Will this grain mill do?

[private4587]

i have taken the plunge and ordered one of these on the assumption of others knowing what they are talking about. As i am new to this home brewing but reading lots on the subject how would i know when i have the correct setting on the miller for best grain results. Just love this forum so informative

 

[Covrich]

You see my metal cover doesnt fit properly so I have to shield mine as bits go everywhere!! maybe i should try taking mine apart or something.

 

[Cwrw666]

You see my metal cover doesnt fit properly so I have to shield mine as bits go everywhere!! maybe i should try taking mine apart or something.

On mine the split pin that holds the 2 grinding wheels together fouled the metal cover to the extent that I had to saw quite a bit of it off. Works a treat now.

Main thing I found now my pale malts are home ground on brewday is that my fgs have plumetted. So I now have to use much less PM to end up with the same OG. This means that I now get 6 or 7 23L brews from a 25Kg bag of grain compared to 5 from a bag of crushed.

 

[cheapbrew]

i have taken the plunge and ordered one of these on the assumption of others knowing what they are talking about. As i am new to this home brewing but reading lots on the subject how would i know when i have the correct setting on the miller for best grain results. Just love this forum so informative

You just keep adjusting the grind untill the grain is coming out nicely crushed but not too powdery, its pretty easy.

You see my metal cover doesnt fit properly so I have to shield mine as bits go everywhere!! maybe i should try taking mine apart or something.

Mine wouldn't fit properly when I tried it fully assembled, but I loosened the two wing nuts a few turns and it slipped in just fine, so maybe try that?

The only slight problem is my hopper has a gap where it fits on to the base and small bits drop out, but I just put a big shopping bag underneath to catch the few bits that fell through, but I can easily find something to seal the gap.

 

[Personal91]

First get my AG system, and now I want to crush my own grains! There is so much to learn and so much that I want to do with this hobby, cheers for all the great info guys :)

 

[yeastinfection]

i fancy a grain mill, but im still trying to make a decent brew :-(

 

[MyQul]

So the mill I posted in the OP has arrived. There were no instructions which wasnt really a problem as it's fairly easy to put together. But it came with an extra bit which wasn't in the ebay pictures of the one I bought. But having done a bit of googling and looking at pictures of similar corona type mills it turns out it was a shield type thing for the top of the grinding surfaces to stop grain flying everywhere.
Also the hopper didn't fit to the main body of the mill very easily so I had to flare out a tiny bit of the bottom with some pliers so the hopper would fit on the mill body properly.
So far I'm pleased with it. It looks a good bit of kit for £20. I'll try it out on a small amount of grain later. I've still got a GEB crushed custom grain kit to brew before I use the mill properly on a 5L-7L amount.

Im overhaul my brewing set up to focus on small batches (5L-7L no sparge BIAB and 15L maxi-Biab) and bought a 12L wilko SS . I'm really pleased with that too. It good quality for the price. It was only £17 (but I paid 21 because I couldnt be bothered to lug it back from work so I paid for delivery)

 

[Covrich]

So the mill I posted in the OP has arrived. There were no instructions which wasnt really a problem as it's fairly easy to put together. But it came with an extra bit which wasn't in the ebay pictures of the one I bought. But having done a bit of googling and looking at pictures of similar corona type mills it turns out it was a shield type thing for the top of the grinding surfaces to stop grain flying everywhere.
Also the hopper didn't fit to the main body of the mill very easily so I had to flare out a tiny bit of the bottom with some pliers so the hopper would fit on the mill body properly.
So far I'm pleased with it. It looks a good bit of kit for �£20. I'll try it out on a small amount of grain later. I've still got a GEB crushed custom grain kit to brew before I use the mill properly on a 5L-7L amount.

Im overhaul my brewing set up to focus on small batches (5L-7L no sparge BIAB and 15L maxi-Biab) and bought a 12L wilko SS . I'm really pleased with that too. It good quality for the price. It was only �£17 (but I paid 21 because I couldnt be bothered to lug it back from work so I paid for delivery)

Yes I had to get pilers to the hopper too.. my only gripe is the shield doesn't fit properly and therefore grain does seem to fly out a fair bit so I have to use a plastic bowl to shield...

Obvioulsy they are not as nice as a bulldog one but ultimatley they do the job.. especially since you're going down the full biab a good crush helps.. are you going to stir and mash out??

 

[Brewed_Force]

Im overhaul my brewing set up to focus on small batches (5L-7L no sparge BIAB and 15L maxi-Biab) and bought a 12L wilko SS . I'm really pleased with that too. It good quality for the price. It was only �£17 (but I paid 21 because I couldnt be bothered to lug it back from work so I paid for delivery)

I too have the Wilkos 12L SS pot and plan to start my first AG BIAB shortly.
I'm interested in the maxi-BIAB method you mention, how do you work out the quantities ?

