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Hoppo's Rustic Motorized Grain Mill Cabinet and Grain Storage Bin

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Thanks for the info. I'll check around with a few of my past HVAC patients to see if they have anything laying around. Unfortunately my HVAC contractor that did my house committed suicide a couple of years back and they dissolved the company after that. Did the older style furnaces have large pulleys....like 12 inchers? I would hate to blow $38 on one pulley if someone has one in a scrap pile.

I have one in my garage with the entire squirrel cage blower that has a 14" pulley on the fan and a 1.5" pulley on the motor. Came from an old Reliance AutoGas furnace. Lots of these should end up at the junk yard after salvage of copper from motor windings.

Great job on the design and construction of your equipment. I'm afraid to let my wife see your pictures, she'll make fun of my amateur construction. At least mine is all kept in the garage/workshop area.
 
Thanks for the advice ChuckO! :mug: I just contacted an HVAC business here in town and they come across these older systems all of the time, but currently don't have any laying around. They took down my name and number and stated that they likely will come across something in the next week or two. I am in need of a quote for a hydronics system to heat my basement floors, so I killed two birds with one stone and they are coming out to quote a system as soon as I get back from vacation. I'm going to take your advice and call a few more places and maybe a couple of salvage yards. Thanks again! :mug:
 
Snuck out of work a little earlier than expected. I finished up the last of the trim on the lid of the grain storage bin a few minutes ago and knifed/cut to size the last log trim piece. My goal was to have all of the trim complete before leaving on vacation. When I get back, I just need to sand for a few hours and get 3-4 coats of poly on the two pieces, then finish off the tiling/grouting. Hopefully one of the HVAC places that I called can hunt down a 12" to 14" pulley....if not, I have to bite the bullet and purchase through Grainger. Thanks to those who are following along. :mug:

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Seriously Hoppo, do you even have time to brew? Working 60 hrs and 3 brews a week doesn't leave much time for knotty pine here. Please tell me this vacation of your's is in the Smoky Mountains and you'll have time to stop by and build me something nice!
 
Sorry, not heading to the Smokey Mts. this go around, but I was just there in late July though. My family loves the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area, so we rent a place in Chalet Village every year in Gatlinburg for a week in the summer. Next time I'm down there I'll drop you a PM and we can get together for a beer or two. :mug:

I also work around 60 hours per week, but I work three 14 hour days and two shorter days. I do not work weekend, so my weekends and Tue/Thur afternoons are when I build this stuff. I don't brew as often as I would like and have resorted to doing 2 to 3 batches over one very long brew day every couple of months. Once I get the new system built and running, I will have plenty of time to brew more often.....I hope. :D
 
????????Didn't know there was a FB page. Since I "de-activated" my FB acct., I guess I can't check it out.

Edit: I was able to re-activate my old account.....thanks rockinmarty for letting me know. I'll likely re-de-activate the FB acct in a couple of days though, because I can't stand people that I haven't seen since 1st grade coming out of the woodwork and trying to contact me. The reason I closed it quite a while ago was because people that I barely knew from my past were trying to contact me to join sh*t like AmWay, QuickStar, etc.
 
Just create an account with a bogus name just to follow stuff you like, like bands, breweries, suppliers. I had taken this to show you. but oh well, enjoy your vacation

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Man, what an under achiever............Just kidding. That build looks awesome. Gets a fire under my butt to get something done with my setup. Keep up the great work!
 
Thanks guys. :mug: I'll resume the project upon my return and plan on tackling the drywall/tile work in the brewery, as well as the keg conversions for the HERMS system when I get back. Just need to recharge my batteries and get the hell outta here! A week on the beach in the carribean should do the trick! :D
 
Your projects make me feel like a looser that doesn't get anything done.
Can you send the the machine that you use to stop time? I'll only use it for a second.

Are you brewing with your modified keg setup yet - 10g batches?

The only thing I can think of is that you may want to make a box for a larger amount of grain than will fit into a pail. I'm commonly using two pails of grain when making a bigger beer and the malt bill is up in the 25-30lb range. It would suck to have to stop the milling to swap-out pails. OR, if you have room you could make a secondary hopper/splitter... just a thought.
 
Dude that's a great idea! I may try to figure something out. No I haven't used the modified keggle set up yet. I'm still doing small 5 gallong batches, some AG and some partial mashes, dependent upon the volume that my small 10 gallon MLT cooler will handle.

I was just planning on splitting the grain bill into two seperate buckets for bigger beers and running two seperate milling cycles. Now you have my gears turning.....DAMN YOU! :D
 
Welcome back. I trust that you are well rested? Did you get any wild ideas for your build while sitting poolside?
 
