Corona Mill or Pasta Maker Mill

[Conan]

I've got a modified Pasta, and it works okay. When it breaks I'll very gladly move up to a commercial mill. But until then the pasta will do. My biggest complaint is the hopper. I bolted a 2 gallon plastic mop bucket and it's not an ideal setup. Not the mill's fault, though. Go with whatever is cheapest and easiest, I'd say. Kyle

 

[benman]

Corona Mill hands down. I was using a pasta machine to mill and it would take about 40min with a drill to get through 10lb of grain. Used the corona for the first time this weekend and did a 10lb bill by hand in 10min.

 

[cincydave]

Just picked up my Walmart Corona mill today (free ship to store). Washed in hot soapy water and dried in the oven. This thing is a lot more substantial than I was expecting. Went with this one due to larger hopper and cover over grinding plates.

LHBS closed on Mondays, so couldn't get barley to try it out. Did run a little rice through it. Have a feeling this will be 30 bucks well spent. Yes, maybe not as good as a dedicated roller grain mill, but for a once a month brewer (BIAB) should work just fine.

 

[StanJohnson]

Just picked up my Walmart Corona mill today (free ship to store). Washed in hot soapy water and dried in the oven. This thing is a lot more substantial than I was expecting. Went with this one due to larger hopper and cover over grinding plates.

LHBS closed on Mondays, so couldn't get barley to try it out. Did run a little rice through it. Have a feeling this will be 30 bucks well spent. Yes, maybe not as good as a dedicated roller grain mill, but for a once a month brewer (BIAB) should work just fine.

I got the same one, a Weston/Prago, only not from Walmart. The hopper is nice, though I had to put some tape around where it mates to the mill to seal it because of the slight gap. The cover over the grinding plates is great. I had a real easy time adjusting the plates to get the correct grind. I only had a 5.5 lb grain bill, so I ground by hand. I also do BIAB. I did my first brew a couple of weekends ago and my mash efficiency was over 80%.
I think you'll be happy with it.

 

[cincydave]

Hey Stan,

Got some grain and tried it out tonight. Went through a couple pounds of specialty grains fairly quickly. Then looked at the 10 pounds of 2 row and started looking for a bolt to put in the drive shaft to use the drill.

Didn't have anything that fit, so until I find something, will use the handle. Not too bad. Can certainly use the excercise. Love the crush and so easy to adjust on the fly. So much better than the LHBS crush. Love this thing already

 

[StanJohnson]

Somewhere on the "ugly junk corona mill thread", I think someone posted that it's a 13mm bolt.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-ugly-junk-corona-mill-station-90849/

 

[wilserbrewer]

Love the crush and so easy to adjust on the fly.

While this may be true, I would suggest tightening down the adjustment w/ a pair of pliers so as not to have any inadvertant adjustments mid crush. Once your satisfied, tighten it good so it won't loosen.

 

[CastleBlack]

Sounds like i need to get me a Prago mill.

Edit: I just bought the mill online from Walmart like the poster mentions above. I cant thank you enough for the input and Happy brewing to ya mate.

My first brew with this grain mill, Stone's Sublimely Self Righteous Clone. Its been put off for too damn long!

Thanks again, its gonna ship to store and I ll be ready to brew by months end.-

 

[cincydave]

I've only done two all grain (BIAB) batches. My efficiency went from 65% to 70% with the coroana ground batch. Hoping to bump it up even more.

 

[StanJohnson]

CastleBlack: Glad to hear you ordered a Prago mill. I think you'll be happy with it.

cincydave: Do ya squeeze the $h!t out of your bag? I think that, plus I do a sparge step with mine, helps with my efficiency. You can see a pic of my 3 gallon mash tun in my gallery.

 

[CastleBlack]

CastleBlack: Glad to hear you ordered a Prago mill. I think you'll be happy with it.

cincydave: Do ya squeeze the $h!t out of your bag? I think that, plus I do a sparge step with mine, helps with my efficiency. You can see a pic of my 3 gallon mash tun in my gallery.

