My Ugly Junk- Corona Mill Station...

[Mothman]

My Victoria mill arrived today and I've been playing around with it, cleaned it up, testing to see how the adjustments work,etc.

I don't have any grain at the moment but was testing by running a bit of popcorn through.

Is it normal, or at least is it OK, that the moving crush plate doesn't hold parallel to the fixed one when the grain is going through? See picture.

Initially the moving plate was loose on the auger shaft, so I switched the cotter pin to the shallower set of grooves in the metal ring, and it holds the plate very tightly now.

But the auger / plate shaft as a whole doesn't stay true when turning grain through, and has a bit of play, resulting in the plate going out of parallel.

It still ground up the popcorn so I'm hoping it won't matter. Just looking for any input from those who have had some time with their mills.

Maybe by tightening the adjustment right down, it may hold more true? Or maybe it's just that popcorn is so hard, and grain won't push the plate out as much.

 

[ancientmariner52]

My vast expertise consists of several years of using one Victoria mill, and info I have gleaned from HBT. However, I've spent 50 years operating, building, and sometimes designing precision machinery.

These mills are definitely NOT precision machinery. They are loose, sloppy, out of round and out of square. The only good thing about them is that they work very well if you just let them get on with it. The rotating plate is loose so that it can align itself with the mill body, which probably isn't perpendicular to the shaft.

I too moved the cotter pin to the alternate position, and added washers to stabilize the cross bar. Other than that, just let it wallow around. Popcorn may be a little like trying to grind ball bearings, so you should probably get some malt or deer corn to try it out on. Good luck!

 

[Mothman]

Sounds good, I'll give it a real test with grains on my next brew day.

Your post made me think though... Maybe the slop in the rotating plate is intentional and tightening it up by moving the cotter pin or installing a bolt is fooling a brilliant engineering decision.

 

[wilserbrewer]

HD bucket will likely work fine even though I believe they are 70 mil. The heavier and larger 90 mil buckets are a better choice if you can find one. One user had trouble with the thinner HD buckets when cutting them up many posts ago iirc.

This is the “ugly junk” thread, ideally you should wash out an old joint compound bucket you found on the side of the road much stronger when considering you are mounting the mill with screws through the side of the bucket.

 

[Mothman]

So in true ugly junk fashion I mounted the mill about an inch or two too low, so the auger / handle shift rests on the lower catch bucket.

Still will work but will give a bit more resistance when turning.

Short of remounting the mill (don't want to, as it'll leave open holes where I've already cut and drilled) or cutting a small notch in the catch bucket (would prefer to leave the catch bucket unaltered), any of you smart people have an idea how I can keep the mill bucket lifted up an extra couple inches?

A good thick application off duct tape to make a ridge on the mill bucket? Seems appropriate.

 

[ancientmariner52]

I think I would remount the mill, and use the duct tape to cover the unused holes. Then, when I had it all working to my satisfaction, I'd get a new bucket and build it again, now that I know where the holes go. This goes against the 'ugly junk' ethos, but that's just how I roll. [emoji16]

 

[Mothman]

That would mean my 45 minutes of work on this would be wasted.

I think I'll just pretend you suggested to go with the duct tape collar.

 

[Mothman]

On a side note the cheap Homer bucket works fine.

 

[Mothman]

So AncientMariner, I ended up taking your advice, lol, and moved the mill, taped over the offending drill holes.

I haven't cut the bottom out of the mill bucket yet... I can't decide if I want to do that, or just leave it alone and crush into the one bucket and then dump out.

Anyway, all I have for grain currently is some remnant left overs that was already crushed at the supplier, but I ran some through to try it out. Seems like it should work pretty great, once I get the thing adjusted properly.

Maybe not overly ugly, but I did have my old jig saw burn out cutting the mounting 2x4.... dad gave me an ancient one he had laying around, when we bought our house, today was the first time I ever used it. Rusty old blade, but it worked... at least just long enough to make two cuts and then something inside the saw went kablooey.

The 2x4 itself was torn off an old homemade shelf that the old owners of our house left behind and we kept it in our crawlspace.

And the duct tape covering the holes from my misplaced initial mounting probably count for something.

In terms of crush, I uploaded a couple images of the grain, after it went through my mill. Again, this grain was already crushed, but I could tell it was getting ground up even more as it went through my mill. Any input on how it looks would be appreciated (if you can tell from the pictures). There is definitely dust and some flour, but the picture doesn't really show it, as when I grabbed handfulls of the grain, the dust/flour stayed behind in the bowl.

