Help with making a grain mill

Any hardware used for mashing, fermenting or aging.

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esxman
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Help with making a grain mill

Post by esxman »

Hi , I need some advice on building a grain mill . I have been gifted some top quality whole barley and some oats . I was thinking of making a mill to grind them ,( and some corn too ). My question is to the Forum .... how can you separate the husk or hull from the cracked kernel? . I understand most of the methyl alcohol comes from cellulose , and that's what the husk or hulls are composed of, so I would be keen to separate that from the ground grain. Commercially it is called winnowing , but having looked on Youtube at the grain grinders , it doesn't look like this has been done .So do you grinders out there try and separate the husks , is it easy ?, anyone built a machine that I might get ideas from ?. Your comments gratefully received !

esxman


Jimmy cracks corn , and I do care ...
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Swedish Pride
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Re: Help with making a grain mill

Post by Swedish Pride »

Cant say I've heard of anyone separating it, i sure as hell don't.

I suppose it might be possible If you first just crack the grain , then pour from a height in to an other bucket whilst a fan is blowing across the falling grain.
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fizzix
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Re: Help with making a grain mill

Post by fizzix »

I think there may be a benefit to NOT winnowing. Otherwise just use corn starch.
I'm searching for back up on my statement because I know I've read somewhere here the benefit of hulls, husks, and shells.
I know it helps to keep from making an unmanageable sludge for one.
Come on you experts, help me and esxman out.
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Cu29er
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Re: Help with making a grain mill

Post by Cu29er »

When making all grain beer you often want hulls (ie 'fiber') to keep your lauter tun holes/slots from clogging. Think of them as a natural filtering system so you have clearer output to put in your beer condenser equipment.

Go on Amazon and find the $25 "corona mill". It's crudely cast but you can hand crank your way through some grain. If you take the shaft screw to the hardware you can find a matching threaded bolt and a pair of locking nuts to fit in the shaft and use the binding nuts to hold and then run a drill on the shaft. You want a 1/2 inch full bearing electric drill and don't go crazy with it. Bushing type weak drills will smoke up and you'll buy another. Run grain through twice if you want finer, don't try to do it all in one go. You'll spend a lot more time building a mill than the corona ones. They ship fast if you break it.
esxman
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Re: Help with making a grain mill

Post by esxman »

Thanks boys for all your replies , so it looks like the chaff is included in milling . Maybe I will go for a built mill , but hey I have all the tools and the time , it keeps me out of mischief ! esxman
dukethebeagle120
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Re: Help with making a grain mill

Post by dukethebeagle120 »

i built one from looking at this thread from artisan dist.
works like a dream
feeds itself
http://www.artisan-distiller.net/phpBB3 ... 1&start=15" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
its better to think like a fool but keep your mouth shut,then to open ur mouth and have it confirmed
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raketemensch
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Re: Help with making a grain mill

Post by raketemensch »

Somewhere around here Corene has a great post about how she hooked the drill up to the corona mill in a different way from the usual method, and it saved a lot of wear and tear.

I'm digging around, but still haven't found it yet.

Even with this 500lbs of fine corn meal I still need to grind up barley and oats, so I'm hoping to electrify my corona soon, although my drill already doesn't smell that great while paddling a 30-gallon mash....
dukethebeagle120
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Re: Help with making a grain mill

Post by dukethebeagle120 »

raketemensch wrote:Somewhere around here Corene has a great post about how she hooked the drill up to the corona mill in a different way from the usual method, and it saved a lot of wear and tear.

I'm digging around, but still haven't found it yet.

Even with this 500lbs of fine corn meal I still need to grind up barley and oats, so I'm hoping to electrify my corona soon, although my drill already doesn't smell that great while paddling a 30-gallon mash....
i use an old 5 amp black and decker 500 rpm drill
strong as hell 30 bucks on craigslist
check that out
those big makita drills go up to lijke 8-9 amp
600 rpm
there strong as a bull
its better to think like a fool but keep your mouth shut,then to open ur mouth and have it confirmed
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corene1
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Re: Help with making a grain mill

Post by corene1 »

raketemensch wrote:Somewhere around here Corene has a great post about how she hooked the drill up to the corona mill in a different way from the usual method, and it saved a lot of wear and tear.

