Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

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shadylane
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Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

Post by shadylane »

As the subject says, this is a place to share information about de-watering screw presses.
That's a fancy name for squeezing a mash. :lol:
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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

Post by NZChris »

I have one that I use for fruit. It never occurred to me to try putting spent grains through it. It might work ok, but I won't have anything to put through it for at least a year.

I also have a wine press, but I've never used that for grains either. I don't think it would work much better than hanging trub in a bag. It would need slats and hessian to do an efficient job,
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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

Post by Setsumi »

When I started corn meal and enzymes, I looked onto building a wine/screw press. But being lazy I ended with a type of Dutch cheese press.
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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

Post by NZChris »

I have a cheese press too, probably large enough to take all of the grains from some of my mashes. I've never thought of trying that either. It uses weights, which are better than a screw that needs constant tightening.

I use squares of car tyre under the screw of my wine press to keep the pressure on for longer.
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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

Post by NZChris »

Of course, Shady might be wanting the subject to be only about a specific type, the continuous ones.

Is that a good guess, Shady?
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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

Post by Demy »

I have a small home made press using a car jack, I also have a large one that I use for wine but not grains. Tetzumy should have a lever and counterweight, I remember a post.
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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

Post by Demy »

this Is my press
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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

Post by shadylane »

NZChris wrote: Sun Nov 27, 2022 11:18 pm Of course, Shady might be wanting the subject to be only about a specific type, the continuous ones.

Is that a good guess, Shady?
Continuous and small enough to be driven with a 1/2" drill.
Something like a 4" auger in a perforated tube.
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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

Post by NZChris »

Mine is twin screw, my daughter has a single screw, both have their own motors. About 1.5" diameter.
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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

Post by shadylane »

Tell us more. :lol:
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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

Post by NZChris »

This kind of juicer. Liquid gets forced through a screen, solids come out quite dry. I reckon that they should work for grains, I just hadn't thought of trying mine for that.

https://www.juicingjournal.com/best-twi ... %20family.
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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

Post by Setsumi »

And again my English tripped me. A screw press is not n wine press. Thanks for the link.
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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

Post by SDEngr1 »

I have used an apple press and cloth filter...it worked well but gives you very cloudy wash to your fermentation that brings issues after fermentation when trying to clarify for distillation. I now very carefully leave the grain bed undisturbed and slowly remove liquid using the actual grains (cracked corn/rye) to pre-filter the wash.
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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

Post by 6 Row Joe »

shadylane wrote: Sun Nov 27, 2022 8:11 pm As the subject says, this is a place to share information about de-watering screw presses.
That's a fancy name for squeezing a mash. :lol:
Have you heard of a mop bucket? I don't own one but many here do and aparently they work well. Clean up is easy.
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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

Post by BlueSasquatch »

Yeah, I use a mop bucket with a brew-bag when needed. But it's also a pain to clean, and takes many "trips"
I have actually just stuck with hand-squeeze and not sweat it when I chuck some grain that is still saturated, fighting for every ounce is exhausting over the course of an entire bottle, then X amount of times a year. I'm just coming to terms with a certain amount of loss at each step, this one included.

I've also got some micro-cloth fiber from a forum member who said they do 55 gallon drums, with this material stretched over the top of an empty drum, and just let the grain sit and gravity drain, and yields alot of liquid out of it that way.
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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

Post by NZChris »

I reckon a suitable twin screw juice press could be set up with a large hopper attached so that you could load it and walk away while it does the squeezing for you. It would be much easier than using mop buckets and apple presses.
Last edited by NZChris on Mon Nov 28, 2022 9:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

Post by Deplorable »

Id love to have a dewatering screw press for this hobby. Id love to find a score on something like this.
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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

Post by 6 Row Joe »

What do the commercial distillers use?
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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

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6 Row Joe wrote: Mon Nov 28, 2022 3:41 pm What do the commercial distillers use?
the ones ive seen are massive. 4-5 feet tall, 20 feet long driven by a 3 phase couple hundred horsepower motor(s) and cost 250 grand. looks just like that one ^^^ on steroids.
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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

Post by HDNB »

i built one a few years ago...thought i posted pix here .

it was a 12x12x6 pvc box with a 2" perf'd pvc pipe and 2" feed auger driven by a 5hp gear reduced motor. it actually worked great, but the work was too much.