Thanks guys....yes, I'm back from the Caribbean, but wish I wasn't. :( Hopefully I'll hunt down the pulleys this week to run the mill. I have a few different HVAC guys looking for me around town. If not, I'll bite the bullet and run down to Grainger and pay their ridiculous price for the large pulley (12" pulley = $38 + tax). My gears were turning a bit while on vacation thinking about how to mount the motor under the cabinet, how to incorporate a tensioner for the pulley, how to incorporate the shroud to cover the pulley, and how to fabricate a larger hopper for feeding grains into. Now Ted (Gridlocked) has me thinking about building a grain box for the receiving end of the mill to catch a larger amount of grains for bigger beers......something that can hold a larger volume of grains than a 6 gallon bucket. I'm sure I can come up with something. Yes, I will be building a shroud over the pulley behind the mill once I get the rest of the materials to finish the mechanical portion of the build.

I'll try to resume this project asap, but I have a bunch of winter maintenance crap to do around the house like blowing out my sprinkler system, installing the guard/filters in my gutters, winterizing my hot tub, putting away all of the patio furniture, trimming back landscaping, and the list goes on and on. One of these days, I may start hiring out some of this stuff, but I have a hard time paying someone to do things that I am capable of doing.....just wish there were more hours in the day. I'll keep the pics. coming as I continue to progress. :mug:
 
I'll trade you a sprinkler blowout for help with my kreezer. :D I've been running blow-outs from 9a-7p on Saturdays and Sundays and at least 3 every night after I leave the office. I've be pulling those from Friday the 5th and it "should" end on Sunday the 21st.
 
Man, you got way too much time and money on your hands to build all this stuff.

Quit making us all look bad :)
 
I'll trade you a sprinkler blowout for help with my kreezer. :D I've been running blow-outs from 9a-7p on Saturdays and Sundays and at least 3 every night after I leave the office. I've be pulling those from Friday the 5th and it "should" end on Sunday the 21st.

Damn dude......and you tell me that I work too hard! :D

Man, if we lived closer to each other, I would take you up on the offer. It takes me 2-3 hours to blow out my sprinkler system with my crappy, old compressor. I have 15 zones and have to cycle though each zone 3 times to get all of the water out. It takes forever for my compressor to build back up pressure between blowouts, so I keep busy waiting by sharpening my lawn mower blades, changing oil in the tractors, etc.
 
Man, you got way too much time and money on your hands to build all this stuff.

Quit making us all look bad :)

Not entirely true nickmv. ;) I own my own businesses and work a lot of hours, so time is at a premium. What little spare time that I do get outside of work, kids activities, family time, etc., I devote to brewing and brewing related projects. It is my stress relief and helps me to keep my sanity. :drunk: I have always been the type of person that has a hard time sitting idle and am in constant need of projects to keep me busy. Once I started homebrewing and realized the endless array of potential projects associated with advancing in the craft, it was a match made in heaven for me and I've went at it full bore. Yes, I do have the financial means to tackle these projects, but I am also very economical with how I proceed with them. I have no problem buying used equipment (grain mill, ss brewing table, ss prep. table, ss commercial sink, brewery fixtures, chest freezers, decommissioned sanke kegs, etc.), fabricating my own equipment, and anytime I can recycle old lumber or materials, I do. I rarely purchase anything brand new, so I'm able to complete these projects at a fraction of the cost. I'm like a bloodhound on CL, so if there is something I need for a brewing related project and it's out there, I'll find it. It doesn't take an unlimited supply of cash to build some really nice equipment, if you are ambitious and patient. :mug:
 
I love the rustic look... Really Cool!!

Maybe you could build a scale into the top of your milling station on one side and remote mount the display where you intended to put your outlet on the front.
Here is a similar scale to the one I use and would look really cool built into your milling station. Digital Shipping Postal Scale
 
Thanks man! Yes, I was planning on having a scale on the left elevated surface next to the mill. I have been looking around for a scale, but hadn't considered a postal scale. The price isn't bad either! I probably won't build it into the top, rather once the cement board and tumbled travertine are installed, just set it on top. I have electrical outlets all over the place in the brewery with two down low behind the milling cabinet and two at countertop level above the cabinet, so the outlet on the front of the cabinet isn't crucial. I just have a little OCD when it comes to symmetry, so when I installed the handy box for the mill switch, I needed to balance it out with a receptacle on the opposite side. If the display could fit and mount into the handy box, then I would certainly consider mountint the display there. Thanks for the heads up and ideas! :mug:

P.S. I've been searching high and low for a large pulley, but no luck. :confused: I'm going to bite the bullet and order the pulleys, reducing sleeve, and belt from Grainger today so that I can move forward.....at total of around $60. With the exceptional price that I got on the mill ($60) and having recycled materials to build the cabinets and install hardward, I'll still only be $200 into the project when all is said and done.
 
Update: I did a little more searching around and found a vendor on Amazon called Zoro Tools that has pulleys, reducing bushings, and belts for much less than Grainger.

