Cencracked Corntrifuge

[HDNB]

Yes, I'm serious now. You want one of these.

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.

[Emiliano]

Good job! I like the name of the device !

Regards.

[MichiganCornhusker]

Excellent work, HDNB, for seeing this thing through.
And to SCack for planting the seed. I remember when this genius contraption was born, and HDNB did a great job working out the details.

I've noticed that when straining with a big mesh strainer that shaking it like jiffy pop makes the draining go quick.
I've thought about hooking a vibrator up to a strainer but haven't gotten around to this yet. Your set up sounds easy and effective, love it.

[HDNB]

here is the original build notes. i'll scare up some photos soon. for now, couple images here: http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... e#p7314462

the outermost pail serves as a sanitary holder, so you don't have to set it on the floor.

the outer pail oF the centrefuge has 2x 2" drain holes cut into the bottom, and a block of wood spans the bottom with a centering hole drilled in it. one drain hole on each side, close to the end, as the spinning liquid pushes the wort up to the wood...then down thru the hole.

the inner pail has 3/16 holes drilled in the sides every 1" up,down, left, right in a balanced pattern so it drains evenly. the bottom i also drilled holes in an even pattern, just scratched a few intersecting lines like cutting a pie, and drilled 'em.

the centre shaft is 5/16 ready rod in SS. I used an acorn nut on the bottom, that fits into the centering hole in the block of wood that spans the bottom of the outer pail. the ready rod passes thru the bottom of the sieve pail with SS washer on each side. On the inside of the pail there is a nylock nut to hold the rod securely to the bottom of the pail.

R
O
D
nut
washer
pailpailpailpailpailpailpail
washer
nut (acorn)


i used 2 pieces of 3/16 ready rod in SS for the "X" on top with washers and acorn nuts to secure it. I used some 1/2" aluminium tube to make the spreaders you see, one solid, side to side, the other cut in half and "dimed" out to make it fit snugly against the solid spreader. the 3/16" ready rod passes through the tubes and is secured on the pail with a washer and acorn nut.

I put a nylock nut and a washer on the 5/16 ready rod, and then built the "X" on top of it. once the "X" was installed, I put a top washers and nylock nut on the 5/16 rod and cranked it down, crushing the "X"

it took a bit of finangling to get the "x" ready rods to pass the center shaft inside the tube, but other than that it was easy. took about an hour to build the whole thing, but i have most hand tools known to man. i made that part bold, because it was the only thing that was semi-difficult.

it actually ran perfectly (start slow!!!) but the brake on my dewalt cordless loosed the nuts when i let go of the trigger, and everything slammed to a stop.
The bottom acorn nut spun loose once, as well as the nylock nuts crushing the "X" came loose too.

I would suggest red locktight and jam nuts on both of these locations, due to the forces present under load. use the locktight sparingly and clean it off any exposed area, i'm pretty sure it is poisonous. (i didn't use any for this reason, but it's too much for the threads to hold alone, so i'm going to add some and clean it up nice.) if you can weld SS, a little spot to lock up the treads would do instead.(EDIT: Weld the threads solid on all the crush nuts points. there is a LOT of force moving)

cut the top of the centre ready rod flat on 3 side so the drill chuck would grab it.

thats it. total cost about 15 bucks, and i sacrificed one of my nice wine store 6 gallon fermenters (outer pail with the 2 x 2" holes.)

tomorrow i plan break out the jigsaw to make a plywood cut out for the outer pail to sit in so i can drop it on top of any pail (or my 200L fermenter ) to drain into.

oh yeah, and to find the the "x" mounting spots, i traced the pail on a paper, cut out a circle, folded it in half twice and then set it on the pail to find the exact spots to mount the "X" so it would be balanced. worked awesome.