After an epiphany today, and a little testing I'm sold on this device as the method of separating wort from grain. I pounded through 7.5KG of grain in 30L of water, twice, in a matter of minutes. it's all in the technique.
here is what it looks like/ build notes http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 1&start=90
The technique?
set up the corntrifuge into the overpail. (for me, a 205L olive barrel/fermenter with a piece of plywood with hole cut in it so the corntrifuge fits snugly)
pour in all loose watery wort from any/all pails (3 x 6 gallon pails in my case)it strains quickly.
pour in soaked grain to the top of the sieve holes + an inch or two.
here's the trick: grab the cross braces and shake gently back and forth like a top load washing machine. the wort literally falls out of the grain. it takes about 15 seconds.
pour in a bit of sparge water. shake again. takes about 15 seconds.
repeat if desired. (i did, it was easy!)
let things drip dry for as long as you want, and/or then hook up a variable power drill (without a brake!!) and start a slow spin and as the grain dries, up the rpm a bit. takes about 1-2 minutes to completely remove water, leaving the grain slightly damp. Really, you could actually skip this step, there really isn't much left after the shake...maybe another .5 to 1L out of 7.5KG grain.
*this works with cracked corn, mixed with ground barley/oats. if you are too fine, you will need smaller/more holes than my model.
Special thanks to MichiganCornHusker for help sticking the name to this device, and Emiliano and Jimbo for providing the fun fodder for thinking about doing "laundry", and getting the wash done.