When I put the grain bag in it's plastic bag and give it a good shake, there is a definite build up of flour/dust on the bottom of the bag.

 

[ancientmariner52]

Mothman, that crush looks like mine, it ought to make beer. I've never bothered to calculate efficiencies, but I've hit my numbers pretty close, except one time using a lot of wheat. I didn't know that wheat needed a tighter mill setting, so my OG was way low.

 

[Mothman]

Forgot to update... I used my ugly milled grain for the first time a couple weeks ago. Only hit about 72% efficiency.

So I tightened it up a couple spins and will try again next time.

 

[pricelessbrewing]

Forgot to update... I used my ugly milled grain for the first time a couple weeks ago. Only hit about 72% efficiency.

So I tightened it up a couple spins and will try again next time.

Measure the conversion efficiency next time, it's a better metric for grain crush, since mash/brewhouse also involves sparging, equipment losses, and how much grain is in the recipe. Conversion efficiency removes all those variabels.

 

[Mothman]

Conversion efficiency always confuses me... But using the Brewer's Friend efficiency calculator, I input my grain bill, and for volume, if I'm wanting to find my conversion efficiency I think I use my strike water volume?

And for gravity I used my preboil gravity.

That gave me about 80% in the calculator, and I think that's conversion efficiency using the numbers I did?

 

[pricelessbrewing]

Conversion efficiency always confuses me... But using the Brewer's Friend efficiency calculator, I input my grain bill, and for volume, if I'm wanting to find my conversion efficiency I think I use my strike water volume?

And for gravity I used my preboil gravity.

That gave me about 80% in the calculator, and I think that's conversion efficiency using the numbers I did?

Unfortunately, brewersfriend is using an inaccurate formula as it's calculated from strike volume and grain bill, and doesn't account for the volume of the increased wort from the dissolved sugars/starches/protein. It always reads lower then it actually is, IIRC it's something like ~8% lower.

You can run it through the evaluation tool in my mash software (link in sig) for a more accurate number.

 

[Mothman]

Assuming I used your Efficiency tool properly, it's saying I had ~ 88% conversion efficiency.

 

[probablynotnick]

My wife and I just bought a house and look at what was left in the garage!!

View media item 69371View media item 69370
[Edit] Retry at posting the pics

 

[Tarpon87]

Brewery upgrade! Decided to give my mill a more permanent home in a vacant corner. Some scrap 2x4 and cut up pallets and now i have a milling station.

 

[NRF]

Nice job Tarpon!

 

[NitrogenWidget]

I made one of these.
Using galvanized ductwork to hold the grain. works amazing for 5 gal. batches.
but, my cheap harbor freight drill cannot handle the grain for 10 gallon batches.
It basically starts smoking, overheats and wont work over load.

What drills are people using?
I'm thinking I need a hammer drill or might be time to buy a two roller crusher and use one of the washing machine motors I have.

 

[Tarpon87]

I bought a HF hammer drill made by Chicago Electric. Thing is a beast. Sale price was around $20 i believe, it laughs at crushing grain

 

[Tarpon87]

 

[pricelessbrewing]

View attachment 597195

I use the same one. I'm considering getting one of these to control the speed better https://www.harborfreight.com/router-speed-control-43060.html.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

View attachment 597195

I will wait until one of these are on sale.
Until them i'll start grinding grain for 10 gallon batches a day early.
Really sucks when your strike water is heating up faster than you can get your grain crushed. grrrr.

 

[JayInAmes]

My dewalt cordless drill grinds like a champ, no overheating.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

Since my HBS really really really wants to grind my grains every time I place an order I decided to let them.
Then I crush it finer in my corona and it's super smooth and doesn't overheat the drill.

 

[cicero85]

Today I built my version of the Ugly Junk Corona using a bucket I bought here in Germany. Around 3.7 kg of Malt should fit in the tube (KG, DN 125):

 

[timmyo]

I still can't figure out if my plates are supposed to grind on each other or if the grain is supposed to keep them from touching. I know every mill is a little different. I've got the Walmart ktaxon. I bought tiny washers, so I've got a bunch of them on each side.

I'd love some input!

