Alternative to Corona Mill

[Johnnywhiskey]

I just ran the whole grains for my tenth bourbon mash through my corona mill, and it is getting a little tedious. And I think my second power drill is starting to fail. Can anyone suggest a good alternative to a corona mill? That said, the mill has done a pretty good job for $25.

I'm looking for something that will handle whole corn and all other grains and malts--I think the corn would disqualify all of the brewing roller mills out there. I like to use whole corn because it give me more choices and I think it gives more flavor. I don't care much whether it messes up the barley malt husks. My typical mash has about 25 lbs of grain so a decent amount of throughput is needed.

Are there small hammer mills that would work? Can a Kitchen Aid mill attachment handle the volume?

Thanks, JW

[jedneck]

I use a small hammermill. It grinds whole corn at a rate of about 300# an hour, malts much faster. That is grinding to a course flour/fine meal. They are out there for sale but the cheapest I found was 250$ which no motor. Ready to run I've seen them for 400$.

[Kegg_jam]

Yeah, the friggin bearings are starting to go on my good cordless.

Contemplating building a hammer mill. Not sure it's within my skill set at the moment though.

[acfixer69]

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... l#p7257168

This one is on my list of things to do from stainless dude. There is a wooden version that Rockchucker22 did and he was happy with it.

AC

[Euphoria]

I have a Millars Mill model B-3 mill. You can use either the hand crank or chuck it onto a low speed drill (<200 rpm.) They have really stepped up the quality and functionality from earlier production models. Nice unit and well made. Not cheap though.

I also have a Kitchen-Aid mixer Grinder attachment, but it doesn't work well with any grains that have oils or moisture in them. It also doesn't open up enough to just get a crack. It wants to turn everything into flour. I haven't found it to be suitable for this type of use.

[Johnnywhiskey]

I use a small hammermill. It grinds whole corn at a rate of about 300# an hour, malts much faster. That is grinding to a course flour/fine meal. They are out there for sale but the cheapest I found was 250$ which no motor. Ready to run I've seen them for 400$.

What type of hammer mill are you using? I have to admit I know very little about hammer mills and have had a hard time finding one of appropriate size for home distilling. That said, it seems like the right tool for the job.

Best, JW

[jedneck]

If you look in the link affixed posted there is a pic of it towards the end.

[shadylane]

My burr grinder has murdered 1 or 2 cheap drills also.
I would mount a pulley on it and use a electric motor, but the shaft on the grinder doesn't have a bushing. It would wear out real quick.
So I went plan B I bought a better class of drill.
Here's a grinder that works real good with a 5HP motor.
I haven't used it in years and then it was for grinding livestock feed.

[Johnnywhiskey]

I have a Millars Mill model B-3 mill. You can use either the hand crank or chuck it onto a low speed drill (<200 rpm.) They have really stepped up the quality and functionality from earlier production models. Nice unit and well made. Not cheap though.

Can the MM B-3 mill corn? If so what how find was the grind? Ideally I would like to get a course flour grind, finer than just cracked corn. If it can do corn, it would be a great all purpose grinder.

Best, JW

[Euphoria]

I have a Millars Mill model B-3 mill. You can use either the hand crank or chuck it onto a low speed drill (<200 rpm.) They have really stepped up the quality and functionality from earlier production models. Nice unit and well made. Not cheap though.

Can the MM B-3 mill corn? If so what how find was the grind? Ideally I would like to get a course flour grind, finer than just cracked corn. If it can do corn, it would be a great all purpose grinder.

Best, JW

Hi johnnywhiskey,
Yes, it will do corn, quite well in fact. A lot, I think, has to do with the knurled pattern on the rollers, as opposed to the ones with striated patterns. The knurled rollers grab the kernels much better. The other ones, which have the striated (grooved) rollers, don't grab well and tend to cause the corn kernels, (and other grains too,) to hop and bounce. They don't really grab the kernels and pull them through like the knurled ones do. It is also adjustable so you can crack the corn into a few pieces, several pieces, or grind it into corn meal depending on your roller setting. If you tighten them up, they will give you a nice corn meal pulverization as well. Just make sure that your grain or corn is dry, but that seems to be true with all of these smaller mills. If there is any moisture in what you are grinding it will quickly get loaded up and stick in the rollers.

[bearriver]

Find a grist mill on craigslist.

I've seen the type with stones and the hammer types. Not cheap but they are agricultural grade. Buy once cry once.

Edit: I found this and am going to make the guy an offer: http://abbotsford.craigslist.ca/grd/5317850029.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[wtfdskin]

I use the kitchen aid mill for cracking corn for uj. It does a good job but its slow. But I just crack a beer and fill the hopper so im not really in a hurry.

[ezlle71]

I have to agree with bearriver. Hunt around for a old grist mill. Antique shops, flea markets, craigslist, hell even asking around the local old timers if you live in a agricultural community might turn up something. I was fortunate after 2 years of looking i came across a david bradley 378E grist mill. Good luck
ez

[Johnnywhiskey]

I'm leaning towards getting a roller mill if that will do the trick with whole corn. Both Monster Mill and Crankandstein have models they say will handle whole corn. But the MM-3 is a fair amount cheaper. I might start by pinging Millards and see what they say about using their mill for grinding corn.

I just missed a no name brand roller mill on Craigslist for $35. For that price I was thinking it would be worth a try for corn, and worst case I do a course grind on my corona and then finer grind on the roller mill. A roller mill would be great for malted barley also.

Anyone do unmalted rye on a roller mill? I assume it would work, but the unmalted rye is a whole lot harder than malted rye.

Best, JW

[Skipper1953]

Here is my mill. It cost me $100.00 at an antiques mall. It is all original except for the wing nut and bolt sticking out of the front.

