My Ugly Junk- Corona Mill Station...

[EJay]

how much did you sand them down? did you sand by hand?
As I'm trying to dial mine in, I go from some uncrushed kernels to way too much flour really quick

I have a belt sander and I just rubbed them each against that while it was running. If you don't have that, I'd put a sheet of sandpaper on a flat surface and rub the plates against that. It shouldn't take much.

 

[estricklin]

I've been meaning to post a couple of pics for quite some time. I think this is an awesome mill and it has worked perfectly for me for many batches. I have the grind pretty small and it has worked for AG as well as my first BIAB. The mill is mounted as per many others on a single piece of 2x4, then the bottom is cut out of the bucket. I also cut a hole in the lid so that the filler cone fits thru the lid. My 3 gallon water bottle makes a huge grain funnel and works just right. The thing I have done differently is cut a plywood doughnut that slips up from the bottom to fit the grinder bucket...no screws. This allows the entire grinder bucket to sit on top of an empty bucket for catching the ground grain. No dust, no mess, cheap and it does a great job. I power it with a big single speed drill.

Seeing yours in person inspired me! I didn't make the "toilet seat" for mine because I didn't have any thick plywood laying around, and already had the 1x4 from my previous setup. I was actually thinking about adding a longer 1x4, and setting the whole thing over my brew pot/bag and grinding straight into strike water. If I have any leftover plywood from any remodeling projects I'm sure I'll make the doughnut though, the 2 buckets don't fit as tight as I'd like with my 1x4.

I did add some washers to mine and that made a HUGE difference, before it wouldn't stay adjusted and the wing nuts would back out while grinding. Am going to pick up a water bottle on the next Wolly World trip to use as a hopper.

Thanks to everyone, really enjoyed reading this thread over the coarse of a couple days. I guess what I love about this ugly mill; is it's one of the few times in life you can spend a lot less money and actually get something that works just fine. Was a fun project that only took 20 or 30 minutes, and used crap I had laying around.

I was going to replace my cheap amazon mill, but just haven't ever gotten around to it, and now I don't think I EVER will. Dunno how long one of these can last but I've already been using mine for years, no telling how many hundreds of pounds have been through it, maybe even thousands by now!

You've heard of "road dogs", well this is my "Grain Dawg"!

 

[BowAholic]

Seeing yours in person inspired me! I didn't make the "toilet seat" for mine because I didn't have any thick plywood laying around, and already had the 1x4 from my previous setup. I was actually thinking about adding a longer 1x4, and setting the whole thing over my brew pot/bag and grinding straight into strike water. If I have any leftover plywood from any remodeling projects I'm sure I'll make the doughnut though, the 2 buckets don't fit as tight as I'd like with my 1x4.

I did add some washers to mine and that made a HUGE difference, before it wouldn't stay adjusted and the wing nuts would back out while grinding. Am going to pick up a water bottle on the next Wolly World trip to use as a hopper.

Thanks to everyone, really enjoyed reading this thread over the coarse of a couple days. I guess what I love about this ugly mill; is it's one of the few times in life you can spend a lot less money and actually get something that works just fine. Was a fun project that only took 20 or 30 minutes, and used crap I had laying around.

I was going to replace my cheap amazon mill, but just haven't ever gotten around to it, and now I don't think I EVER will. Dunno how long one of these can last but I've already been using mine for years, no telling how many hundreds of pounds have been through it, maybe even thousands by now!

You've heard of "road dogs", well this is my "Grain Dawg"!

cool Eric! looks great! Now that you are using the bag, We can easily grind your grain at my house next time you come over to brew..
Bob

 

[wilserbrewer]

estricklin,

Please report back if you ever try crushing right into the strike water. I'm sorta fixed on dumping the grain bill and mixing pronto, but I'm always up for streamlining the process.

 

[estricklin]

cool Eric! looks great! Now that you are using the bag, We can easily grind your grain at my house next time you come over to brew..
Bob

Yep that will make things easier for sure.

estricklin,

Please report back if you ever try crushing right into the strike water. I'm sorta fixed on dumping the grain bill and mixing pronto, but I'm always up for streamlining the process.