Thanks Stan, I cant wait to get it home and start milling big time. I think I can some really decent efficiency with it (~75% ).

Also, Cincydave, I do exactly what Stan said above. Actually I think it is the most ingenious method of mashing, period: BIAB plus sparging. However I do not squeeze since I can pick up tannins very easily in my final taste tests. Instead I do careful strike (sparge) water control so as to get the maximum efficiency in my first runnings and then utilize the remaining water adjusted to the gravity of the brew I am making. If you want I can write my more detailed way of doing so. Stan may already be doing the same thing. Last I sparge first with 168 water and then with 160 to get least amount of tannins in my final result. Its all the outcome mate.

Happy brewing to ya all and thanks for the great info on the mill.

 

[cincydave]

Stan and CastleBlack. I do sparge in my made up kinda way. After mash, I put the bag on a grate over the kettle and let it drain. Then squeeze and press hard. Then I kind of fluff the grains back up and laddle hot water through them until I'm near boil volume, then squeeze one more time. First BIAB bottled a few days ago so haven't tasted to see if there are any bitter tannin flavors. Not sure wha the best sparge method is. Seems to be so many ways to do it.

 

[CastleBlack]

Stan and CastleBlack. I do sparge in my made up kinda way. After mash, I put the bag on a grate over the kettle and let it drain. Then squeeze and press hard. Then I kind of fluff the grains back up and laddle hot water through them until I'm near boil volume, then squeeze one more time. First BIAB bottled a few days ago so haven't tasted to see if there are any bitter tannin flavors. Not sure wha the best sparge method is. Seems to be so many ways to do it.

Cincy, seems like you are on the right track mate, with the exception of the squeezing which can be avoided IMO. Other than that as long as you get the efficiency you want (grain bill provided) then you are good to go.

Happy brewing to ya!

 

[Brewham]

I don't think you are supposed to do that. Squeezing the bag extracts the tannins that can give the beer an astringent (suck on a tea bag) taste. Let the sugars come out of the grain gently.

 

[cincydave]

Thanks Castle. Definately two schools of thought on squeezing or not. Would be interesting to do two identical batches, one squeezing and one not to see differences in efficiency and taste. So many different things I want to brew though, I don't know if I'd be doing 2 of the same recipe for a while.

 

[RM-MN]

I don't think you are supposed to do that. Squeezing the bag extracts the tannins that can give the beer an astringent (suck on a tea bag) taste. Let the sugars come out of the grain gently.

Nope, can't be done. There isn't a man alive that can squeeze hard enough to extract tannins. It takes a combination of high pH and high temperature to do that.

 

[Euphist]

Nope, can't be done. There isn't a man alive that can squeeze hard enough to extract tannins. It takes a combination of high pH and high temperature to do that.

This

A 25lb bucket of grain sits on top of my grain bag while I bring the pot up to boiling. No detectable tannins in any of my brews, but I am getting 83-85% mash efficiency.

 

[kh54s10]

I've only done two all grain (BIAB) batches. My efficiency went from 65% to 70% with the coroana ground batch. Hoping to bump it up even more.

Tighten your mill down until it is almost hard to move. With BIAB you don't have to worry about a stuck sparge, so crush the hell out of your grain.

Also you cannot extract tannin without high PH and high temperatures, so squeeze the bag like it owes you money. (it does!)

I got low efficiency on my BIAB because when I did squeeze the bag I ended up with more wort than called for. I will allow less for grain absorption next time.

The BIAB beers were among my best BTW.

 

[StanJohnson]

After reading lots of threads, including these:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/i-squeezed-bag-did-i-ruin-my-beer-226401/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/squeezing-grain-bag-bad-175179/

I squeeze like it owes me money, just like kh54s10 says.

 

[cincydave]

Well I squeezed my first two BIAB bags. Haven't tried them yet, but if they are good I will continue to unleash hell on said bag!!

 

[CastleBlack]

Well I squeezed my first two BIAB bags. Haven't tried them yet, but if they are good I will continue to unleash hell on said bag!!

