Enclosed Grain Mill

[Steven Sinclair]

Looking for ideas for the creation of an enclosed grain mill (where the milled grain would drop into the bucket) or an existing product. Trying to find a way to reduce or eliminate the dust while milling. Suggestions? Thanks.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Repurposing a cabinet should help reduce dust getting around, though the dust will still fly when you fill the hopper.

 

[brewdude88]

Have you tried grain conditioning? You add a small amount of water via spray bottle while mixing the grain and letting the husks hydrate for 10-15 minutes. The most noticable effects from my experience are that I can have my mill gap as tight as it will go and still have beautiful intact husks, and yes, a good 75% reduction in dust while milling. The dust that is created seems to mostly fall straight down and isn't as statically attracted to everything.

 

[day_trippr]

^agreed^. The post-milling cleanup after conditioned malt is so small I often don't even bother. Otoh - and especially at this time of the year in the Northeast where the humidity is crashing - it takes a good five minutes with my shop vac to clean out the inside of my mill cabinet, vacuum the outsides of the grain buckets (because they get coated with grain dust) and then the shop floor.

But...there is the restriction that the malt be ground the morning of a brew day, otherwise the conditioning moisture will wake up the incipient lactobacillus which will then start working on the grain. If one ran conditioned malt through a mill the night before I imagine there'd be some rather odiferous grain buckets in the morning...

Cheers!

[edit] To the OP: there is an epic "show us your motorized mill" thread here if you are looking for ideas. I'd guess most of those shown therein have an enclosed bucket-catching space under the mill.

fwiw, I put this rolling cabinet together using left-over plywood and pine dimensional lumber, even scavenged the hinges and casters from my collection of retired hardware

 

[Transamguy77]

I’ve got a corona mill that I put in a cabinet, except for the dust when I fill my hopper (which is a 5 gallon water jug with the bottom cut off) all the dust stays in the cabinet.

 

[hout17]

I've got a question on the grain conditioning. This might be a stupid question but will normal tap water be fine? I worry about the chloramines in the tap water getting in the grain. This is probably stupid but thought I'd ask anyway.

 

[odie]

I used an old school stereo cabinet to enclose my mill.

 

[brewdude88]

I've got a question on the grain conditioning. This might be a stupid question but will normal tap water be fine? I worry about the chloramines in the tap water getting in the grain. This is probably stupid but thought I'd ask anyway.

Not sure on this one, but I would tend to avoid chlorine or chloramine for grain conditioning.

 

[crazyjake19]

My cheap and half-assed way is a Corona mill mounted in a 5 gallon bucket with the bottom 2" cut off. I set that bucket inside another 5 gallon bucket. The lid of the grinder bucket has a hole cut in the lid for the hopper, and the lid contains all the dust and mess. When I'm done grinding, I lift the upper bucket out of the lower bucket, which now contains all of my crushed grain.

 

[crazyjake19]

I've got a question on the grain conditioning. This might be a stupid question but will normal tap water be fine? I worry about the chloramines in the tap water getting in the grain. This is probably stupid but thought I'd ask anyway.

I don't know how much effect it would have on the grains, but if you're worried you could put some of your brewing water in a spray bottle and use that to condition your grain. I've never conditioned my grain so this is just a thought, not experience.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

My cheap and half-assed way is a Corona mill mounted in a 5 gallon bucket with the bottom 2" cut off. I set that bucket inside another 5 gallon bucket. The lid of the grinder bucket has a hole cut in the lid for the hopper, and the lid contains all the dust and mess. When I'm done grinding, I lift the upper bucket out of the lower bucket, which now contains all of my crushed grain.

I used to have one built similar, but for the hopper, I used several ducting reducers pop riveted together for the hopper and had a bolt going thru the side, to attach a drill. It did a great job containing the dust. And like you said, lift off the mill bucket and the grain was ready to pour into the mash tun. I would pull the hopper and store it in the mill bucket.

 

[bracconiere]

^agreed^. The post-milling cleanup after conditioned malt is so small I often don't even bother. Otoh - and especially at this time of the year in the Northeast where the humidity is crashing - it takes a good five minutes with my shop vac to clean out the inside of my mill cabinet, vacuum the outsides of the grain buckets (because they get coated with grain dust) and then the shop floor.

But...there is the restriction that the malt be ground the morning of a brew day, otherwise the conditioning moisture will wake up the incipient lactobacillus which will then start working on the grain. If one ran conditioned malt through a mill the night before I imagine there'd be some rather odiferous grain buckets in the morning...

Cheers!

[edit] To the OP: there is an epic "show us your motorized mill" thread here if you are looking for ideas. I'd guess most of those shown therein have an enclosed bucket-catching space under the mill.

fwiw, I put this rolling cabinet together using left-over plywood and pine dimensional lumber, even scavenged the hinges and casters from my collection of retired hardware

View attachment 716702 View attachment 716703

View attachment 716704 View attachment 716705

you can't post pics like that! you're going to embarrass @IslandLizard , lol (not to mention me)

but on another note of moist grain, aflatoxin, and fusarium would be a concern also...not sure if it'd grow overnight but it will grow.....

 

[Tom R]

I can't justify the space for a dedicated milling station, so l mill directly into my MLT. Once I dialed in my mill I didn't really need to use a bucket.
The dust you see on top of the mill base is from an 11# grain bill. No big deal.
Conditioning certainly helps, too.

 

[hout17]

you can't post pics like that! you're going to embarrass @IslandLizard , lol (not to mention me)

View attachment 722134

but on another note of moist grain, aflatoxin, and fusarium would be a concern also...not sure if it'd grow overnight but it will grow.....

Thanks for this once I start milling my own grain I'll try and condition and mill the day of the brew.

 

[NSMikeD]

The real cheap simple way I do it is with a zip lock X-Large storage bag inside a 5 gal bucket, pulling the bag up around the bottom of the mill. Dust stays in the bag.