand. Instead of cutting out the bottom, you'll cut the water jug in two an inch below the curved top, use it to weigh your grain in, then stuff the top part back over it so you can use it as a hopper?

Interesting thought. Have you tried it, to make sure the top will slip over the sides without too much trouble?

By the way: the more I think about it, the more convinced I am that a hot knife is the way to go when cutting the water jugs. They sell hot knife tips that screw on in place of the normal tips on soldering irons...

 

Here's version 2 of my ugly mill.

 

Very nice. The only issue I see is you really need to stir the grain into the water. Dough balls are going to mess with your efficiency.

 

I saw an Instructable page containing mods for corona mills, and the poster had removed the plate and cotter pin and cut threads on the shaft with a 1/2" die, and replaced the plate and pin with a nut and rubber o-ring. Just curious if anyone has tried this?

 

Personnally, I wouldn't recommend this sinceI found a little rock mixed with my grain lately. Allowing the plate to wobble a bit allows also little rocks to go through without damaging tne plate I guess.....

 

Wow....if your getting rocks in your grains.... Who knows what else is in there?!?

Whose your primary grain supplier

 

I've had a small stone in with my 2-row from Canadian Malting, also some non-barley, dark black seeds. As long as it's the proper size and shape it will fit through the sieve they use to sift and sort the grains.

 

Gambrinus malting ESB 2 row....

 

I think rocks are somewhat common, I've had one in a bag if fawcett marries otter as well as weinman pilsner malt. Sorry for any misspelling, my phone keeps auto correcting to weird things.

 

I dont mind the rocks. I guess efficiency suffers a little though.

 

I've made the modifications based upon this instructable and I think it has helped greatly in being able to adjust the grind. My change in the modification was to replace one of the metal washers with rubber washers, both behind the rotating head and at the side bolts. This gives the plates a slight ability to bounce with a large particle (rock) going through, although I've never seen it happen.

 

The castings on my mill are so bad, they form pivot points for the moving plate. It would continue to wobble even if I cut threads and bolted it tightly. I have filed and Dremeled the surfaces to reduce the rocking but I have not eliminated it. I am certain the early mills before the 1970's were made to better tolerances - the molds were not worn out - and I will look in flea markets for an old one.

It still does a decent job. A few barley-sized pebbles and odd organic bits are acceptable in massive amounts of grain.

 

I have seen the instructable page whereby the mill shaft is threaded, while a noble effort, I think the return is questionable for the work involved.

There was a time where I thought the best solution was to fix the burr plate to the shaft and make it true without wobble, but lately I am of the opinion that it is easier and very effective to just make the burr plate free to woble by either grinding excess material, installing a smaller cotter pin....etc.

If the burr plate is "free" and not binding on the shaft, it will true itself due to the pressure of the grain and produce a nice crush...

 

Just ordered one of these yesterday as an Xmas present to myself. Can't wait to try it out. Thanks to all for helping me decide to go corona vs a much more expensive roller.

 

Discount Tommy strikes again via Amazon. Several here are happy with that deal...cheers!

 

Used it last night. We ground 32-1/2 lbs in about 15 minutes.

 

I've been having some efficiency trouble, and I think it's related to my trying to use a cheap CL craftsman drill. It seems like the quic vibrations loosened the wing nuts that hold the shield/crush adjustment mechanism to the main body (the ones some people have to stack washers in).

I've tightened them up and am readjusting my crush to try to get back to my efficiency before this happened. I'll just stick to hand-milling for now. I don't have to pay for a gym membership!

 

I find it helps to tighten the wing nuts with a pair of pliers, hand tight will tend to wander IMH.

 

Found an old 1/2 heavy duty drill to use. Does not have a speed control and lists at 500rpm. Anyone have any troubles at that speed?

Sent from my HTC One X using Home Brew mobile app

 

500 RPM might be a little quick, but that should / will slow a bit due to the load of the mill, I would think that drill will work well!

cheers!

 

Mill a few lbs, then uncouple the mill and let it rotate without load to cool down. I do that every couple lbs and it has been fine so far

 

After clumsily using a corona mill for over 10 years, I've created a permanent solution and want to show it off. I've seen a lot of ways to mount a mill on a bucket, but too many involve cutting into the bucket which has two disadvantages - 1.makes the bucket useless for other purposes, and 2.creates a big bucket/mill contraption that is hard to store.

I think I've got a solution - the Corona Mill Bucket Topper.

It has a lid to cover the bucket and mount the mill, a hole through the middle to allow the grain to fall through, and legs to both hold it fast when mounted on the bucket, or hold it upright on any flat surface when not in use.

 

Does that wobble around when you're cranking? Do the legs provide enough stability that it doesn't?

Do you use something to keep the grain channeled into the hole in the bucket?

 

The legs are spaced so that they fit snugly inside the bucket. Once I set it inside, I can lift the mill, and the bucket will come with it. It's pretty secure. I use a garbage bag tied around the mill plates to channel the grains into the hole.

 

Then you should attach the garbage bag and reshoot the photos so it will qualify as an "Ugly Junk" Corona mill

Love the setup!

 

here is my porkers grain mill

 

Only used it on 1 batch so far but hooked up to my half inch drill I used to use to mix thinset and worked like a charm. Perfect milling.

 

Just used my new corona with my new grinding bucket setup and word to the wise if you have not used one of these before, the ground grains shoot all over the place. I even have a shroud over the grinding plates but with just a few small gaps and I thought it would be ok. Good thing it was in the garage because it made a mess. Time to cut up some little wood pieces to cover those up.

 

Yeah, man! ...half inch power drill - the only way to fly.

 

Hey good for you! Word to the truly wise, put the mill entirely in the bucket, no mess at all, you could grind your grain in grandmas living room that spotless.

Yes, a big 1/2" drill will work wonders and can run all day into the night on a corona mill.
Cheers
Wilser

 

hell yeah! love this idea! already purchased a corona mill on amazon about 10 minutes ago! i have all the rest laying around! thanks alot wilserbrewer! Also i purchased a BIAB bag ultra kit from you earlier today

 

Just your typical bucket-in-a-bucket Corona Mill.