I guess the reason why I have been hesitant about is that I don't like all that grain dust in my brewing area, I usually crush outside/away from it. But if I'm mashing there anyway what's the difference? Think I will try it on this next brew just for the heck of it.

 

[bcltoys]

When you guys talk about astringency is this because to tight a grind or to high a temp during the mash.I pretty much read this whole thread did not get a feeling on one or the other.

 

[MichaelBrock]

It has been speculated that too find a grind will result in astringency from the fine husk particles. However, I have had my corona mill cranked down pretty tight since I started doing all-grain 4 years ago and my beers have never had an astringency I would blame on the crush (I am BJCP certified). Some BIAB brewers seem to go pretty much as fine as they can and it doesn't appear to be an issue for them either.

Similarly, it has been speculated that too high a temperature for your sparge water can extract tannins from the husks. I haven't experienced this either, but then I rarely use water hotter than 170 for sparging so I haven't really tested this one.

 

[bcltoys]

Has anyone used feeler gauge's to set theirs and what did you set it at I have mine set at .030,have not used it yet at this setting.My mastercard is .030 thick so thats what I went with.

 

[brandonhagen1]

I just tighten till i got good crush then little tighter and call good

 

[estricklin]

So I did the crushing directly into the bag, not a bad way to go at all. I'm going to keep doing it actually. I was having a lot of gravity problems when I first started BIAB, (around 50%), but found out I had a bad thermometer, crushed a little bit finer, and hit my target at 72%.

 

[CJ-3]

Seeing everyone else's Corona mills has inspired me to post mine. Granted my set up is not sophisticated, but here it goes. Just another bucket in a bucket set-up.

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[wilserbrewer]

Nice....I think I like the eye bolt used to drive the mill concept. How does it seem to work? I have managed to break a couple of straight bolts I used to drive the mill from carelessly propping the drill to drive the mill unattended.

 

[lumpy5oh]

So I did the crushing directly into the bag, not a bad way to go at all. I'm going to keep doing it actually. I was having a lot of gravity problems when I first started BIAB, (around 50%), but found out I had a bad thermometer, crushed a little bit finer, and hit my target at 72%.

Just make sure you stir well to avoid doughballs.

 

[CJ-3]

Nice....I think I like the eye bolt used to drive the mill concept. How does it seem to work? I have managed to break a couple of straight bolts I used to drive the mill from carelessly propping the drill to drive the mill unattended.

It seems to work pretty well actually. I put a hook shaped bolt in my drill and the hook end goes into the eyelet.

 

[imasickboy]

Nice....I think I like the eye bolt used to drive the mill concept. How does it seem to work? I have managed to break a couple of straight bolts I used to drive the mill from carelessly propping the drill to drive the mill unattended.

I use an eye bolt in the mill, and an eye screw in the drill. The eye screw I nipped a portion off with the dremel to make it a "hook", but it has a much smaller gap than a hook typically has. All together, it works great, and provides the play needed due to the mill being drilled slightly off center.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Excellent feedback! Does the eyebolt and matching eye "screw" drive the mill nicely without vibration, or is it jumpy? I guess it's pretty smooth?

 

[imasickboy]

There's vibration, but it's largely because my mill is drilled off center. if your mill's hole is centered on the auger, you'll have less vibration.

 

[estricklin]

The "hook" I'm driving my eye bolt with, is from a car jack. I should get an actual bolt and a 3/8 drive for my drill but it's just one of those "had this laying around the house" things. You can actually use the wing nut from the handle that comes with it for an eye too, that's what I originally done, but that eye bolt I found is a higher grade. It vibrates like........some other things I know of, BUT my problem is as the other poster, off center.

Next time I have some free time and I"m in town, going to pick up that metric bolt and just use my air impact to drive it!

 

[TX_Brewing]

Ok guys, I finally got my ugly junk together and have it setup, I promise pics are to come. In the mean time would you take a look at my crush and let me know what you think? do I need to go tighter? I recirculate during my mash so I don't want to go too tight, but then again I don't want my ugly junk too loose either.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I crush more than that, but I either batch sparge with a braid, or BIAB. Not all fancy pants recirculating like you j/k

Are there many whole grains when you examine very closely? That is where the answer lies....