This is how I power it.

It takes about 20 minutes to make a coarse meal out of 25 lbs of whole corn. I've used it to make flour out of whole kernel corn for corn bread. If I pre condition barley, oats, rye and the like, I can get a really good crush without totally shredding the husks.

There are no bushings or bearings so I need to figure out a way to motorize it without causing it to wear excessively. Probably a Lovejoy coupling to minimize lateral stress.

[Johnnywhiskey]

Anybody every use (of heard of) a Lee Household Grain Mill? I've see a couple of these on eBay and Craigslist for under $200 and was wondering if they might be good for grinding corn. I would definitely want one with an adjustable grind (the "S" models). I guess the questions is how well on would stand up to course grinding 20lbs of corn at a time (plus other grains).



They come with a 1/4 or 1/6 hp electric motor.

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/13634/ ... flour-mill

[Bushman]

Skipper that looks like an antique coffee mill. I have one and it works great but I got an MM2 and love it. The MM3 is a bit more expensive but what I have read on the brewing forums it is not worth the extra money. If any members plan on purchasing one you have a choice of 2 shafts. My suggestion and if your going to attach a motor rather than hand crank or use a drill press is to go with the larger shaft.

[Johnnywhiskey]

Skipper that looks like an antique coffee mill. I have one and it works great but I got an MM2 and love it. The MM3 is a bit more expensive but what I have read on the brewing forums it is not worth the extra money. If any members plan on purchasing one you have a choice of 2 shafts. My suggestion and if your going to attach a motor rather than hand crank or use a drill press is to go with the larger shaft.

Have you cracked whole corn with your MM2? I have heard that the MM3 won't take whole corn because the first set of rollers are too close to together and are not adjustable. I've been thinking about the MM2 Pro (or MM 2.0 as some call it) because it has enough adjustment to do whole corn--so MM says. The price of the Pro starts to get a little steep though.

[Skipper1953]

Skipper that looks like an antique coffee mill. I have one and it works great but I got an MM2 and love it. The MM3 is a bit more expensive but what I have read on the brewing forums it is not worth the extra money. If any members plan on purchasing one you have a choice of 2 shafts. My suggestion and if your going to attach a motor rather than hand crank or use a drill press is to go with the larger shaft.

I suppose it could be used for coffee. The coffee mills I've seen of similar design were smaller. I'm glad you like your MM2. I have heard good things about it. I was planning to buy something like that until I came across the Korn King. It is kind of fun using a tool like my Grand Dad used to grind chicken feed.

[Bushman]

Skipper that looks like an antique coffee mill. I have one and it works great but I got an MM2 and love it. The MM3 is a bit more expensive but what I have read on the brewing forums it is not worth the extra money. If any members plan on purchasing one you have a choice of 2 shafts. My suggestion and if your going to attach a motor rather than hand crank or use a drill press is to go with the larger shaft.

Have you cracked whole corn with your MM2? I have heard that the MM3 won't take whole corn because the first set of rollers are too close to together and are not adjustable. I've been thinking about the MM2 Pro (or MM 2.0 as some call it) because it has enough adjustment to do whole corn--so MM says. The price of the Pro starts to get a little steep though.

Yes, and I have read the same thing about the MM3. What I did was open the rollers a bit for the first pass, not sure if I had to but adjusting thr rollers is easy.

[Bushman]

Skipper that looks like an antique coffee mill. I have one and it works great but I got an MM2 and love it. The MM3 is a bit more expensive but what I have read on the brewing forums it is not worth the extra money. If any members plan on purchasing one you have a choice of 2 shafts. My suggestion and if your going to attach a motor rather than hand crank or use a drill press is to go with the larger shaft.

I suppose it could be used for coffee. The coffee mills I've seen of similar design were smaller. I'm glad you like your MM2. I have heard good things about it. I was planning to buy something like that until I came across the Korn King. It is kind of fun using a tool like my Grand Dad used to grind chicken feed.

Mine is large with a 17" wheel.

image.jpeg (29.81 KiB) Viewed 6228 times

[moered]

I use something similar to this.Not everybody is as lucky to have one though. runs on the back of the tractor, it's the remnant of a past business!

[Johnnywhiskey]

I ended up going with the Monster Mill 2.0 with the wide adjustment. I've run a few pounds of corn and unmalted wheat through it and it provides a good consistent crack. It will require running whole corn through it more than once to get it to the size that I want, reducing the gap each time. But once the mill get moving it is very fast, devouring a pound of grain in just a couple of seconds. I figured a roller mill might not be the perfect mill for corn and unmalted grains, but it gives me the flexibility if I want to lauder malted barley and make beer. It is also much quieter than the corona mill, which left my ears ringing after I got done with 20lbs. of corn.

[pythonshine]

A solution to some that have Mills that kill cordless drills is to add a heavy flywheel to the crank. Assuming your drill is variable, start slow than work up to operating speeds. The momentum of the heavy wheel will reduce the load when working hard.....just a thought not sure if it helps.

[copperlover1]

Coffe grinder I got in the divorce.

[Saltbush Bill]

Mine is an antique much like a couple of the others posted up, I started off using a hand cranked one like this.

Then found another that had been modified to be powered by an electric motor.

It aint pretty or shiny but it does the job and will probably out last me.

It would be easy to put a bigger hopper on it if you didn't want to have to keep pouring grain in from time to time. The following link should provide an insight into how well it grinds whole corn.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/junkcolle ... 213458509/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[Aussiedownunder01]

Picked up this old coffee grinder for $10.00

[rager]

man this hobby never ends, now ive got something new to look for while out tag saling and poking around with all this talk of mills