I'm digging around, but still haven't found it yet.

Even with this 500lbs of fine corn meal I still need to grind up barley and oats, so I'm hoping to electrify my corona soon, although my drill already doesn't smell that great while paddling a 30-gallon mash....
I don't think it was me . When I got my grain mill I used it with a hand drill and chucked directly to the shaft. Now I have a low speed high torque motor off of a small cement mixer that someone was throwing out and used a lovejoy connector and run the mill with that.
lovejoy.jpeg
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Soft batch
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Re: Help with making a grain mill

Post by Soft batch »

Duke - My setup is similar, except it is powered by a 1950's era Kitchen-Aid stand mixer. Works like a charm, and put the mixer to use. Had to fabricate a shaft to connect the mill to the mixer - didn't want to spend more on the Lovejoy connector than I did on the mill!

I separate the chaff/cob peices by scooping off what floats when water is added - the grains sink.
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cede
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Re: Help with making a grain mill

Post by cede »

I bought a mill from Jack Schmidling http://schmidling.com/barebone.htm Site is crappy and many 404 now
This is what I got few years ago ( not my picture, will have to move snow with tractor to get into the garage ! ):
brc015_b.jpg
I put a big wheel on the shaft, a small pulley on a spare motor and mounted all this on a wood box with a hopper made from 5 gallons water bottle upside down with bottom cut.
Make a big nice hopper.
Takes a few seconds to mill what I need for a mash. May be a bit overkill for me as it runs only 10 seconds every other week and sometimes not once for a month :)

If you want pictures, let me know.
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Re: Help with making a grain mill

Post by greggn »

> So do you grinders out there try and separate the husks

When doing all-barley mashes I do remove as much as the husk as possible to cut down on volume. I find that I can reduce the overall volume by 50% which means I'm not running my pots to the very brim (and ultimately spilling wort on the floor as I stir). It also reduces water absorption which keeps my recipes repeatable.

There are some videos on YouTube of modified Corona mill with gum rubber pads glued to the grinding surfaces ... the idea being that the friction rubs off the husks without grinding the grain. My two attempts at this have failed only because neither of the glues used were able to handle the shear forces so the pads simply fell off. I'm doing an all-barley today so I just ran the barley through the Corona on a very loose setting which rips off a lot of husk. A lot is left behind but enough is removed to make it a worthwhile effort to me.
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esxman
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Re: Help with making a grain mill

Post by esxman »

Boys ,
Thanks so much for all this info , I have several old drills , where the battery has packed up , so thats a good powersource , love the coupling idea , may just go for a giant coffee grinder , with a sieve underneath .Someone has already built one here on the forum .It boasts a plexiglass front so you can see if you got the math right . I have some inspiration now , thanks a lot . esxman .
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corene1
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Re: Help with making a grain mill

Post by corene1 »

Just a little side note, when I buy my grains I always buy recleaned grains. They have the husks already removed. The feed store I buy from has recleaned barley , wheat and milo . the other grains I use are steam rolled corn and oats. Malted grains and rye come from Morebeer online.
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MoonBreath
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Re: Help with making a grain mill

Post by MoonBreath »

Lotsa places the clean stuffs labeled or packaged as Premium.
*Spend it all, Use it up, Wear it out*
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Re: Help with making a grain mill

Post by WIski »

Corene Wrote'
the other grains I use are steam rolled corn and oats.
Corene, are you grinding the steam rolled grains or using them as is?? Thank you in advance.......
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Re: Help with making a grain mill

Post by ShineRunner »

I’ve been looking at steam rolled corn too. Found some local farmers that sell it in bulk for cheap. After searching around, I haven’t found any definitive answers about having to process the steamed corn further. I plan to have to cook it, but really don’t want to have to mill it further. Would love to hear what corene says as well!

SR
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