No means your good, yes means crush more. It is difficult to evaluate from a pic IMO.

 

[TX_Brewing]

Thanks Wilserbrewer, I may tighten it down a bit more and have some rice hulls on hand in case the mash gets too thick. As promised a photo of my mill.

 

[Beernik]

I'm getting ready for the maiden voyage of my corona mill. I don't have the grain yet so I can't do a test crush. I currently have it set so that I get a little rubbing of the plates but not continuously through the rotation. I am currently doing BIAB, so I can tolerate a finer crush.

Also, the two plates stick up above the top of the bucket. It has a little cowel. Is this problematic?

I have to post the pictures in three posts because that's how my phone gets down.

 

[Beernik]

The plate spacing

 

[Beernik]

Overall mill setup.
(For some reason, sideways)

 

[wilserbrewer]

Looks good Beernik,
Your plate spacing looks reasonable, but the proof is in the crush. Grind a handful at a time and tweak as required. The mill sticking above the top of bucket will be fine, maybe a little stray dust but no big deal.

The grain may force the plates further apart while actually milling, so what looks and feels tight now may change during use, pretty much trial and error with a few handfuls of grain, if under crushed just add it back in the with the grain and crush again.

Your adjustment hardware doesn't look like the typical Chinese ugly junk, where did you find that mill?

Your hopper looks tall, or maybe it's just the photo...just be careful and don't dump it

 

[Beernik]

Thanks.

It's a Victoria mill my wife bought for me off Amazon.

The extended hopper is a 4' long piece of ductwork. It fits tightly inside the 5" deep hopper that came with the mill. It seems to be stable enough as it is, but I haven't filled it yet. Hopefully the 5 gallon bucket is a wide enough base to keep the whole thing from tipping when full. I may duct tape it onto the hopper. To make more stable in there too. Or, probably more sanitary, bolt them together like I did to keep the duct from unraveling.

What I don't like about it is is the spinning plate is a little wonky. That's why it's only adjusted with a washer on one side and not the other. That was the closest I could get it to being square to the static plate.

 

[TastyAdventure]

I just brewed my first batch with my new corona mill setup. I got 71% efficiency, which is great compared to what I got before at my LHBS on their motorized mill where I even double milled, and only got around ~63%.
But I did get a stuck sparge! I batch sparge and thought that this was more of a fly sparging problem. I was able to stir up the MT, vorlauf really slowly, and start runoff again, and it did not get stuck again after that.
My crush looked perfect, not flour, but no intact kernels either. I did notice that the corona seems to shred the husks more than a normal mill... I guess I'll be picking up some rice hulls...

 

[wilserbrewer]

I may duct tape it onto the hopper. To make more stable in there too. Or, probably more sanitary.....

What I don't like about it is is the spinning plate is a little wonky.

Don't worry about your mill being sanitary, grain is far from sanitary. It came out of a farm field and likely has some bird poop and insect feces in it. . That's why we boil the beer.

Don't worry about the plate alignment so much either, the grain will force the plates to run more true as it is being augured through the mill. The plates sort of float and will find a happy alignment if you let them, and they are tightened down as they should be....don't overthink it, grind some grain cheers!

 

[lowtones84]

I second wilserbrewer's sentiments entirely. I have a Victoria mill as well (Mexico made, I believe) that I've been using for 3 years and couldn't be happier. As wilserbrewer said, grind a a bit at a time and check it until you're happy with the crush. Grain going between the plates will fix any wobble/inconsistency in my experience, though mills can differ of course. Don't worry about a bit of flour as long as most of what you're getting is crushed grain instead of flour.

 

[Beernik]

Thanks @wilserbrewer and @lowtones84.

By sanitary, I meant visually cleaner. I was thinking about flour stuck to pealing tape.

I think I've finally settled on a recipe to try the mill on this coming weekend. I'll probably pick everything up Thursday night and do some test runs.