Grain Mill problem

[vallonswayla]

Does anyone else have issues with grain being fed down the side of the mill and not being pushed through the rollers? My mill is either open too far so it does a coarse crush, or too narrow that the grain goes down the side and isnt crushed at all.

 

[day_trippr]

Pics of mill so we gain some context?

fwiw, grain isn't pushed so much as pulled through the rollers, but for that to happen the undriven roller has to move freely. Every time I've ever had a problem it was due to the idle roller being bound up - most recently, from caked on malt due to my running insufficient dry grain after a load of conditioned malt (forgot to set a pound of dry base malt aside for that purpose).

There was enough gummed up grain dust to keep sticking the idle roller against the end plates. No bueno. But a full tear down and thorough cleaning put it back to perfect...

Cheers!

 

[vallonswayla]

I will post a pic in a bit. If I try to set it at a credit card gap it doesnt pull the grains, they spin on top of the rollers and grains gradually start to push down the front or back of the mill opening in front of either roller depending on the direction I am rotating the handle.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Yes, a photo will definitely help as brewing websites and assembly instructions don't always show how to correctly assemble the mill hopper.

 

[day_trippr]

Also, a rough estimate of how many pounds of grain has been run through the mill may provide additional context...

Cheers!

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Also, is the mill run before the grain is added to the hopper or the hopper is filled with grain and then the mill is turned?

 

[vallonswayla]

Here is the grain I milled and brewed with. Initially I used a cheap black and decker cordless and was not having much luck. I switched to a corded drill and it worked better but I didn’t narrow the mill gap thinking this might be ok. Now I realize it was probably too coarse. I got a hand crank for the mill today and reset the gap to the credit card size gap and milled bo problem by hand.

 

[vallonswayla]

*no problem by hand.

 

[day_trippr]

Definitely need to tighten the gap because that's a very loose crush imo...

Cheers!

 

[Golddiggie]

Get a feeler gauge set to set the gap by an actual number, not "credit card thickness". Also make sure you fully tighten down the roller you use to adjust the gap so that it doesn't shift on you. With the actual gauge set you can set the gap to what works best with your mill and your brew method. You might want a bit tighter, or looser, in the range that's typical.

Another thought is you're spinning the rollers too fast when you use the corded drill.

I used to run my mill with an 18v DeWalt 1/2" [chuck] hammer drill, going no more than half trigger pull on the lowest speed range (would put it around 200-250rpm). Worked well enough (I'm older now so I went with an actual motor earlier this year) and the drill never had an issue getting started. Then again, hammer drills (even cordless) have a LOT of torque to them.

 

[bracconiere]

my JSP has plastic funnel sorta things to feed the grain to middle of the rollers. and yeah. that crush be bad! reminds me of when i was using my phil mill and the roller was half cocked at an angle! here's a pic of my crush.

 

[vallonswayla]

So this probably had some impact on me missing gravity numbers i assume.

 

[Chris05]

I was experiencing this issue as well.
Found a good method is put some grain in the hopper and then turn the drill by hand till I feel the roller grab some kernals, then turn on the drill.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Hmm... always want to have the mill rollers turning and then add the malt.

Adding the malt and then turning leads to problems.

 

[LexiLou]

Every time I've ever had a problem it was due to the idle roller being bound up - most recently, from caked on malt due to my running insufficient dry grain after a load of conditioned malt (forgot to set a pound of dry base malt aside for that purpose).

There was enough gummed up grain dust to keep sticking the idle roller against the end plates. No bueno. But a full tear down and thorough cleaning put it back to perfect...

Cheers!

When you clean the rollers, do you lube the bearings or just run them dry? I have tried both ways, and neither seems to last very long.
Thanks

 

[day_trippr]

My BC had bronze bushings which I occasionally (like, bi-yearly) treated with just the smallest droplet of oil after a thorough cleaning.
The CK has bearings and so far I haven't thought it was a good idea to oil them...

Cheers!