Cincy, I think I have been convinced, I too will now unleash hell on all BIAB brews in the name of efficiency!

Looking forward to 80% efficiency doing this and using the new mill.

Yet, I am near certain that I can not only taste the tannins in the final runnings if i over sparge, but perhaps even smell it. However, i may well be the hot spent grains absent sugars. We shall see. Please do post results if you experiment with it.

And as always, Happy Brewing everybody.

 

[RM-MN]

Cincy, I think I have been convinced, I too will now unleash hell on all BIAB brews in the name of efficiency!

Looking forward to 80% efficiency doing this and using the new mill.

Yet, I am near certain that I can not only taste the tannins in the final runnings if i over sparge, but perhaps even smell it. However, i may well be the hot spent grains absent sugars. We shall see. Please do post results if you experiment with it.

And as always, Happy Brewing everybody.

Oversparging is the one condition that could get you tannins as with each sparge you increase the pH of the grain bed and if you also use very hot water for sparging you could have created the conditions for tannin extraction. The simple solution is to use cooler water for the final sparge. Cool sparge and you can't extract tannins.

 

[CastleBlack]

Oversparging is the one condition that could get you tannins as with each sparge you increase the pH of the grain bed and if you also use very hot water for sparging you could have created the conditions for tannin extraction. The simple solution is to use cooler water for the final sparge. Cool sparge and you can't extract tannins.

Well said, I have been sparging with ever less warm water as we get toward the end but it is good to know that ph is a function of sugars in the grain.

The info is much appreciated.

Happy brewing to you all.

 

[CastleBlack]

Got the mill home. I was overwhelmed by the massive smell of petrol as soon as I opened the box. Sunk it in hot very soapy water and washed it with a sponge. Placed in a 350 F oven for 30 min and by the time I packed it away till the first grind it still smelled like petrol. Any suggestions?

Also, it looks like it is spray pained silver? I mean cheap is one thing but this one looks cheap even for a something made in China.

Nonetheless, it is what i got now and I am planning on getting the most use out of it. All suggestions are welcomed.

Happy brewing to you all!

 

[wilserbrewer]

I washed mine as well...one poster actually discovered it was the rubber pad for mounting that stunk...I didn't use the pad and one day pulled it out and quite right it did stink...might you be smelling the ruber pad????

 

[CastleBlack]

I washed mine as well...one poster actually discovered it was the rubber pad for mounting that stunk...I didn't use the pad and one day pulled it out and quite right it did stink...might you be smelling the ruber pad????

I didnt notice that to be honest with ya. I left it back at my girls house but I will be checking that out when I get back there on Wed. So you think it might be the pad, that sounds much safer than the mill itself being coated with petrol.

Wilser, did you notice the silver-like paint? Is that safe you think?

Thanks for the response and happy brewing to ya.

 

[cincydave]

CastleBlack,

Mine from wal mart had kind of an oily/petrol smell. Guessing something it is treated with to prevent rusting maybe. Washing with dish soap and warm water seemed to get rid of the smell. I did crank it some with nothing in it and did notice some silver flaking coming off, I guess from the plates grinding together with no grain. Ran some rice through it to clean the grinding plates of the flaking plating. After that it seemed fine with no more flaking as long as gringing grain, and no more oily smell. Hope it all works out for you.

 

[CastleBlack]

CastleBlack,

Mine from wal mart had kind of an oily/petrol smell. Guessing something it is treated with to prevent rusting maybe. Washing with dish soap and warm water seemed to get rid of the smell. I did crank it some with nothing in it and did notice some silver flaking coming off, I guess from the plates grinding together with no grain. Ran some rice through it to clean the grinding plates of the flaking plating. After that it seemed fine with no more flaking as long as gringing grain, and no more oily smell. Hope it all works out for you.

Cincy, this is a whole lot of help. I think this is the best way to go. Let it sit for a while after i washed and burned it, then pass some (cheap) rice through the mill to clear it out. Sounds like a plan.

Happy brewing to ya and thanks for the info.