Broken drills from barley crusher

[SAS98M]

28 volt Milwaukee cordless gets my vote..... Put it in low range "mat the pedal" and power thru the grain without a hitch. I use mine on a Crankenstein without a problem. I haven't checked - but multiple batches are never a problem,as others have also mentioned the batteries must be kept up with.

Kudo's to the user of that Milwaukee right angle drill too--that baby has the kahones to power thru 6x's with auger bits-grain doesn't stand a chance.......

 

[the_bird]

Why buy two drills? The more you use your cordless, the longer the batteries will last.

+1.

Besides, none of us is milling so much grain that you're going to wear out your drill.

And, if milling some grain once once or twice a month really IS wearing out your drill, you've got a *****-ass drill and ought to get a better one, anyway.

 

[rico567]

Since the beginning (about 2.5 years ago), I've used an old Craftsman all-metal 1/2" drill that I inherited. It gets pretty warm on the big grain bills, but has absolutely no problem powering my Corona-type mill.

 

[bgburdman9]

I bought the harbor freight 1/2 inch low speed drill today for 31-32 in a store with a 20% off coupon. Pretty good deal. I set my mill to 0.038 and tried a little grain through it and was still getting powder. I opened it to 0.043 across the entire width of the mill and the grain was crushed pretty well but i still got some powder and had a few uncrushed grains still snuck through.

 

[Pappers_]

Add me to the list of those who grind the grain by hand. I like it, gives me something to do while my mash water is heating. Something very satisfying about turning the crank and watching the grain through. Plus, I'm a beast.

 

[SixFoFalcon]

I bought the harbor freight 1/2 inch low speed drill today for 31-32 in a store with a 20% off coupon. Pretty good deal. I set my mill to 0.038 and tried a little grain through it and was still getting powder. I opened it to 0.043 across the entire width of the mill and the grain was crushed pretty well but i still got some powder and had a few uncrushed grains still snuck through.

Unless you are conditioning your malt before you crush, you will always get some flour in the grist. Don't let is scare you--if you keep opening it up until you have no flour, the hulls will barely be cracked and you will have terrible efficiency. You are looking to break the endosperm into 3-4 pieces (on average) and keep the hulls in large chunks/slivers. You can certainly go bigger than .038" if you wish, but if you are getting a ton of flour at a .038" gap then something is wrong--perhaps your grain is really old?

Here is (the free version of) Palmer's advice:
http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter17-1.html