LeapingLamb
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 15, 2013
- Messages
- 46
- Reaction score
- 2
Hi All,
So recently I came into possession of some whole unmilled specialty malt. However, the fact that I don't own a grain mill and crushing one pound of grain with a rolling pin is not that fun I started looking around to find a way to crush it mechanically and still save money.
I wanted to build a cheap and easy to build grain mill that I could share with everyone. It was hard to find a mill design that did not require a metalworking shop or some specialized tools such as a lathe. Also it was quite hard figuring out how to construct rollers for this project as I don't own a lathe. There has been a guy on Homebrewtalk that used his table saw as a makeshift lathe ... but since my wife and kid were gone for a week when i built it I didn't want to risk cutting my fingers off and thought what else could I use? Turns out you can buy wooden rolling pins made of Maple for 10 dollar at Walmart. These rollers are about 2 1/2 inch in diameter and much smaller than the recommended 4 inch rollers that some people recommended online for a wooden grainmill.
So i started doing some research and looked up the following ideas/plans (gotta give credit where credit is due)
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/diy-marble-rolling-pin-grain-mill-135183/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/project-woody-3-0xpr-worlds-first-wooden-adjustable-3-roller-grain-mill-152105/
http://hbd.org/mtippin/woodmill.html
Initially I intended to make a 2 roller grain mill but turns out that you would need a knurled surface for small diameter rollers. Turns out it didn't really work, the rollers were to smooth (although I think it might be possible if the rollers are roughed up enough. Either way, this was a prototype and the two roller design did not work very much and since everything was already cut I decided to adjust the design and built it silimar to the wood mill in the third link but adjusted it a bit.
Without further redo here is a link to some images of the grain mill:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/79397069@N06/sets/72157644266614862/
the mill uses one roller and a tilted plywood board that can be adjusted using a threaded road behind it. The spacing of the gap is adjusted by twisting the wing nuts on the end and pushing the board towards the rolling pin with the threaded rod. The roller was roughed up lengthwise using a jigsaw blade. The axle is a 1/2 inch metal rod. a 6 inch piece was hammered into one end (press fit, no glue) and a longer piece was driven with a hammer into the other side. The rolling pin runs true and center. All I still need to do is add a handle to it.
A full list of parts:
1x Wooden Rolling Pin $10 (all Canadian maple):
- Remove handle and plastic bearing (just take it apart, its walmart quality after all)
some 2x4 pieces of lumber (I got mine free from a dumpster outside a new home construction in town, so you might want to go scavenge what you can find)
Screws (2 1/2 to 3 inch)
1x 36" 1/2" metal rod $8
some nuts, washers
1x 36" 5/16 threaded rod $5
2x hinges
2x springs from a storm door assembly $2 each at princess auto
Wood working tools
This is only a prototype since I had to change my design from two rollers to one. For now the pictures will tell a lot more than me writing it out but I will take final measurements and post them.
I test crushed a few kernels of Pilsner malt and they came out nicely broken up. I will build a hopper and do a full scale test the next little while. But for now, I think for the price, it is a decent budget grain mill that can be replicated by everyone. All I used was a Jigsaw, a heavy hammer and an electric drill. some sandpaper and a few files.
I built this mill with everyone in mind that might not have access to a lot of tools or a big shop. I think this could be built with very little effort even in a small apartment if you cut all the pieces of wood.
Hope you guys enjoy this post. Please let me know your comments. This might not rival a commercial mill but I didn't want to spend several hundred dollars on one.
Cheers
Alex
So recently I came into possession of some whole unmilled specialty malt. However, the fact that I don't own a grain mill and crushing one pound of grain with a rolling pin is not that fun I started looking around to find a way to crush it mechanically and still save money.
I wanted to build a cheap and easy to build grain mill that I could share with everyone. It was hard to find a mill design that did not require a metalworking shop or some specialized tools such as a lathe. Also it was quite hard figuring out how to construct rollers for this project as I don't own a lathe. There has been a guy on Homebrewtalk that used his table saw as a makeshift lathe ... but since my wife and kid were gone for a week when i built it I didn't want to risk cutting my fingers off and thought what else could I use? Turns out you can buy wooden rolling pins made of Maple for 10 dollar at Walmart. These rollers are about 2 1/2 inch in diameter and much smaller than the recommended 4 inch rollers that some people recommended online for a wooden grainmill.
So i started doing some research and looked up the following ideas/plans (gotta give credit where credit is due)
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/diy-marble-rolling-pin-grain-mill-135183/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/project-woody-3-0xpr-worlds-first-wooden-adjustable-3-roller-grain-mill-152105/
http://hbd.org/mtippin/woodmill.html
Initially I intended to make a 2 roller grain mill but turns out that you would need a knurled surface for small diameter rollers. Turns out it didn't really work, the rollers were to smooth (although I think it might be possible if the rollers are roughed up enough. Either way, this was a prototype and the two roller design did not work very much and since everything was already cut I decided to adjust the design and built it silimar to the wood mill in the third link but adjusted it a bit.
Without further redo here is a link to some images of the grain mill:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/79397069@N06/sets/72157644266614862/
the mill uses one roller and a tilted plywood board that can be adjusted using a threaded road behind it. The spacing of the gap is adjusted by twisting the wing nuts on the end and pushing the board towards the rolling pin with the threaded rod. The roller was roughed up lengthwise using a jigsaw blade. The axle is a 1/2 inch metal rod. a 6 inch piece was hammered into one end (press fit, no glue) and a longer piece was driven with a hammer into the other side. The rolling pin runs true and center. All I still need to do is add a handle to it.
A full list of parts:
1x Wooden Rolling Pin $10 (all Canadian maple):
- Remove handle and plastic bearing (just take it apart, its walmart quality after all)
some 2x4 pieces of lumber (I got mine free from a dumpster outside a new home construction in town, so you might want to go scavenge what you can find)
Screws (2 1/2 to 3 inch)
1x 36" 1/2" metal rod $8
some nuts, washers
1x 36" 5/16 threaded rod $5
2x hinges
2x springs from a storm door assembly $2 each at princess auto
Wood working tools
This is only a prototype since I had to change my design from two rollers to one. For now the pictures will tell a lot more than me writing it out but I will take final measurements and post them.
I test crushed a few kernels of Pilsner malt and they came out nicely broken up. I will build a hopper and do a full scale test the next little while. But for now, I think for the price, it is a decent budget grain mill that can be replicated by everyone. All I used was a Jigsaw, a heavy hammer and an electric drill. some sandpaper and a few files.
I built this mill with everyone in mind that might not have access to a lot of tools or a big shop. I think this could be built with very little effort even in a small apartment if you cut all the pieces of wood.
Hope you guys enjoy this post. Please let me know your comments. This might not rival a commercial mill but I didn't want to spend several hundred dollars on one.
Cheers
Alex
. Yeah I think the rollers will take a beating at some point. I have been thinking about this problem. Initially i bought two rollers so I got another one to replace the current one. I was thinking perhaps I can use some sort of pipe with a 2 inch ID to act as a sleeve if the roller gets to beaten up but for now it'll do 
