Grain mill drill

[Bill_g]

So, a good quality low speed cordless drill would appear to be the best solution for me
[/QUOTE]
My advice would be grit your teeth and go for one of the really good makes: DeWalt, Makita, Ryobi etc. The DeWalt one that I have has enough torque on gear 1 to almost break your wrist. You tend to get what you pay for in cordless drills & the good ones are designed to take a real beating. I do a fair bit of DIY and woodwork so I can buy tools knowing they will get a lot of use, so for me it's worth the cost. My motto for tools is buy cheap buy twice.

 

[Hop_it]

So, a good quality low speed cordless drill would appear to be the best solution for me

My advice would be grit your teeth and go for one of the really good makes: DeWalt, Makita, Ryobi etc. The DeWalt one that I have has enough torque on gear 1 to almost break your wrist. You tend to get what you pay for in cordless drills & the good ones are designed to take a real beating. I do a fair bit of DIY and woodwork so I can buy tools knowing they will get a lot of use, so for me it's worth the cost. My motto for tools is buy cheap buy twice.
[/QUOTE]
Valid point. I've been caught out before because of buying cheap . . . . . . and it really does not pay. At least I'm not spending much money on anything else at the moment due to this dreadful situation

 

[Justin Dean]

Thanks for this thread, ordered the makita 8390d 2nd hand ebay. My mains power hammer drill is too brutal for grain crushing

 

[Crappyfish]

Am I the only one who does it by hand?

 

[Cwrw666]

Am I the only one who does it by hand?

No, I do it by hand too. 120 turns per pound of grain. Surprisingly I can do a brewsworth in the time the boiler takes to get up to mash temperature. I did try a drill. Worked really well until it burned out!
Have been contemplating mounting it on my lathe but haven't got round to it yet.

 

[jeg3]

I used to mill by hand, but it's easier with a drill. I had the drill anyway, I don't think I'd buy one specially for the mill

 

[fury_tea]

I've been watching this thread for a few days now. I also use a Robobrew, and have suffered the same problems as fury_tea. I've only been grinding my own grain for a short while, so I'm still experimenting with mill gaps and/or wet conditioning. However, my best result so far has been a 1.2mm gap plus wet conditioning. But the downside is that although my drill (an old 12v B&D) will run slow enough, it has to work really hard with the damp grain. . . . . . and I don't think that its going to take much more of it. In these circumstances you need lots of low speed torque. The paint mixer idea sounds like a good solution, but I'd like to get something that I can also use for general DIY . . . . . because I don't mix a lot of paint. So, a good quality low speed cordless drill would appear to be the best solution for me

I want a permanent solution so I don't have to mess about attaching the drill every time. I was thinking I might find a way to mount it (or just the motor). Could be a cool project.

 

[Hop_it]

I want a permanent solution so I don't have to mess about attaching the drill every time. I was thinking I might find a way to mount it (or just the motor). Could be a cool project.

I thought about that too, but you need to make it safe so that you can't get your fingers in the moving rollers. The grain bridges in the hopper when I mill it damp, so I have to stop periodically to push it down a bit. I guess that a bell push type switch would be enough to reduce any risk to a reasonable level ?????

 

[cheeseyfeet]

I've been watching this motorised mill from Germany for a while -

Electric Grain Mill Malt Mill Groats Mill Grain Crusher DE | eBay

Although it now looks like they don't deliver to the UK

 

[clyne]

It needs to be about 200 rpm to separate the husk but not shred it. Anything too fast risks shredding the husk which in theory imparts off flavours. Also whole they aid with filtering

Interesting! One of the first brews I did after getting a grain mill I found my sparge was super fast - almost like there was no sparge at all. I thought this might have been down to the mill setting (which I've now adjusted), but looks like it might also be due to speed. Top tip :)

 

[fury_tea]

I thought about that too, but you need to make it safe so that you can't get your fingers in the moving rollers. The grain bridges in the hopper when I mill it damp, so I have to stop periodically to push it down a bit. I guess that a bell push type switch would be enough to reduce any risk to a reasonable level ?????

