Crankandstein 3GT

[hout17]

@GoeHaarden I like your mill looks very nice. Also kudos on the hopper that's some great ingenuity!

 

[mbg]

Mine isn't as elegant as @Tom R but it was something I put together quickly with repurposed materials and it works rather well. Used an old pvc reducing coupler that was already torn on the side I cut off. A few pieces of scrap plywood and acrylic for the sides like Tom. Had a better bottle that was cracked so I cut the bottom off. 12 pounds filled it a little under half way, and I bet it'll easily hold 25lbs.

I plan to make a little cabinet/cart for it but for now I'm kind of digging the frankenstein feel of it to match the mill.

One thing to note, is that this mill is a beast and the rollers will NOT slip. That being said, if it gets packed your drill will torque hard with a tight gap. 0.025" scares me a little so I've jist stuck with 0.030 for now. I suggest securing the whole system. I hose clamped my drill to the plywood and it works.

@GoeHaarden thanks for sharing. My current mill has the traditional tapered sides that I built from wood. I saw a hopper design like yours on YouTube with a big water bottle. He has some fancy cut clear acrylic on top but he said his design failed because he used a weak threaded coupling design that cracked under load of the grain.

On your top piece is there anything on the underside of to guide the grain to go between the rollers (so whole grain doesn’t fall between the rollers and outside walls)?

Mike

 

[GoeHaarden]

@GoeHaarden On your top piece is there anything on the underside of to guide the grain to go between the rollers (so whole grain doesn’t fall between the rollers and outside walls)?

Mike

Yeah, I just took a couple of pieces of sheet metal and cut them to size with some sheers and then bent them. They are screwed to the lower piece of 3/4" plywood. Very utilitarian.

For the mill top/hopper attachment. The bottom 3/4" plywood has large rectangle cut out in the middle leaving essentially only a ~3/4" ring for mounting. The second piece of 1/2" plywood on top only has a round hole cut out (~3" diameter, I didn't measure it just eyeballed). I did need to use 1/2" longer bolts for attaching to the actual mill.

 

[mbg]

Yeah, I just took a couple of pieces of sheet metal and cut them to size with some sheers and then bent them. They are screwed to the lower piece of 3/4" plywood. Very utilitarian.

For the mill top/hopper attachment. The bottom 3/4" plywood has large rectangle cut out in the middle leaving essentially only a ~3/4" ring for mounting. The second piece of 1/2" plywood on top only has a round hole cut out (~3" diameter, I didn't measure it just eyeballed). I did need to use 1/2" longer bolts for attaching to the actual mill.

Appreciate the details. Have to laugh, I’m an engineer and spend too much time thinking of details. Your simplistic approach to this is excellent!

mike

 

[GoeHaarden]

Appreciate the details. Have to laugh, I’m an engineer and spend too much time thinking of details. Your simplistic approach to this is excellent!

mike

Haha. Probably makes you cringe, but I'm not sure I measured anything. Just mark and cut.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Appreciate the details. Have to laugh, I’m an engineer and spend too much time thinking of details. Your simplistic approach to this is excellent!

mike

See the "Big Bang" episode when the group attempted to help Penny with her at home business? Way over thought... funny.

 

[mbg]

@GoeHaarden Can you give me the specs on that DeWalt drill (amps?)? What speed do you run it?

I just put my 3GT with my gear motor together today.

I'm a very unhappy guy right now. I ran my BarleyCrusher for about 17 years with a 1/2 HP 325 rpm gear motor. I could even start it with the hopper filled. Don at Crankandstein has been very helpful and told me my BC was running too fast and I should reduce the motor speed in half. So I bought a pair of pulleys and a belt and did just that. For the maiden run I set the gap at 0.035" and the motor stalled! It stalled at 0.045" and I think around 0.055" it ran. Then Don answered my call today and said to throttle the feed. I cut the area to about half. I could run 0.045" without a stall but no go below that.

OK - some motor questions. Do you think my motor is too weak for this mill (Don thinks so). I see a few use hand drills - can you tell me which model of drill and what amps. I have a DeWalt 115V 5.4Amp I can try but don't want to mess around if it too is too weak. I also have a 18V Makita cordless?

What about this 3-roller geared mill vs my 2 non-geared roller BC. Is there that big of a difference in torque to drive this new 3GT? Also, I'll attach some pics of my crushes. It looks to me that a 0.037" crush with my BC is about 0.045" on the 3GT.

I see @GoeHaarden is successfully running small gaps with a hand drill that looks like my DeWalt. Is it possible there is something wrong with the mill??

Thanks
Mike

 

[Tom R]

I run my 3D with a geared-down heavy-duty Milwaukee that is rated at 8 amps @ 120V. So almost 1.3 hp. Can easily start with a full hopper, but better use the aux handle and be prepared for the torque kick.

It takes a lot of power to run my mill at tight gap settings.

 

[mbg]

OMG - could it be? I looked at the torque rating of my Makita 18v hand drill and it is about 10 times my gear motor???

That gear motor is listed at 6.6 n-m!

 

[GoeHaarden]

@GoeHaarden Can you give me the specs on that DeWalt drill (amps?)? What speed do you run it?

I just put my 3GT with my gear motor together today.

I'm a very unhappy guy right now. I ran my BarleyCrusher for about 17 years with a 1/2 HP 325 rpm gear motor. I could even start it with the hopper filled. Don at Crankandstein has been very helpful and told me my BC was running too fast and I should reduce the motor speed in half. So I bought a pair of pulleys and a belt and did just that. For the maiden run I set the gap at 0.035" and the motor stalled! It stalled at 0.045" and I think around 0.055" it ran. Then Don answered my call today and said to throttle the feed. I cut the area to about half. I could run 0.045" without a stall but no go below that.

OK - some motor questions. Do you think my motor is too weak for this mill (Don thinks so). I see a few use hand drills - can you tell me which model of drill and what amps. I have a DeWalt 115V 5.4Amp I can try but don't want to mess around if it too is too weak. I also have a 18V Makita cordless?

What about this 3-roller geared mill vs my 2 non-geared roller BC. Is there that big of a difference in torque to drive this new 3GT? Also, I'll attach some pics of my crushes. It looks to me that a 0.037" crush with my BC is about 0.045" on the 3GT.

I see @GoeHaarden is successfully running small gaps with a hand drill that looks like my DeWalt. Is it possible there is something wrong with the mill??

Thanks
Mike

That's crazy. Sorry you're having issues with it. I don't think there is anything wrong with the mill, it's just straight from Mad Max and it runs on anger. Jokes aside, it was a little worrisome the first few times I ran it as those gears sound a little scary when they run.

I use a Dewalt DW235G that I've had boxed up for a few years and it pulls 7.8amps. Right now I try to throttle it manually, but I can tell when it starts to get bogged down and I need to bump the trigger a little. I try to run it on the lower side, but no way to know for sure at the moment (drill max rpm is 865). I need to get a router speed controller, but it mills so fast that doing it manually hasn't been an issue yet.

Honestly, I've thought about widening the gap a little and running it twice. I could probably mill my batch twice faster than most other mills can get through once. It takes under 90 seconds to get through.

I didn't even try to use any of my cordless drills with it. I should test my 20V cordless Dewalt to see if it'll even budge it.

 

[GoeHaarden]

@mbg

I would buy this Harbor Freight drill if I didn't already have the one I do.

 

[IslandLizard]

@mbg

I would buy this Harbor Freight drill if I didn't already have the one I do.

I would not run a mill with that drill. It runs at 2800 rpm (!), way too fast, and by the time you slow it down to 150rpm, there's no torque left.

The following model runs at 600 rpm, and is more similar in specs to the older Low Speed Heavy Duty model drill I've been using for over 8 years.
https://www.harborfreight.com/12-in-low-speed-spade-handle-drillmixer-56179.html

 

[GoeHaarden]

I would not run a mill with that drill. It runs at 2800 rpm (!), way too fast, and by the time you slow it down to 150rpm, there's no torque left.

The following model runs at 600 rpm, and is more similar in specs to the older Low Speed Heavy Duty model drill I've been using for over 8 years.
https://www.harborfreight.com/12-in-low-speed-spade-handle-drillmixer-56179.html

Haha. Yes, indeed. Those were the specs I was reading, too many pages open I suppose.

 

[mbg]

Haha. Yes, indeed. Those were the specs I was reading, too many pages open I suppose.

Think I'll give the drill some thought. There is a HF couple miles from me and I bought that drill to use for mixing thinset for a big tile job in our bathroom. It was strange but it would loose variable speed control and only run on high when it was warmed up. I exchanged it and the second one did the same thing. Guess I could try one again - they actually have a great return policy.

 

[mbg]

That's crazy. Sorry you're having issues with it. I don't think there is anything wrong with the mill, it's just straight from Mad Max and it runs on anger. Jokes aside, it was a little worrisome the first few times I ran it as those gears sound a little scary when they run.

I use a Dewalt DW235G that I've had boxed up for a few years and it pulls 7.8amps. Right now I try to throttle it manually, but I can tell when it starts to get bogged down and I need to bump the trigger a little. I try to run it on the lower side, but no way to know for sure at the moment (drill max rpm is 865). I need to get a router speed controller, but it mills so fast that doing it manually hasn't been an issue yet.

Honestly, I've thought about widening the gap a little and running it twice. I could probably mill my batch twice faster than most other mills can get through once. It takes under 90 seconds to get through.

I didn't even try to use any of my cordless drills with it. I should test my 20V cordless Dewalt to see if it'll even budge it.

When the 3GT would run on my gear motor it would really gulp the grain even at 160 rpm. Reminds me of a positive displacement pump - what you feed it must go through since all rollers are geared together. Other pumps have leakage so they don't get overloaded - like my old Barley Crusher.

That old gear motor I have is only rated at about 3.4 amps and 4.9 ft-lbs (my 18v makita drill is 42 ft-lbs).

Oh well, I can put this back on my BC and sell it as a motorized mill now.

 

[GoeHaarden]

Think I'll give the drill some thought. There is a HF couple miles from me and I bought that drill to use for mixing thinset for a big tile job in our bathroom. It was strange but it would loose variable speed control and only run on high when it was warmed up. I exchanged it and the second one did the same thing. Guess I could try one again - they actually have a great return policy.

I love Harbor Freight. Any tool I buy these days is from HF. I'm willing to bet that some of their stuff is built in the same buildings as other name brand. All from China anyways...

 

[GoeHaarden]

When the 3GT would run on my gear motor it would really gulp the grain even at 160 rpm. Reminds me of a positive displacement pump - what you feed it must go through since all rollers are geared together. Other pumps have leakage so they don't get overloaded - like my old Barley Crusher.

That old gear motor I have is only rated at about 3.4 amps and 4.9 ft-lbs (my 18v makita drill is 42 ft-lbs).

Oh well, I can put this back on my BC and sell it as a motorized mill now.

Did you try the Makita on it?

 

[mbg]

Did you try the Makita on it?

I need to put the mill on another board so I have support for a drill. My be able to sneak a little more time to work on this today.

 

[mbg]

Did you try the Makita on it?

SUCCESS!!!

Put my Makita cordless on it and it will run 0.025" even with the hopper filled from a dead stop! But, @GoeHaarden is correct the mill-drill-base are starting to hop around badly.

So glad - thanks for all the help. My setup will be much simpler now with a removable drill.

Thanks
Mike

 

[GoeHaarden]

SUCCESS!!!

Put my Makita cordless on it and it will run 0.025" even with the hopper filled from a dead stop! But, @GoeHaarden is correct the mill-drill-base are starting to hop around badly.

So glad - thanks for all the help. My setup will be much simpler now with a removable drill.

Thanks
Mike

Sweet. Glad to hear it. With how short you have to run this thing battery discharge shouldn't be an issue.

 

[mbg]

Just wanted to give out a shout to Don at Crankandstein. He answered my call yesterday (Saturday) at around 7or 8 in the evening and he took the time to talk through my possible issues. Would buy from him again in an eye blink!

 

[mbg]

Got my mill, hopper, and base put together and thought I'd share some pics. I borrowed ideas from here and the internet:

 

[mbg]

I love this new mill!

I made two beers today. One I milled on 0.025" gap and the other on 0.055". On 0.025" I thought my Makita cordless had plenty of torque but I had to throttle the grain input and give the drill three rests to cool off. Plus, if I were to use 0.025" gap with this mill all the time it would need a stronger base than plywood - it looks like the mill is ready to torque itself off of the platform! At 0.055" my drill handled it with ease. With the geared rollers it's amazing how fast it gobbles through the grain.

OK for the numbers. My 0.025" gap got me 86.4% Mash Efficiency and the 0.055" gap was at 82.7%. These are by far the highest ME's I have gotten in my 40+ years of brewing. I was surprised how close the ME was for the two drastically different gap sizes. Maybe the quality of the mill is more important than the crush size?

Mike

 

[day_trippr]

Fresh knurling doesn't suck

Cheers!

 

[GoeHaarden]

I love this new mill!

Me too!! Glad you tamed it.

Plus, if I were to use 0.025" gap with this mill all the time it would need a stronger base than plywood

I'm still impressed you did a whole batch on 0.025". It scares me. Maybe I'll try it again since I've secured the drill to the base.

 

[rgrrbt]

After my previous mill decided it no longer wanted to play nice, I recently upgraded to a Crankanstaein 3GT. Compared to my old mill that claimed to "crush barley", this thing is built like a tank. I am positively impressed with the build quality. It is very heavy, and I love having all of the rollers geared. I've run through ~50lbs in the month that I've had it, and I'm really liking it. Time will tell how the knurls on the rollers hold up, but I just ran 30lbs through at 0.025" for a BIAB batch, and it ate right through it without any difficulties.

 

[YeastFeast]

@GoeHaarden and others in this thread who have the 3GT......do you still like it? Any issues or regrets?
Pretty sure I'm going to order one but just checking in.
Thanks!

 

[fphredd]

If anyone has interest in a 2 Roller Crankenstein (with hopper) got one for sale in Classifieds.
(Hope this post isn't outside the rules...Forgiveness > Permission?)

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/3-kegs-mill-3-way-manifold-johnson-controls-a419.726445/

 

[rgrrbt]

@GoeHaarden and others in this thread who have the 3GT......do you still like it? Any issues or regrets?
Pretty sure I'm going to order one but just checking in.
Thanks!

Still like mine and can highly recommend it. I haven’t had any issues with it. Time will tell how long the knurls on the rollers will last, but the geared rollers should alleviate any knurl wearing issues

 

[GoeHaarden]

@GoeHaarden and others in this thread who have the 3GT......do you still like it? Any issues or regrets?
Pretty sure I'm going to order one but just checking in.
Thanks!

I still love mine. No regrets here. Finally broke down and got an Ale Works motor for it last year and the whole setup is great.