 

[BobBailey]

I used a Victoria mill for several years with good results. I've had 2 roller mills since and my mash efficiency hasn't increased more than a couple of points.

 

[IZS]

I still can't figure out if my plates are supposed to grind on each other or if the grain is supposed to keep them from touching. I know every mill is a little different. I've got the Walmart ktaxon. I bought tiny washers, so I've got a bunch of them on each side.

I'd love some input!

Hey Timmo,

The trick is getting the gap set correctly. Look at my posts in this thread, I’ve been stoked with my results. Most of the advice is to set your gap waaaay to loose. I used solid spacers from Homedespot, and washers to shim the bolts on the plate adjustment.

 

[timmyo]

Thanks IZS.

Your pics are great. I have no way of measuring .025"! So your plates have to grind together, right?

 

[timmyo]

Hey Timmo,

The trick is getting the gap set correctly. Look at my posts in this thread, I’ve been stoked with my results. Most of the advice is to set your gap waaaay to loose. I used solid spacers from Homedespot, and washers to shim the bolts on the plate adjustment.

Thanks IZS.

Your pics are great. I have no way of measuring .025"! So your plates have to grind together, right?

 

[balrog]

(Full disclosure, I BIAB)

My plates hit if no grain is going through. When grain is involved it forces them apart during operation. The real tricky dicky part was getting them parallel, and that required taking it all apart and filing the nub of the hub the outer plate sits on, and once that was done, I just installed side washers per all the posts, and tightened it up until I liked it, which was about 3 turns past where I was originally comfortable.

 

[IZS]

Thanks IZS.

Your pics are great. I have no way of measuring .025"! So your plates have to grind together, right?

They will clack together, mine don't actually grind together. I have had my mill lock up without any grain in it so yes the plates are very close. In a pinch a credit card or two business cards is pretty close. .025 is just less than 1mm. you could get a wire type spark plug gap tool at autozone. Your going for TOTAL gap so getting the space between the teeth close should be just fine.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

Today I built my version of the Ugly Junk Corona using a bucket I bought here in Germany. Around 3.7 kg of Malt should fit in the tube (KG, DN 125):
View attachment 616576

how do you use this?
You can't fill it where it is unless you are really tall and do it a scoop at a time.
You can't run the drill if you put it on the floor to pour the grain in.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

They will clack together, mine don't actually grind together. I have had my mill lock up without any grain in it so yes the plates are very close. In a pinch a credit card or two business cards is pretty close. .025 is just less than 1mm. you could get a wire type spark plug gap tool at autozone. Your going for TOTAL gap so getting the space between the teeth close should be just fine.

This.
I used an old credit card and I just stop the drill once it's out of grain.
If my plates get even a tiny bit sloppy my efficiency tanks big time.
So I keep them tight and close together.
Haven't had any metal filings yet.

 

[hawkbox]

Huh I set mine about that level almost 2 years ago and haven't checked it since. I still grind the hell out of the grain with how it's set up.

 

[forgetaboudit]

I'd really hate to have to read thorough this whole thread.... Im looking to get a victoria mill (like a corona im guessing). I want to see what modifications I need to make to raise the quality and reliability of it.

 

[kh54s10]

I'd really hate to have to read thorough this whole thread.... Im looking to get a victoria mill (like a corona im guessing). I want to see what modifications I need to make to raise the quality and reliability of it.

A Victoria is one of the better Corona style mills. I mounted mine first of a workbench with a hole leading to a bucket on a shelf under. Later I mounted it on a cabinet, the bucket went inside to keep the dust contained.

I had to adjust the spacing of the grinding plates a little with some washers. Then get a bolt or something with the same thread as what holds the handle and fit it with a drill.

 

[forgetaboudit]

A Victoria is one of the better Corona style mills. I mounted mine first of a workbench with a hole leading to a bucket on a shelf under. Later I mounted it on a cabinet, the bucket went inside to keep the dust contained.

I had to adjust the spacing of the grinding plates a little with some washers. Then get a bolt or something with the same thread as what holds the handle and fit it with a drill.

It looked pretty decent for the money. Do you have pictures or a process to add the washers? I want to know what I'm getting into before I get one.

 

[Mothman]

It looked pretty decent for the money. Do you have pictures or a process to add the washers? I want to know what I'm getting into before I get one.

You can see the washer position in this post: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/my-ugly-junk-corona-mill-station.90849/#post-981037