I don't really have that problem with wet grain after wet conditioning. Are you doing 2% water? I was thinking something along the lines of the pictures above. I have a baby so the lockable one might actually be clever future proofing...

Don't want fingers or mummy's phone to end up in there...

 

[foxy]

Get on to Brew 2 Bottle, he would probably be willing to import these if there was enough interest, a large shipment went to South Africa and was sold within a week or so. A good mill with motor option and a guard.

 

[CD]

I want a permanent solution so I don't have to mess about attaching the drill every time. I was thinking I might find a way to mount it (or just the motor). Could be a cool project.

Why don’t you make a set-up similar to this. Connecting up the drill takes less than a minute.

 

[jeg3]

I want a permanent solution so I don't have to mess about attaching the drill every time. I was thinking I might find a way to mount it (or just the motor). Could be a cool project.

To be fair getting the drill out and attaching it takes about 30 seconds. I've found that the best way to use it is to use my left hand to squeeze the trigger (I'm right-handed) and brace the drill against my left leg so I'm not using my wrist to counter the rotation. I collect the crushed grain in a plastic box which the mill sits on top of.

Obviously that doesn't tick the box of creating an innovative solution to the problem!

 

[fury_tea]

To be fair getting the drill out and attaching it takes about 30 seconds. I've found that the best way to use it is to use my left hand to squeeze the trigger (I'm right-handed) and brace the drill against my left leg so I'm not using my wrist to counter the rotation. I collect the crushed grain in a plastic box which the mill sits on top of.

Obviously that doesn't tick the box of creating an innovative solution to the problem!

My tool shed is at the bottom of the garden and my garage is at the front of the house so after thinking about it I really wanted a dedicated drill for it. Ended up getting this:


Might try something like @Coffin Dodger suggests or might take the motor out and mount it, depending on how difficult that looks to do.
My grain mill is mounted on an old under sink bathroom unit with a cut out for the sink. Perfect fit for the grain mill and a fermentation bucket under to catch the grain.

 

[cheeseyfeet]

View attachment 40769

Why don’t you make a set-up similar to this. Connecting up the drill takes less than a minute.

Very nice!

Wish I had a handy pile of offcuts to make something like this, wood is expensive!

 

[Hop_it]

View attachment 40738
I don't really have that problem with wet grain after wet conditioning. Are you doing 2% water? I was thinking something along the lines of the pictures above. I have a baby so the lockable one might actually be clever future proofing...

Don't want fingers or mummy's phone to end up in there...

I've seen (and used) isolating switches like these on various machinery, and they work well. But I was thinking of something that is only on when continuously pressed, so as to simulate the trigger of a drill. Having one hand on the button means that it is quick and easy to let go (and switch off the motor) if anything goes wrong. Perhaps even better would be the bell push type switch combined with an isolating switch when little fingers and mummy's phone are at risk.
PS - With regard to the grain conditioning - It was the first time that I have tried it, and I used ~2% of water as the "experts" suggest However, perhaps I didn't leave it long enough to be fully absorbed into the husk. I started milling almost immediately after spraying and turning it over with my hands. The end result was good, so I didn't give it much thought at the time. Perhaps I should leave it 10 or 15 min before milling ????

 

[Hop_it]

View attachment 40769

Why don’t you make a set-up similar to this. Connecting up the drill takes less than a minute.

That's a very tidy solution. I might well try to do something similar. My only problem is that my mill is a Brewferm Grain Gorilla which has a metal base plate:


The castellation's in the base are great for gripping the top of a large bucket, but I will have to add a wooden extension perpendicular to the base to mount the drill on. This will need some serious thought . . . . . Probably over a couple of pints

 

[CD]

My situation is somewhat different to most home brewers. I brew probably the same amount of beer over the year, but only brew about every 3 months. So the mill is dismantled and carefully stowed in a drawer under the bed, which keeps it nice and dry and out of the way. Bit of a bugger assembling the hopper each time, but it teaches me patience!