The Perfect Crush

[nathanclare]

Hey guys,
Picked up an old corona style grain mill the other day at an antique shop. It's the latest addition to my toolbox in my quest for the all grain adventure. My question is, has anybody who uses this kind of mill found a good setting for the space between the disks so that you get a good crush. I know I'm not making flour with the thing, but I figured if I was going to err one way or the other, it would be better to overcrush than undercrush just to make sure the husks are cracked. Any thoughts...suggestions?
Nate

 

[bradsul]

Have a look here and also check out the wiki page on evaluating your crush. That should give you all the info you need. You'll be very happy with that mill once you get it dialed in (which doesn't take much).

You'd be better to under crush. It would be better to just need a bit of extra grain than to grind up the husks too much and start getting off-flavours and lautering problems. You should be able to get to at least 75% efficiency if your system lauters fairly well.

 

[IXVolt]

A few washers for spacing, and corona mills are golden IMO. You'll be happy with it.

 

[wilserbrewer]

This crush looks spot on to me...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/corona-mill-users-evaluate-my-crush-please-133814/#post1507832

 

[rico567]

I agree....mine looks very similar. There isn't going to be a measurable spacing for the disks on a Corona / Victoria / Grizzly / etc. mill. Just crank down until the grist looks like it does in the pic in "wilserbrewer"'s post above. Everything inside is crushed up well, and the hull is removed, but not torn up too much. The rule of thumb with the Corona is "Tighten up on the adjustment screw until you get scared- then turn it a little more."

 

[Kaiser]

one thing you may want to try when using a corona mill is malt conditioning (Malt Conditioning - German Brewing Techniques). I and others are using this to improve the crush when using 2-roller mills. I don't have a corona mill mylself but I'm interested if that technique, which softens the husks through the use of a little water, does anything for improving the crush that you get with a corona mill. Since they seem easily cleaned with water, there is not much to loose if you end up making a mess by using too much water for the conditioning process.

Kai

 

[Runyanka]

One thing I still havnt gotten is this... if you put washers inbetween the two disks, it just seperates them more, which could be adjusted with the wingnut (screw) on the end of it. Any advice would be much appreciated. As stated in the the thread I just posted, I got 80% with mine (after 4 tries). The only thing I did to mine was first make it drill powered, second I fixed the turning plate in place with JB weld, to make sure that it doesnt wabble while grinding. I did find that if you use the bolt with nut though it, you loose some space for adjustments, due to the profile of the nut/bolt head.

 

[bradsul]

One thing I still havnt gotten is this... if you put washers inbetween the two disks, it just seperates them more, which could be adjusted with the wingnut (screw) on the end of it...

The need for washers is model dependent. My Porkert mill doesn't need it as the set-screw offers enough adjustment, but many of them don't.