My Ugly Junk- Corona Mill Station...

[Revvy]

Hey everyone -- here's a video of my kids helping me grind barley with my Value Village $15 score:

http://vimeo.com/8424072

Why am I adding it here? Well, it's hard to see in the video, but I don't need no stinkin' washers to keep the spacing right...I've used pennies instead. I figure that's gotta qualify for the thread, right?

Oh nooooo you don't qualify for ugly junk status, your kids are waaaaaayyyyyyy too cute. They just take you out of the running for anything with ugly in the title.

Great video, thabks for shariing.

I don't the pennies will work for too long though, sounds like Eli wants them.

 

[Saint Aardvark]

I don't the pennies will work for too long though, sounds like Eli wants them.

No kidding. He's a determined little cuss. Thanks for the compliments!

 

[Revvy]

So today I make the switch over from the "Choo Choo Train" ugly junk to the internal 2 bucket system. I went into HD to get a couple homer buckets only to find that they are priced reduced to $2.50 a piece.

I'll snap a couple pics.

 

[Stuntman]

How many are you going to buy before you get a barley crusher? Going cheap is good, going cheap again and again... is expensive.

30 bucks for me and I have crushed 200 lbs of grain no prob so far.

Revvy you are gonna love that bucket in a bucket. I do 21 lbs at a time, my Dewalt in low gear and trigger pulled all the way seems to be working perfect. I have to switch batteries half way through, but pull out the top bucket, turn it slightly sideways while still over bottom bucket, hit it a few times to knock grain off 2X4 and throw it in the MT.

 

[ihatehoward]

put some duct tape on it if you wanna keep it ugly..

 

[rico567]

How many are you going to buy before you get a barley crusher? Going cheap is good, going cheap again and again... is expensive.

I wasn't going to respond to this post until I had a number of batches through my Victoria / Corona rig:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-ugly-junk-corona-mill-station-90849/index21.html#post1408147

Well, now that I've done a half-dozen batches, and am getting a great crush and beer to match, I am. I can see no reason why this mill wouldn't do TONS of grain. It's crude, but simple, and there's not much to wear out. It's results that matter, and I'm getting them. Therefore, spending $100+ on a roller mill of some kind, making it by far the most expensive piece of brewing equipment I own, makes no sense to me.

 

[jppostKW]

Revvy I got some ugly junk!

and the resident brew assistant vacumning up flying bits. still need to put a cover on the front. but i have brewed 3 1.5 gallon AG test batches with it, with about 75-78% eff all three times

 

[TXCrash]

Revvy I got some ugly junk!

and the resident brew assistant vacumning up flying bits. still need to put a cover on the front. but i have brewed 3 1.5 gallon AG test batches with it, with about 75-78% eff all three times

The dog a catahoula?

 

[jppostKW]

The dog a catahoula?

we dont know what he is SWMBO and I found him running down a major road when he was little pup we think there is healer and jack russel maybe dachsund

 

[Revvy]

Your junk is pretty ugly jppostKW!

 

[jppostKW]

Your junk is pretty ugly jppostKW!

yup old piece of flooring to mount the corona some hvac flashing to direct grain
a couple angle iron chunks with screws to hold on various parts to the bucket all screws still sharp its awesome!

and the grease stains on the carpet from last friday that SWMBOS still angry about

 

[Revvy]

yup old piece of flooring to mount the corona some hvac flashing to direct grain
a couple angle iron chunks with screws to hold on various parts to the bucket all screws still sharp its awesome!

and the grease stains on the carpet from last friday that SWMBOS still angry about

Please tell me you weren't fixing truck carb in there.

 

[jppostKW]

No they where from my boots it was a particularly messy day at work had a cummins motor throw a connecting rod thru the side of the block. oil everywhere and i apparently didnt clean the boots well enough.