 

[MyQul]

Yes I had to get pilers to the hopper too.. my only gripe is the shield doesn't fit properly and therefore grain does seem to fly out a fair bit so I have to use a plastic bowl to shield...

Obvioulsy they are not as nice as a bulldog one but ultimatley they do the job.. especially since you're going down the full biab a good crush helps.. are you going to stir and mash out??

The shield seemed to fit on properly, it remains to be seen whether it does it's job

I normally stir halfway through when I do an hour mash but dont bother when I do a 40min mash. I never bother with a mashout because I cant be bothered with all that stirring to make sure the mash bag doesnt melt/burn.
Tbh If as everyone says you get much better efficiency with crushing your own grain I'll probably not do either. Especially as you need to add about 25% more grain anyway for no-sparge so if I'm not getting ther efficiancy I'm after I'll just add more grain to compensate

 

[Covrich]

Especially as you need to add about 25% more grain anyway for no-sparge so if I'm not getting ther efficiancy I'm after I'll just add more grain to compensate

Didn't know that!!

I just do as normal grain bill, I get 70-75% consistently.. I could get 80% with a sparge stage but without it streamlines the process.

 

[MyQul]

I too have the Wilkos 12L SS pot and plan to start my first AG BIAB shortly.
I'm interested in the maxi-BIAB method you mention, how do you work out the quantities ?

It's determined by the pot size and trial an error. Although I'm sure there are calculators around that can work everything out for you. But I've never used one. With my 18.5L pot I can mash a maximum of about 5.2kg of grain. This is 28% of the pot size. So the first time I do a maxi-biab with the wilko 12L pot I'll start with that. 28% of 12L is about 3.3kg of grain. So depending on your target OG I can for example make 18L of 4.1%ABV beer or a less amount if I want a stronger beer. However If I use some simple sugars added to the boil I can get a lager amount of stronger beer

 

[MyQul]

Didn't know that!!

I just do as normal grain bill, I get 70-75% consistently.. I could get 80% with a sparge stage but without it streamlines the process.

I've actually yet to try no sparge properly it's just what I've read. I've tried no sparge with maxi-biab but it doesnt really work

 

[wfr42]

Milling station - protype!

I too jumped on this eBay deal and just wait for my grain order to arrive.

Spotted 27litre containers in Asda for £2.50 each and had an ikea shelf that I knew would be useful one day. I'm planning to pour uncrushed grain from one container into the mill. Pic 1


I attached the mill about half way up and measured out a rectangle 18cm by 24cm to account for a bit of grain spray - I have no idea if this will be big enough - fingers crossed. Pic 2

I cut out the rectangle, splitting it into quarters lengthways to make "battons" later. Pic 3

I attached the battons with nails underneath, hoping they will help contain some of the grain spray.
Pic 4

Attached the 4th baton with the mill in place. Pic 5

35 mins after the thinking process with my low diy abilities.

Will report back how it works next weekend.

I may cut into it to mount the mill in the middle if I need a 2nd attempt, but it depends if I regularly use my cordless drill (which really needs to be upraded) as the mill handle has to be on the out side.

 

[Leon103]

Seen that earlier, looks good

 

[wfr42]

Prototype held up well to it's first test.

It may need a baton underneath to wedge against the collection tub. But leaning on it and securing the end with my beer belly (knew it'd come in useful) did the trick.

Will try it with my drill next time (when I plan to use uncrushed base malt too).

A wee bit of over spill while milling but not as much as I feared there might be.

 

[MyQul]

I had a bit of overspill when I crushed my grain too. But I just got the vacuum on the case.

 

[yeastinfection]

i assume youve all seen the other thread on here,where they mount the mill in an old fv and connect it to drill?

 

[MyQul]

i assume youve all seen the other thread on here,where they mount the mill in an old fv and connect it to drill?

Yeah. The overspill isnt much of a problem, it's a very small amount. I can very easily clear it up. So I dont think I need to go the mounting the mill in an FV route

 

[Llanbrewer]

Milling station - protype!

I too jumped on this eBay deal and just wait for my grain order to arrive.

Spotted 27litre containers in Asda for �£2.50 each and had an ikea shelf that I knew would be useful one day. I'm planning to pour uncrushed grain from one container into the mill. Pic 1


I attached the mill about half way up and measured out a rectangle 18cm by 24cm to account for a bit of grain spray - I have no idea if this will be big enough - fingers crossed. Pic 2

I cut out the rectangle, splitting it into quarters lengthways to make "battons" later. Pic 3

I attached the battons with nails underneath, hoping they will help contain some of the grain spray.
Pic 4

Attached the 4th baton with the mill in place. Pic 5

35 mins after the thinking process with my low diy abilities.

Will report back how it works next weekend.

I may cut into it to mount the mill in the middle if I need a 2nd attempt, but it depends if I regularly use my cordless drill (which really needs to be upraded) as the mill handle has to be on the out side.

Just be careful you don't end up milling chipboard by mistake. :whistle: