Have you made good beer with a Corona mill?

[MX1]

So, any one got any fancy stands for the Corona Mill. Right now that is my biggest problem with it.

Well and a sore arm.

Tim

 

[thebrewguy]

I used a corona mill for over a year ran by an ice cream motor with a 35# stainless hopper on top. Took about an hour & a half for 30#'s
Always made great beer but was very slow. My Barley Crusher is 100 times faster.
But the corona i paid $35 for & abused it for a long time & it is still 100%.

 

[gonzo brewer]

I use a corona knock-off I bought for $16 brand new. Hook up with a drill motor for sure. After adjusting down, I get 73 to 78% eff. Because there is a fair amount of flour I recently started adding 1/8 to 1/4 lb of rice hulls. Batch Sparge run-off is much quicker.

I had 1 stuck sparge in 25 batches - easily rectified with a shot of compressed air in the copper manifold.

I will find other ways to spend $150 on beer candy.

 

[Brewpastor]

We used a motorized Corona to gring specialties for a little while at the micro when we first were getting started!

 

[vfinch]

I have the background, tools and supplies to make a motorized setup for my corona mill, but I haven't done it (I even have the cut off bolt to put a drill on). Why? Because I'm a sick bastard and for some reason I take pleasure in hand cranking each batch of grain and making sure I'm happy with each 2lb hopper full that gets ground (I adjust as I go along).

I'm in the electronics field and I have an extensive automotive background, but I LOVE to take a hand-on approach to my brewing and automate as little as possible.

 

[thebrewguy]

I hand cranked mine for about 30 seconds when i got it. Then i went in a cut about half of the handle out & welded it back together. It was alot harder to crank but way faster.
The drill sucked because when they drilled the bolt hole its at an angle. My drill would flop around violently.
Thats when i welded a nut to a bolt & attached an ice cream moter.
Slow but steady.

 

[rico567]

It's pretty simple -- take the handle off the mill, pull out the bolt from the handle, take it to Home Depot or Lowes, match it to a similar thread, use a hacksaw to cut the head off the new bolt, insert into mill.

.....or don't even bother to cut off the bolt head. Just chuck the correct size socket into the drill, and rock n' roll......

 

[camiller]

.....or don't even bother to cut off the bolt head. Just chuck the correct size socket into the drill, and rock n' roll......

+1, thats what I do

and...

another +1 for your thread necromancy skills.


Note to the admins, we need a special zombie smilie for situations like this. Just a thought.

 

[400d]

what is the capacity of corona mill? how many pounds/minute can I get if I run it manually?

 

[camiller]

what is the capacity of corona mill? how many pounds/minute can I get if I run it manually?

Depends on how many kids you have that want to take turns cranking the mill. With one 11 year daughter old I can to a middle size mash bill in 25 min. Maybe twenty if I throw in ice cream after. However I'm afraid the novelty is starting to wear off and I'm not sure I could get my younger son to step up yet.

Seriously though, depends on how fast you want to crank it. With the tall hopper by itself it only holds 2-3 pounds. I took an infant formula can and cut the bottom out and crimped it to make an even taller hopper by shoving it into the existing hopper. Then put one of those large 12" funnels in the top of that, all together about 12 pounds capacity.

Eventually I'll be going this route:

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

specifically like post 144 by wilserbrewer https://www.homebrewtalk.com/1308996-post144.html

 

[l3lackEyedAngels]

what is the capacity of corona mill? how many pounds/minute can I get if I run it manually?

On capacity, I'd estimate a pound or two of grain. I've heard of people using road cones to increase the capacity though. As far as the rate if you're going manually, that depends mostly on you. Attaching a drill helps.

 

[Richabt]

I use one and like it. Yes it takes a while to grind 10 to 12 pounds, but 15 minutes of exercise isn't that bad.
I get a good grind, and good efficiency, and I didn't spend a small fortune.

 

[Revvy]

But who says you have to mill by hand. Most of us motorize ours, and then the capacity is only really limited by your hopper.

This thread here is a wee bit old, most corona stuff in on my thread.

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

 

[RichBenn]

Have I made good beer with a corona mill? Yes.

Better question would be "did I get reasonable, repeatable efficiency?

Not yet, as my first grind was hardly any flour and the second was way better grind. I expect the third will match the second, however. Both were better efficiency that the store grind, however. So now I can buy in bulk. Isn't saving money and controlling efficiency the whole point of grinding your own?

Another question would be "do I get a stuck sparge?" Not with infusion mashes with batch sparging. The husks are maybe not as good without conditioning as a roller mill, but it doesn't seem to matter much for batch sparging.

BTW, mine is motorized(drill) and in a pail, so no dust and a faster grind than I can fill. The other threads, like Revvy has linked, will share the fiddling sometimes necessary to get them too work good. I almost gave up, but now things are great and my beer is much better (but more for other reasons than the Corona).

Rich

 

[beefeater]

I have a Corona and I'm happy with it. I have nothing to compare it to, though, since I'm new in the game and have only seven batches under my belt.

I batch sparge in a cooler with a bazooka screen.

On my last three batches I've had 83, 81 and 81% efficiency into the boiler.
It was less in the first brews but I can't blame that on the crush. I crush fine, lots of flour, and no stuck sparges or bad taste.

I tried to attach the drill last time I brewed, but I couldn't find the right size bolt in the garage. Anyone know the tread size?

beefeater

Quoting myself from over a year ago..

Yesterday I brewed batch #38, still with the same Corona mill (haven't tried any other mills). My efficciencies are still 80+ on 1.060ish beers. More on lower gravity and less on higher, but still high and consistent.
I now use a my drill on it (don't remember the tread on the bolt..) and chewing through the grains for a batch is done in two to three minutes.

The Corona is great and next time I put more money into brewing stuff it will not be a new mill!

 

[tellico1]

I think what most Home Brewers find wrong with a Corona is Work LOL

 

[Revvy]

I think what most Home Brewers find wrong with a Corona is Work LOL

You bumped a five year old thread to make no sense at all?