Which Grain Mill?

[scottthorn]

I don't want to thread-jack, but I recently did the drill-mod on my Victoria (Corona) mill. I found a bolt with the same threading, hacked off the end, and used a grinder on one side so the drill would have something to hold on to. Unfortunately, my drills were not up to the task. I used both a corded and an 18v cordless (with a fresh battery!) and while both could give a nice burst they quickly slowed to nothing and started to overheat and make horrible sounds. I tried it with a full hopper, and with a minimal amount of grain. Seems like it needs more power to maintain a continuous crush, but I've read plenty of accounts of folks running a drill. Can anyone enlighten me if I'm doing something wrong?

Yeah if you are doing 10 gallon batches, a drill is a must. Unless you like a 30 minute one armed workouts.

No doubt! I was making 5 gallons of Imperial IPA with 20+lbs of grain, and after giving up on the drill I did the rest by hand. All that cranking did allow me to work up a powerful thirst

 

[bradsul]

I don't want to thread-jack, but I recently did the drill-mod on my Victoria (Corona) mill. I found a bolt with the same threading, hacked off the end, and used a grinder on one side so the drill would have something to hold on to. Unfortunately, my drills were not up to the task. I used both a corded and an 18v cordless (with a fresh battery!) and while both could give a nice burst they quickly slowed to nothing and started to overheat and make horrible sounds. I tried it with a full hopper, and with a minimal amount of grain. Seems like it needs more power to maintain a continuous crush, but I've read plenty of accounts of folks running a drill. Can anyone enlighten me if I'm doing something wrong?

You could try using some vegetable oil on any of the contact points for the feed screw (don't put it on any parts that will be touched by grain). If it's a tight fit as the screw turns it could be heating up enough to rub and slow down the drill. I've not had any problems running mine with an old 14.4V drill - though if you have a corded, use that. You will destroy a cordless pretty quickly.

 

[BierMuncher]

$155 delivered.







Couple pointers:
~ Avoid anything you cannot hook up a motor or drill...hand cranking sucks.
~ Go bigger...this one holds 12-13 pounds easily
~ The rubber feet on this one fit snuggly inside the rim of a 5-gallon bucket...making it very stable.
~ Get something with an adjustable crush. Malted wheat requires a much finer crush than a barley.

 

[Turkeyfoot Jr.]

+1 on the 15lb. Barley Crusher. I bought mine a month back and I've only had a chance to use it once but man was it nice. Milled 11lb. in maybe a minute or two with a 19.2 volt Craftsman cordless.

 

[earlyd]

I just got a Barley Crusher and my efficiency went from 64% to 78%. The cost was $130.00 from my LHBS well worth the cost. I used my 12 volt Dewalt drill and crushed 11# of grain in just over 1 minute. I would strongly recommend one.


~d

 

[Kayos]

Any pointers on who sells these besides the individual manufacturer sites?

 

[jdoiv]

Northern Brewer sells the Barley Crusher, Schmidling Maltmill and CrankandStein.

 

[Turkeyfoot Jr.]

I bought mine from here:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/grain-mills.html

EDIT: Oops, jdoiv beat me to the punch.

 

[brewman !]

How wide are the rollers on these mills ? What diameter are they ?

Thanks

 

[jdoiv]

They vary in diameter. 1.5 inches is more or less the standard. Length is also different. The longer the roller, the more surface area, the faster you'll be able to crush. I have the Monster Mill MM-3. It has 6 inch x 1.5 inch rollers.

 

[keiths]

I put Plexiglas on the sides of my MonsterMill as well, love to watch the grain run thruough it. Looks like you changed out the thumb screws, what did you replace them with and how are they working?

tom

I used allen headed screws and they work great, I had to use something different because of the Plexiglass was to thick for the thumb screws.I am using a drill right now but am going to mount it to the stand I have and use a motor.

 

[brad.maynes]

I just recently got a Corona Mill for Christmas (like your #2), and have done two batches with it, both weighing in at about 82% efficiency, which my buddy and I are pretty happy with

Brad

 

[bradsul]

I just recently got a Corona Mill for Christmas (like your #2), and have done two batches with it, both weighing in at about 82% efficiency, which my buddy and I are pretty happy with

Brad

Another Brad who is pro-corona!

 

[the_bird]

I love my BarleyCrusher. $126 delivered from Northern Brewer (shipping might have gone up $2 since I bought it). I've got just the 7# hopper, I may expand it in the future but it works though the grain so fast I don't mind refilling halfway through. Works right out of the box with no modifications, and gives an excellent crush.

 

[BrianP]

I love my BarleyCrusher. $126 delivered from Northern Brewer (shipping might have gone up $2 since I bought it). I've got just the 7# hopper, I may expand it in the future but it works though the grain so fast I don't mind refilling halfway through. Works right out of the box with no modifications, and gives an excellent crush.

Same here. 7# works well enough for me. Fantastic product.

 

[Finn]

I don't want to thread-jack, but I recently did the drill-mod on my Victoria (Corona) mill. I found a bolt with the same threading, hacked off the end, and used a grinder on one side so the drill would have something to hold on to. Unfortunately, my drills were not up to the task. I used both a corded and an 18v cordless (with a fresh battery!) and while both could give a nice burst they quickly slowed to nothing and started to overheat and make horrible sounds. I tried it with a full hopper, and with a minimal amount of grain. Seems like it needs more power to maintain a continuous crush, but I've read plenty of accounts of folks running a drill. Can anyone enlighten me if I'm doing something wrong?

Most cordless drills these days have two speeds, you want to make sure you're on the low speed. A corded drill should give you plenty of torque to run a mill -- unless it's one of those $20 quarter-inch Black & Decker jobs -- maybe try a different drill? If you can get or borrow a half-inch drill, that would be ideal, they usually turn pretty slow and are powerful enough to stop a runaway bus and you can get 'em at pawnshops for ten bucks.

A friend gave me this dinky little Glatt mill, which gives me a helluva workout grinding up a 10-pound grainbill but seems to do a great job. I'm really hankering after that oatmeal flaker, though, from Lehman's! Hmmm ... I could get that rascal, sell my Glatt for fifty bucks and for a net $38 I could start flaking my own oatmeal, just as thick as I like it. Hmmmm .....