12" OD with 1/2" bore pulley: Grainger= $37.80 Zoro= $25.75
2" OD with 1/2" bore pulley: Grainger= $5.66 Zoro= $3.68
V-Belt 60in 4L: Grainger= $8.97 Zoro= $7.45
1/2" to 3/8" reducing bushings (3 pack): Grainger= $7.40 Zoro= $5.79

My total with $5 shipping with Zoro was $47 for a 30% savings over Grainger. I'll update on how quick they ship, but their prices are more reasonable for the exact same products by the exact same manufacturers (Congress, Dayton). :mug:
 
FYI: I placed my order with Zoro Tools yesterday late morning and it shipped mid afternoon via UPS. Anticipated date of delivery is tomorrow! I can't believe that I didn't know about this company. :drunk: They have over 300,000 products and from what I see are significantly cheaper than Grainger. They also have free shipping on orders over $50, otherwise their rates are very reasonable, as they only charged me $5 to ship my entire order. So far I'm impressed with their efficiency and as long as I receive delivery tomorrow, I will happily continue to use them over Grainger!

I'll try to get the mechanical side of the build done throughout the weekend. I worked 14 hrs. yesterday, so I should get out at a decent time today. Hopefully I'll have time to sand the mill and grain storage cabinets and maybe get a coat of poly on each. Coming down the home stretch! :mug:
 
what will be the system to organize your grain in your bin? Showed the pics to my wife and she loves all of it. BTW when are you going to the islands, thought you left already?

I've been thinking about your question further on organizing/storing of the grains in the bin. I think I'm going to use food grade buckets with gamma lids to seal them air tight. I'm going to take a few measurements, but should be able to fit at lest 6 of them in the bin along in 3 stacks with some smaller, air tight containers for miscellaneous specialty grains. Should be plenty of storage. If you have any other ideas, let me know. I have several restaurants around my business, so I'm going to see if I can pick up the buckets for free and then just order the gamma lids.
 
I like the Gamma lids for dry stuff...but for wet there is a gap between the snap-on ring and the pail that is hard to clean/sanitize....I'm considering silicone to seal it.
 
Got a little more done today. I cut a trim piece to size for the mill to sit on and then cut the r/o's for the grain chute and an elongated notch for the pulley system. I also got the logs cleaned up and both pieces completely rough and finished sanded. I then started frabricating a shroud to cover the pulley system on the back side of the mill, but will wait for the pulleys, etc. tomorrow to finish it because I'm having a couple of clearance issues. Here are a few pics. of today's progress.

p.s. Thanks for the feedback helibrewer!

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I received my shipment from Zoro Tools on Friday. I installed the 12" pulley on the mill with the reducing bushing. I went to install the small pulley on the motor and realized that the shaft was 5/8", not 1/2" like I was told. When I got the motor, it had a 3 inch pulley already on it and I was just assuming that the shaft was 1/2", so I never measured it before ordering. :drunk: Anyone need a 2" pulley with a 1/2" bore? It was only $4.00, so it will be more a hastle trying to return it.

Using the existing 7 lb. hopper that came with the mill was making things difficult due clearance issues, because the hopper flares out in all directions. I didn't leave a hell of a lot of clearance on the back side to fabricate a shoud to block the pulley from fingers. :eek: I tried several different configurations, but eventually got pi$$ed off and went a different route. :mad: I decided to build a new hopper for the mill that will not only give me the clearance needed behind the mill, but will also give me more capacity and serve a a shroud to block the pulley. It's still a work in progress, but here's what I got done so far. I'm making the hopper removeable, so that I can still easily access the set screws for gap adjustments.

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Sorry, went over to my inlaws for dinner and to watch the Tigers/Yankees game, so no more progress today. Go Tigers! :D The mill hopper is not the prettiest thing on the inside right now, but after I finish dressing up the outside with knotty pine paneling and trimming it out, I'm going to line the entire inside with some laminate hardwood flooring material. Again, I'm using up scrap pieces from the old entertainment center and just piecing the hopper together as I go. I have a couple of cases of the laminate flooring left over from when we built the house. I figure that it's brand new material and is a pre-finished laminate, so there should be no friction and the grain should slip right down the surface of the material.

I have a question.......Is it totally frowned upon to use this laminate flooring or simply wood with a polyurethane finish to line the hopper? I'm sure that some would say that the interior should techinically be stainless or at least lined with a food safe plastic, but is that necessary? I just figure that the a portion of the grain will be in contact with the surface as it slips down the sides of the chute and into the mill. The contact will be brief, without long term exposure. Am I safe doing this or should I line the interior with something different? I don't want to start a major debate like some of the grain storage threads that I have read about food safe pails vs HD buckets, jsut want a little feedback. :mug:

Here's a few pics of the interior and a pic of the laminate flooring that I was planning on using.

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