She put the kiabosh on fixing stuff in the house after i had to buy a new dishwasher after using it to wash a fuel pump for a Powerstroke. (she gets a lot of flowers)

 

[springer]

Please tell me you weren't fixing truck carb in there.

why your not suppose to do mechanical work in the den... I better get home and get the 6 speed trans I am rebuilding off the kitchen table ....

 

[Stuntman]

She put the kiabosh on fixing stuff in the house after i had to buy a new dishwasher after using it to wash a fuel pump for a Powerstroke. (she gets a lot of flowers)

ROTFLMAO!

Any beer involved when making the decision to use HER dishwasher?

 

[jppostKW]

Absolutely! fuel pump got gummed up with crappy fuel from some little podunk station washed it on pots and pans with a Bunch of PBW (is there anything it cant do I use it in all washing en devours) cleaned it right out but diesel eats soft plastics quite quickly

 

[SamJessin]

I have an equally ugly Corona mill set up. What I also have is an old huffy stationary bike. What I am thinking of is pedal power. I was never taught to be the most mechanical person in the world. Could anybody on here with a mechanical inclination get me started?

I would imagine I would take the front wheel off and run the chain to another gear box that powers a belt. The belt would somehow spin the corona.

 

[ihatehoward]

you can go on You-tube and look up grain mills. There is a bike powered mill on there somewhere.

 

[rico567]

I have an equally ugly Corona mill set up. What I also have is an old huffy stationary bike. What I am thinking of is pedal power. I was never taught to be the most mechanical person in the world. Could anybody on here with a mechanical inclination get me started?

I would imagine I would take the front wheel off and run the chain to another gear box that powers a belt. The belt would somehow spin the corona.

I don't know the mechanical advantage in a standard bike gearing (I suppose you could always use a 10-speed!), but I think what you describe is too complex. I'd be looking for some way to direct-drive the Corona mill off the rear hub....if you have something like a 4:1 advantage, using leg power, I imagine you'd just be able to grind away the miles.....

 

[Ichthy]

I actually JB welded the ginding palate at the shaft as well...twice, grrr. First time I thought I had it perfectly aligned but unfortunately had a bad wobble to the plate. Whacked it w/ a hammer to get rid of the JB weld for round two. The second time was a charm! I found that if you reassemble the mill w/ the JB weld still pliable, you can get the plate lined up well w/ the the opposite grinding plate.

Hope this makes sense / helps.

Mike

I've got a new corona (the grizzly brand) mill, and the outer grinding plate doesn't fit flush on the shaft. Good qa/qc... Has anyone else had the same problem? I get a really inconsistent crush and haven't quite been hitting my numbers, so I think the problem is the outer plate not sitting flush with the inner. I tried the bolt in the front of the mill and it keeps the plate solid, just out of true. So, are you guys just JB welding the outer plate to the shaft and then quickly reassembling and tightening the mill together so the plates sit flush together?? Before I go through the trouble of JB welding I'm a little unsure as to whether or not the hole in the shaft will still line up with the lock nut.

Thanks for any help guys. mug:

 

[wilserbrewer]

Tough to say without looking at your mill. The bolt may actually be holding the grinding plate crooked. Somehow you need to have enough play in the grinding plate so it can spin true to the oppisite plate. Maybe filing the outer hub, or drilling the hole larger will allow the plates to align.

Not really sure the JB weld is needed. If the grinding plate is free, it might just self align when the mill is tightened.

Did you try and just tighten the mill for a finer grind?

 

[starrfish]

I never jb welded mine but made the adjustments ( see pics... just haven't bought the jb weld from harbor freight, lazy i guess) Had someone here do my efficiency... (orfy? maybe ? would like o give credit where credit is due) he calc'd my efficiency at 75% on a partial mash.

Done a few all grains and came up with 75-78% efficiency! just need to cement it in place! or leave it go to tighten/lossen and get more out of it!

Look back in this thread it's there BO! It Works!~ I'm so happy I found this board... yeesss I'm Happy I'm drinking one of my high gravity beers! Honey coriander Steam (hcl) mmmmm happy! 75% efficiency brew! with lots of dry hop coriander!

 

[Ichthy]

Tough to say without looking at your mill. The bolt may actually be holding the grinding plate crooked. Somehow you need to have enough play in the grinding plate so it can spin true to the oppisite plate. Maybe filing the outer hub, or drilling the hole larger will allow the plates to align.

Not really sure the JB weld is needed. If the grinding plate is free, it might just self align when the mill is tightened.

Did you try and just tighten the mill for a finer grind?

I've tightened the mill pretty tight. I get a fair amount of flour, but I've never had any problem with a stuck sparge. I use a 48qt Igloo cube with CPVC manifold that has a center drain. That thing will lauter like crazy.

Do you think I should just crank it down till I get a stuck sparge and then back off a little?
If I had to guess, I have up to 5% of my grains that don't appear to be cracked. I just brewed an ESB and missed my OG by 4 points. Total brewhouse eff. was 65% (I'm not sure that I've figured out my boiloff rates well yet, so that could be part of the problem). Dead space in the MLT is almost nothing, maybe 1 cup or so. Sorry for the long-windedness...

 

[BBBF]

I cranked mine down until the plate cracked in half. So I'd suggest stopping before you get that far.

 

[wilserbrewer]

If you still have have uncrushed grain, yes by all means tighten it up. Do so with a bit of care, if the mill binds and locks up, it could break I guess (surprised me). Is the bolt holding the grinding plate crooked. You might be better off w/ a smaller cotter pin so the plate will true up as grain is fed through.

 

[Ichthy]

The outer plate won't seat on the drive shaft squarely. There are the two nubs (sorry for lack of terminology) on the shaft the fit into the outer plate and I think one of them is longer than the other. Therefore one side will grind tight and the other will allow a few grains through uncrushed. I've been hesitant to crank it down to far and shred husks and create too much flour. But as I mentioned before, I have had no problem yet lautering. I'll just crank 'er down and see what happens. Is the tannin extraction from husks one of those homebrewing boogeymen/myth things??? Or is that pretty real?

 

[Ichthy]

I wanted to provide an update re my situation with a not square outer grinding plate.

I followed wilserbrewer's recommendation to put the cottoer pin back in (the pin holding the outer plate to the shaft). This worked really well and I saw a 10 point jump in my OG. The crush came out really even and had minimal husk shredding.

To summarize, if you're outer plate does not spin true to the inner plate, don't put a bolt in there as previously recommended in this thread! Doing so will only exacerbate your problem. Leave the oringinal cotter pin in, and crank 'er down.

Many thanks to those of you who provided advice

 

[RichBenn]

I too kept screwing around with it, and finally came to the realization that the tolerances in the shaft and body itself make fussing with alignment mostly unecessary and possibly counter productive.

As the grain starts going through, the shaft position is changed so that all that alignment is changed. Keeping the cotter pin in, wobbly as it may be, allows the plate to somewhat self align when grinding.

I kept going down on the adjustment until the plates would touch at some point, but not until they totally stuck together if you moved the shaft. The plates would hit just spinning by hand, but not with grain in them. This proved to be about the best grind, and got me to 75% on IPAs (maybe more on lighter beers) without stuck sparges. I'm good with that.

 

[Stuntman]

I put cotter pin in, Jb'ed the heck out of it, tightened it up (tight) for a little over twenty four hours. Woo Laah! I don't have efficiencies to post, but ground over a hundred pounds so far. husks end up in three pieces, less than 1/8th of the grind is flour. No uncrushed grain.

 

[Hermit]

I picked up a 'Universal' for $10 that had a pulley welded to it so I used a gear motor and belt I had laying around to power it. I'll post pictures when I get time cuz I'm so proud it is WAY UGLIER than Revvy's.:rockin: