My Ugly Junk- Corona Mill Station...

[wickman6]

Here's my junk, and it grinds out grain quite nicely as you can see. I started conditioning and its awesome! I highly recommend it if you don't already.

The drill died however, so now I rigged up an old Milwaukee buffer to run the mill. It's a beast.

 

[Revvy]

Here's my junk, and it grinds out grain quite nicely as you can see. I started conditioning and its awesome! I highly recommend it if you don't already.

The drill died however, so now I rigged up an old Milwaukee buffer to run the mill. It's a beast.

That is one of the ugliest POS I've seen in a long time on here....

YOU WIN!!!!! For the first half of 2013 I award you;

 

[Indian_villager]

I'm not sure that beats the one with the KFC bucket. For craps sake I'm confident that the bucket still had grease stains on it.

 

[tre9er]

Did some updating of my ugly junk. Re-purposed a cabinet, screwed some pallets to the top to secure the hopper from tipping over, made a cut-out for the drill (bungee'd to the bucket), and then cut the top of a bucket off so I could slide it up on the mill bucket, put the "catcher" bucket underneath, then nest the cut-off inside the catcher. Does that make sense? You can probably tell in the pic.

Real fancy.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Lookin good!

Just a heads up to all "ugly Junkers", I recently had my drill temporarily rigged to the mill, well apparently not very well!

I guess the drill had some wobble and eventually snapped the bolt flush with the handle shaft of the mill.

I thought my corona might be a goner, but after ample cussing, drilling, and chasing the threads with a tap, I'm back in business w/ a new cut off bolt.

In hindsight, it might be cleaner to drive the mill w/ a hex bolt and socket, rather than chucking on to the bolt shaft.

My pain hopefully your gain all...cheers!

 

[rico567]

Lookin good!

Just a heads up to all "ugly Junkers", I recently had my drill temporarily rigged to the mill, well apparently not very well!

I guess the drill had some wobble and eventually snapped the bolt flush with the handle shaft of the mill.

I thought my corona might be a goner, but after ample cussing, drilling, and chasing the threads with a tap, I'm back in business w/ a new cut off bolt.

In hindsight, it might be cleaner to drive the mill w/ a hex bolt and socket, rather than chucking on to the bolt shaft.

My pain hopefully your gain all...cheers!

I've been chugging along ever since I built my setup with the same 13mm x 2 inch 25-cent bolt I started out with. I had the socket and adapter already, so it seemed the logical way to go. No problems, and I think that the fact that the bolt head & socket are able to "wobble" a bit actually helps take some stress out of it, although it's just slapped together.

 

[tre9er]

In hindsight, it might be cleaner to drive the mill w/ a hex bolt and socket, rather than chucking on to the bolt shaft.

That's what I do, hex bolt and socket.

 

[tre9er]

Favorite part of my "new" setup is that I can walk away from the milling station. Before I had to keep my eye on the drill, hopper, etc. to make sure I didn't have 15lbs. of grain on the floor when I got back.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Fwiw, the broken bolt was self inflicted, about a year ago I grab Ed what was in reach to support the drill for hands free milling, I guess a bungee cord and a scrap of PVC pipe weren't enough haha, likely had large load and wobble equals broken bolt.

Starting to regret passing on the nice wooden kitchen cart I saw at a garage sale few weeks ago

 

[user 78027]

I'm struggling with my efficiency, I brewed yesterday and the result was a dismal 46%. So, I am going back and looking at everything to figure out how to improve somehow. I have my grain milled at the LHBS and yesterday I milled it twice. I went back today and got two one lb samples, one milled once and the other milled twice. I have included the images here hoping someone will tell me if it needs to be better or if I need to look elsewhere.

In the first image the grain was ground once and in the second image twice.

Thanks for your help.

 

[tre9er]

I'm struggling with my efficiency, I brewed yesterday and the result was a dismal 46%. So, I am going back and looking at everything to figure out how to improve somehow. I have my grain milled at the LHBS and yesterday I milled it twice. I went back today and got two one lb samples, one milled once and the other milled twice. I have included the images here hoping someone will tell me if it needs to be better or if I need to look elsewhere.

In the first image the grain was ground once and in the second image twice.

Thanks for your help.

Those pics are so small and not expandable, so I can't really tell. Bottom line is that you don't want ANYTHING that looks like a whole grain. You want pieces of husks and chunks of endosperm, along with flour, yes, flour.

 

[user 78027]

Those pics are so small and not expandable, so I can't really tell. Bottom line is that you don't want ANYTHING that looks like a whole grain. You want pieces of husks and chunks of endosperm, along with flour, yes, flour.

I added larger images. I don't know how big I can upload here.

 

[rico567]

Hard to tell.....too far away. But my impression is that you need to crank your Corona down a turn or so, then try it. The rule, first espoused by "wilserbrewer, " is "crank it down 'til you're scared, then give it another half-turn."

 

[tre9er]

Crush finer. The biggest piece you want should be about a half a grain. Anything remotely resembling the size of a whole grain is too coarse.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Three words is all you need, "all grains crushed".

 

[user 78027]

So, your telling me I don't really have a choice but to buy one of those corona mills, urgh. Its not the money, if I didn't I would have to buy more grain so the money gets spent. I just don't need more variables in the equation while I figure this process out. By the same token, I am really tired of the result not getting much better as I keep making changes. I have the feeling this is more fundamental and things won't get that much better until I get this done.

 

[tre9er]

So, your telling me I don't really have a choice but to buy one of those corona mills, urgh. Its not the money, if I didn't I would have to buy more grain so the money gets spent. I just don't need more variables in the equation while I figure this process out. By the same token, I am really tired of the result not getting much better as I keep making changes. I have the feeling this is more fundamental and things won't get that much better until I get this done.

