New Crankandstein 2A mill

[Reddog68]

Hello everyone,
I finally bit the bullet and picked up one of these.....

Now I need to fashion a hopper and stand, and i was hoping there were a few of you guys who have already done this. I usually mill about 20 lbs at a time, so i need a pretty big hopper (10lbs?). Any ideas and pics you might have would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Catt22]

Mine isn't a Crankenstein, but this configuration with a direct drive gearmotor should work with just about any of the available mills.

The water jug hopper will hold close to twenty pounds. I've never measured it precisely, but it's plenty big enough. Big hoppers are over rated IMO. It's no big deal to fill a smaller one twice and the smaller hoppers take up less space when not in use. Easier to stow. I detach and store the hopper under the mill where the homer bucket is shown. That leaves the top platform mostly open for additional storage. The mill platform is also a handy place to put a scale for weighing out the malt. Lots of usable real estate topside. Milling malt is a fun part of brewing.

 

[Reddog68]

Thats a sweet setup, what did it run you for the motor and switches? I agree with you on the hopper, i have limited space and i don't mind filling it up a couple of times. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Bobby_M]

I also use a water bottle hopper, works great.

 

[Catt22]

I paid almost nothing for the motor and switches. Under $10 believe it or not. That was a fluke and won't happen again. It was $23 for the mounting bracket from Bodine and another $11 for a capacitor which was required. Probably $20 or so for the spyder coupling. The wooden table was about $30 for materials. The whole shebang, mill and all was probably just under $200.

You can sometimes find those gearmotors on Ebay and at some industrial surplus outlets. There's a pretty wide variety of gearmotors available that could be adapted to turning a mill, but you kinda have to hunt for them some.

 

[Anthony_Lopez]

I should have pictures of my 2A setup that I've been working on by the weekend... I haven't decided on a stand yet, but for now I know that I'll be going drill powered.

 

[beerthirty]

I had issues with the pic hoster so this pic is small. Its powered by a chain driven bodine gearmotor(not pictured) that sits between the scale and mill. Not even a bottle cap will stop it. oops :0.

 

[Pete08]

3/8" AL base and top plate with AL angle and plexiglass hopper. 10 lbs fully loaded. I could have built a bigger hopper but figured a couple of extra minutes loading the hopper a second time with remaining base malt/spec. grains is a drop in the bucket when I will have to wait at least 3-4 weeks to drink the beer. I had to drill and tap a few #8-32 holes in order to secure the hopper and the side plates.

I did my first couple of crushes with my cordless; then, using an old 3/8" deep well socket, some set screws, a homebuilt adaptor and oak/AL crank, and supporting pillow block, it is now powered by Armstrong!

 

[cyberbackpacker]

Wow, that sure is purty Pete08! Nice work

 

[Pete08]

Wow, that sure is purty Pete08! Nice work

Thanks, it gave me an excuse to mess with some AL and come up with an off-the-wall contraption.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I love the aluminum work!! I also like the fact that after all the high tech fabrication, you chose to power manually...lots to be said for Norwegian steam.

 

[Anthony_Lopez]

This is what I've done so far...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/new-improved-crankandstein-2a-grain-mill-114243/

 

[Reddog68]

This is what I've done so far...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/new-improved-crankandstein-2a-grain-mill-114243/

Looks like a bullet proof setup! Have you used it yet? Just wondering what i should set the crush at. What are you doing for a hopper?

 

[Anthony_Lopez]

I found a cheap trash can at a hardware store that I'm going to use... It should fit about 10 lbs of grain. I'll let you know what I end up with for a gap.

 

[mliptack]

Excuse my grave-digging here but I just happened to stumble on this. That is awesome! Nice work Pete! I can see that you haven't visited the forums since almost a year ago, but if you have any information about this build, please share