the other considerations are how you are going to load the machine, how to unload the spent grain and the effluent. if the whole process is automated, you'll be a very happy guy. if you have to deal with loading, leaks, unloading and cleaning....you will give up and throw in towel like me.

for example, think about loading that hopper on the one in the photo. The more mash you put through -with a pail?- the less grain you have in the wort and eventually you are trying to get the last bits out, unless you are collecting the output to another vessle, insted of dumping it back into the original tub....maybe pump it in? .... but then how do you slow/modulate the pump output to match the through-put of the screw....which changes as screens get blinded and input viscosity/solids changes.
the screen for output has to be fully enclosed, or you will be squirting output al over the place. if it's closed in, you got to break out tools to clean it or have the mother of all CIP's
there's more things to solve that was the worst of them tho.
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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

Post by NZChris »

I suspect that the large commercials that use them, use them for de-watering the grain after stripping the alcohol out.

They might make sense for small enterprises, but they are not cheap. It might be more economical to upgrade the still to handle the solids and scavenge the extra alcohol?

At hobby scale, a domestic screw type fruit/vegetable juicer might be up to the job. They aren't cheap either, so if you know someone who has one, borrow it to try.
If this topic had come up a few months ago, I've had a few different grain trubs that I could have put through mine. Unfortunately, I can't see me making any UJSSM or AG for at least a couple of years.
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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

Post by SDEngr1 »

I have a tomato processor, Mr. Squeezo, I believe is the name. Its a hand crank that augers tomatoes through a fine screen and deposits the skins, seeds, out the other end. This thing may work to de-water a mash.
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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

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SDEngr1 wrote: Tue Nov 29, 2022 5:46 am I have a tomato processor, Mr. Squeezo, I believe is the name. Its a hand crank that augers tomatoes through a fine screen and deposits the skins, seeds, out the other end. This thing may work to de-water a mash.
have a food mill for just that - but it is a total PITA for clearing the ferment (or even before the ferment)
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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

Post by Bushman »

Shady thanks for starting this thread. I press crushed apples through a 20 ton press using a turkey basket and mesh bags. It would be interesting if someone would do a test to see how much extra you would get from pressing the grains to see if it is worth the effort and time at a hobby level.
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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

Post by RockinRockies »

6 Row Joe wrote: Mon Nov 28, 2022 6:35 am
shadylane wrote: Sun Nov 27, 2022 8:11 pm As the subject says, this is a place to share information about de-watering screw presses.
That's a fancy name for squeezing a mash. :lol:
Have you heard of a mop bucket? I don't own one but many here do and aparently they work well. Clean up is easy. 1012675248.jpeg
After using them on a 55 gallon drum full of mash...I can say I friggin hate this option.
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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

Post by HDNB »

NZChris wrote: Mon Nov 28, 2022 10:26 pm I suspect that the large commercials that use them, use them for de-watering the grain after stripping the alcohol out.
exactly. here in Canada, they sell the spent grain back to cattle farms, it's high in protein and fat and fibre...no sugar obviously.

the one i built worked very well and the grain was only "moist" out the back end... so, for the purpose it was excellent from a de-watering standpoint. I was a total shitshow trying to get the wort in and clean up was a nightmare.

I looked around to try and find a built solution, the smallest i could find was called a "lab size" from a company in florida....15000.00 so a bit out of reach for most hobbiests

I built a shaker table also. It worked pretty good too but was too small at about 3 or 4 sqft, the shaker was not powerful enough and same problem with clean up. shit was everywhere.

the easiest method for a clean AG wort in the still? Grain is so cheap, the best solution i have found is a really big fermenter like a 50 gallon rain barrel and put a take off valve about 1/2 way. use the wort, throw out most the trub in a compost pile (phenomenal grass fertilizer),put in fresh grain and start again ala UJSSM.
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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

Post by RockinRockies »

We built a actuator, short throw press with two big ol pots, and the drilling alone was awful. It worked but we kept breaking the piston on the actuator. It doesn't move fast enough and takes forever but it's better than a mop wringer
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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

Post by RockinRockies »

Deplorable wrote: Mon Nov 28, 2022 1:43 pm Id love to have a dewatering screw press for this hobby. Id love to find a score on something like this.
image.png
I've searched everywhere and the best price I found was used, for approximately that size,...

$7500 USD before freight
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Re: Screw press for "off the grain" distilling.

Post by Deplorable »

I found that specific one for ~$2800 USD
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