That's a piss-poor crush by the LHBS. Some of the old guard believe you just barely want to crack the grains. I've lost 10% efficiency when I had even a fraction of my grains whole or nearly-whole. My runoff has been slow at times, but I am stuck on 80% efficiency no matter what else changes, as long as I crush my grains the way I always have. It's nice to know you'll hit your numbers.

 

[n240sxguy]

So which version of these mills do you guys use? I've seen a Corona, Victoria, and some generic that has "500" cast into the side that doesn't have a shield over the plates. The cheap "500" looks like a POS, but it's cheaper. I'm already questioning this type of mill. If I get one, I want it to be a good one; not a piece of junk that's gonna break.

 

[Shakybones]

I got mine from Discount Tommy (through Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000U5NZ4I). It is a cheap piece of shizz ($27, free shipping), but it does the job very well. I didn't even need the adjustments (washers, etc.) that others did to get it to grind. I've now hooked a monster drill up to it and run it on full speed. Hasn't broken yet. I haven't heard many others that abuse their junk complain about breakage.

Do it!

 

[rico567]

I got mine from Discount Tommy (through Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000U5NZ4I). It is a cheap piece of shizz ($27, free shipping), but it does the job very well. I didn't even need the adjustments (washers, etc.) that others did to get it to grind. I've now hooked a monster drill up to it and run it on full speed. Hasn't broken yet. I haven't heard many others that abuse their junk complain about breakage.

Do it!

This is what I did, three years ago when DT had them for $23. Yes, they are very cheap and crudely made. No, it has never broken, through milling dozens of batches of malt. And I hit my numbers when I mash with almost boring consistency, which means that the mill (mine is a "Victoria" with "500" on the side) is as capable of milling malt as any roller mill out there. Just crank it down until all grains are crushed.

 

[n240sxguy]

Damn you all! I had pretty much made my mind up on the cereal killer roller mill. Now I'm questioning it all. I can buy two bags of grain for the difference in price between these mills. Finish convincing me. The only two issues I have left are: is the link you provided to one of the Chinese ones that flame metal off everywhere, and does it not throw grain everywhere without a shield over the grinding plates?

 

[TheZymurgist]

This is the one I use, and it's pretty solid. No quality issues that I can see. It doesn't have a cover, so I had to rig a large Folgers can over it, but it works great!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000U5NZ4I/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[rico567]

If you believe that one of those half-moon shields is going to stop stuff from flying all over when you put an electric drill to it, I have bad news for you.
I am an advocate of the "bucket-in-bucket" Ugly Junk design.....my particular implementation can be seen viz:

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

I think the classy Pratt & Lambert 5 gal. primer bucket makes the whole thing work æsthetically, don't you? This COMPLETELY does away with any mess.

 

[n240sxguy]

Yours is exactly what I was thinking on if the guard wasn't included. I may just have to this way. Amazon has one under that same link as a warehouse deal for $21. I may try that and save the extra few bucks. With amazon I'll know exactly what the return policy is too, should an issue arise.

 

[brewinginnc]

Do it i tossed the idea around for far too long and have no regrets with my corona.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Amazon has one under that same link as a warehouse deal for $21. I may try that and save the extra few bucks.

For $21 WTH! Over 1500 posts in this thread, and I think I recall maybe one purchaser not satisfied.

If you are slightly mechanically inclined, you will very likely have success with a corona.

If you are the type that is not easily satisfied, value warranties, have high expectations of getting a precision built unit, then look to spend more money!

Oh, need not really worry about breaking one of these mills, they are cast iron and built like a freight train!

I recently disassembled my corona, and expected to find slight wear after roughly a thousand pounds of grain, the internals looked pretty much like the day I bought it, FWIW.

 

[vraftsman]

So which version of these mills do you guys use? I've seen a Corona, Victoria, and some generic that has "500" cast into the side that doesn't have a shield over the plates. The cheap "500" looks like a POS, but it's cheaper. I'm already questioning this type of mill. If I get one, I want it to be a good one; not a piece of junk that's gonna break.

So I have seen you twice now say it's not the money, you're looking for quality, so why not get a roller mill? The corona mills are intended to grind into flour while the rollers are designed to crush the grain. Crushing leaves you with at least a partially intact husk to form a good filter for your lauter, while adjusting the roller spacing can give you more or less of a flour from the endosperm. I know roller mills are like 5x the price but they can also go through grain a a great speed and have very consistent results from batch to batch.

This is the one I went with because it includes a hopper and is made very well. Was only $120 at the time, but looks like this is up a little. free shipping at least. Miller's B2 Barley Mill

 

[Shakybones]

Amazon has one under that same link as a warehouse deal for $21.

$21 + shipping > $27 w/ free shipping, amiright?

 

[Shakybones]

So I have seen you twice now say it's not the money, you're looking for quality, so why not get a roller mill? The corona mills are intended to grind into flour while the rollers are designed to crush the grain. Crushing leaves you with at least a partially intact husk to form a good filter for your lauter, while adjusting the roller spacing can give you more or less of a flour from the endosperm. I know roller mills are like 5x the price but they can also go through grain a a great speed and have very consistent results from batch to batch.

This is the one I went with because it includes a hopper and is made very well. Was only $120 at the time, but looks like this is up a little. free shipping at least. Miller's B2 Barley Mill

Do whatever floats your particular buoyant conveyance. My husks filter perfectly well. As recently mentioned, empirical evidence indicates that consistency is not really a problem with the Corona mill. With a good drill, speed is no issue, either.

One final note - grain conditioning requires minimal effort and can be very helpful.

 

[n240sxguy]

$21 + shipping > $27 w/ free shipping, amiright?

Wrong. $21 w/ free prime shipping < $27 w/ free prime shipping.