# Grain Mill Build > Frustration Growing



## Spiesy

Hey all...

A few months back, I began trying to get all the bits and pieces required to build my grain mill. So far, I have:

MiniMill
Motor (from Motion Dynamics) with speed controller
Appropriate PSU from eBay - and wires
Water cooler bottle - plans to use it as a hopper
Picking up drive shaft this weekend, have a hole drilled into it to insert an "R" clip
Coupler
Small cabinet, in which I've mounted the mill - jigsawed a hole (that needs to be made bigger)
Still need to get Jiffy Box and grain storage containers.
Far out... I'm into brewing beer, not so much into trawling the four corners of the world and then attempting to assemble a mill stand, hopper and wire it all up. I don't have the background/knowledge, nor a workshop.

Anyone have plans for a hopper that I can throw to someone (metal fabricator?) to get done? I've heard nothing but bad things about the perspex one from CraftBrewer (small volume and fragile). 
Or, anyone have one for sale - or one they're prepared to make and sell?

Thanks in advance.


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## brettprevans

Why go complex. Buy a hopper. Use a drill. Done. Even a $5 plastic downpipe section can be used as a hopper. Check out pics
Getto - 
http://aussiehomebrewer.com/gallery/image/4024-img-0153jpg/
http://aussiehomebrewer.com/gallery/image/4801-img-0255jpg/


Now ive mounted it into an old chest of draws. Simple. Theres a pic in the getto equipment thread

The hoppers from craftbrewer or monstermill are great. Mines a monstermill hopper. 
Screw motorising it.

Edit. Yhere are quite a few lots of hopper plans on here in the gear and equip section if u want to have a search.


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## Spiesy

citymorgue2 said:


> Why go complex. Buy a hopper. Use a drill. Done. Even a $5 plastic downpipe section can be used as a hopper. Check out pics
> Getto -
> http://aussiehomebrewer.com/gallery/image/4024-img-0153jpg/
> http://aussiehomebrewer.com/gallery/image/4801-img-0255jpg/
> 
> 
> Now ive mounted it into an old chest of draws. Simple. Theres a pic in the getto equipment thread
> 
> The hoppers from craftbrewer or monstermill are great. Mines a monstermill hopper.
> Screw motorising it.
> 
> Edit. Yhere are quite a few lots of hopper plans on here in the gear and equip section if u want to have a search.


I have already purchased, acquired and wired the motor, PSU, wires, speed controller - be pretty silly to ditch the motor when the hopper is the only issue. 

As I have already mentioned, the only hopper I can find on CB doesn't get a good rap - and only holds 1.5kg of grain. A few people have said that it broke after only a couple of runs.

So the MonsterMill hopper fits the MiniMill? Where did you get it from and how much grain does it hold?


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## QldKev

I would go the motor over a drill for the mill since you already have it, and when I changed from a drill to a motor my crush quality improved immensely. I would never go back to a drill. I don't have any detailed plans for a hopper, but have a look on my website at what I use. It was very cheap to setup and was the easiest project to build. Although it was a quick and dirty project I threw together as a temporary job, it's still in use several years later. About the only downside of the design is the flat area on the bottom, so at the end of the crush you need to use a paintbrush to sweep any left over grain into the hole.

QldKev


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## Sam England

I use an old upside down water cooler bottle with the bottom chopped out as my hopper. (Idea stolen from the ghetto thread I think??) Holds just over 5kg of grain and you just need to make an adapter to connect it to your mill. I used a piece of 100mm PVC pipe with a shaped piece of MDF inside it to direct the grain in the right direction. I built my own mill from scratch, so not sure how easy it would be to adapt to suit your mill.

Cheers,
BB


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## Spiesy

thanks for the advice guys. BB, how did you fix the water cooler bottle to stop it from toppling over?


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## 431neb

If you really CBF and or don't have the skills / equipment to build a hopper I would assume that a pretty cool custom made hopper could be made by any competent sheet metal worker. Anyone who can use a sheet bender and a pop riveter could do it. Know any plumbers? Or get a chippy to make a collar for the water-cooler bottle to fit into.

****! Where are you? I'll do it. I'm bayside /SE subs.

That means I get endless grain cracking though...... I'm paying for it at present.


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## tavas

Monster Mill sell he hopper. I don't know what mods would be required to fit the Mini Mill.

Holds about 5-6kg. Works very well.


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## Sam England

Spiesy, I just let the larger diameter sit in the PVC pipe and then used a hole saw to cut a round into the MDF to centralise the neck and had that 100mm or so lower. I'll try and post a pic tomorrow night as SWMBO will kill me if I go out and take photos while guests are here.


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## Kodos

I've done a lot of searching around for hopper designs recently - I've settled on a design using thin Aluminium sheets, but I was impressed by a couple of more simple designs that might be more what you're looking for:

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/building-monster-mill-base-181404/index2.html#post2121897

Basically there's a bit of timber to surround the sides of the mill and hold a 20L plastic bucket in place on a slight angle. The bucket has a hole cut into the bottom, close to one side. If you've already got the table set up, this might be easy to adapt.

Otherwise there's another design here, with good step-by-step instructions. If you don't want to build it, you could give these instructions to a chippy/handyperson for them to do it for you:

http://www.slobrewer.com/howto/building-a-compact-crankandstein-mill-base-and-hopper/

Good luck!


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## Maheel

i made a hole to suit the water bottle less 1mm and the thread on the neck screwed into the MDF and holds nice and tight

the screw in abilty allows me to adjust the gap between the rollers and the bottle neck to stop grain spilling out "over" the rollers

click it's a vid


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## Feldon

Here you go.

Someone here called Chad put these plans together (see PDF). Seems pretty good design.

If you toss the plans to a chippy/handyman should be easy to make the four parts for you.

Pieces go together and pull apart without fasteners.

You could use perspex, craftwood, plywood etc.

Edit: Just check the dimensions for the hopper entry point into the top of the mill match before getting it made. Adjust the plan if required. Might be good idea to show the chippy the mill so he knows what the hopper will be fitted to. 

View attachment Brads Malt Mill - plans.pdf


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## pk.sax

What Maheel did.

I just cut a hole into a piece of wood, bolted it to the mill and superglued a big fat bottle cap to the piece of wood, after cutting a hole into it first. A bit of duct tape and staples to make sure the cap doesn't move. Then the bottle with the bottom cut out just screws in as required.


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## Liam_snorkel

here's my hopper - made from a sheet of that plastic real estate sign stuff (about $6 from bunnings) and gaffer tape inside & out. It has held up strong for over a year and holds over 6kg of grain without breaking a sweat.
PS volume wise it could take probably double that. The most I've had in it is 8kg.


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## Spiesy

thanks to everyone for their input.

PS: I've enquired about the dimensions of the Mash Monster hopper... if it's suitable, it could either bolt straight on - or if big enough, perhaps drill my own holes to mount to the MiniMill.

Pretty wack that MiniMill don't make their own decent one...


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## Spiesy

431neb said:


> If you really CBF and or don't have the skills / equipment to build a hopper I would assume that a pretty cool custom made hopper could be made by any competent sheet metal worker. Anyone who can use a sheet bender and a pop riveter could do it. Know any plumbers? Or get a chippy to make a collar for the water-cooler bottle to fit into.
> 
> ****! Where are you? I'll do it. I'm bayside /SE subs.
> 
> That means I get endless grain cracking though...... I'm paying for it at present.


lol... Reservoir, mate.


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## Camo6

Here's some pics of my hopper and minimill. May not be much help cause I don't have any plans. I made the hopper out of mdf then used some aluminium sign board and some shallow cuts with a circular saw to insert the slopes towards the maw of the beast.
I agree that the perspex hopper is a piece of crap. I didn't even get to use it as the perspex cracked on assembly (yes, i'd had a couple and was eagre to play with my new toy).


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## Sam England

Evening Spiesy,
Sorry for the delay in the pics. Basically a piece of board screwed to the top of the mill with a hole cut to direct the grain. I added a slide so that I can fill the hopper, start my drill and then let the grain go as my drill won't start with grain in the rollers. I put a couple of boards with the appropriate sized hole inside the piece of 100mm DWV pipe to locate the bottle neck and the pipe supports the rest of it. A few screws through the whole lot to keep it all together. I think my mill cost me about $5 if you ignore the 20 lunchtimes in the workshop making it!! All scrap or recycled materials.
Hope this helps.


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## Spiesy

Camo6 - looks very nice.

Blue Baggers - looks doable, thanks mate!


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## lael

Blue Baggers said:


> Evening Spiesy,
> Sorry for the delay in the pics. Basically a piece of board screwed to the top of the mill with a hole cut to direct the grain. I added a slide so that I can fill the hopper, start my drill and then let the grain go as my drill won't start with grain in the rollers. I put a couple of boards with the appropriate sized hole inside the piece of 100mm DWV pipe to locate the bottle neck and the pipe supports the rest of it. A few screws through the whole lot to keep it all together. I think my mill cost me about $5 if you ignore the 20 lunchtimes in the workshop making it!! All scrap or recycled materials.
> Hope this helps.


Bluebaggers - does the water fountain jug fit inside a bucket so you can invert it and pack it away nice and small? Would love to be able to use one of those jugs and store it all in the bucket when done!


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## tavas

View attachment 61652
Here is a picture of my Monster Mill, hopper and base. The base is 20mm MDF which comes pre drilled and routed. Monster Mill charge US$10 for it which is good value but it is heavy. I don't know if it would make much difference to the shipping cost. If not I would recommend getting it.

The hopper is 1mm galv and comes as a flat pack you assemble. Pretty easy to assemble. It will hold around 6kg of grain. I see they also sell an extension if you want bigger grain bills.

Mill size is 180mm x 90mm or 6 x 3.5 inches. Hole spacing between the long edge bolts is approx 170, as is the spacing between the lock nuts for adjusting bushes. Spacing for the short edge bolts is approx 75mm. Bolts come with the hopper.

Hopper dimensions are 11.5" wide, 12.5" long and about 10" or 10.5" deep (note: NOT vertical height, but measured as actual length of the steel, if that makes sense). Hopper design is flared in both X and Y axis. It also has some deflectors inside the hopper to kiee

Please note, these measurements are approximate as I did not disassemble the hopper and used a 300mm steel rule as best as I could.


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## kieran

My mill rig, using the same mill, same motor, a motiondynamics PWM controlller, my own shaft (a bit of rod from bunnings, which i dodgily cut key grooves in with a dremel), a lovejoy coupling, an ikea kitchen trolley, and my hopper as you can see is a little bin from Kmart. I cut a hole in the bottom of the bin, and inserted a funnel in the bin to provide a conical 'slip' through to the hole in the base. The bin sits nice and still, maximises volume for the area it occupies, and I can pop a lid over it when done.. and it's easily removed (it is held in place by 4 decent size rather powerful N52 rare earth neodymium magnets).

my rig:
http://youtu.be/T_npJGP276U


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## 431neb

Nice!


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## lael

kieran said:


> My mill rig, using the same mill, same motor, a motiondynamics PWM controlller, my own shaft (a bit of rod from bunnings, which i dodgily cut key grooves in with a dremel), a lovejoy coupling, an ikea kitchen trolley, and my hopper as you can see is a little bin from Kmart. I cut a hole in the bottom of the bin, and inserted a funnel in the bin to provide a conical 'slip' through to the hole in the base. The bin sits nice and still, maximises volume for the area it occupies, and I can pop a lid over it when done.. and it's easily removed (it is held in place by 4 decent size rather powerful N52 rare earth neodymium magnets).


That is pretty nice looking. Sounds super loud in the video. What is it like in real life? Are you willing to share total cost of parts for the motor, coupling and other bits to make it work?


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## kieran

lael said:


> That is pretty nice looking. Sounds super loud in the video. What is it like in real life? Are you willing to share total cost of parts for the motor, coupling and other bits to make it work?


You're right.. in the video it sounds like an Airbus A380 waiting to take off. You'll have to take it from me though, that it really doesn't sound that loud in 'real life'. My phone does an amazing job of picking up those frequencies. This high pitched noise is the PWM in action.. it turns the 12V motor on and off at very high frequencies, and that is the source of the noise. You can hear the noise, but its lower than a normal 'talking voice' volume.

I did have a spreadsheet/doc with the whole build info.. but from rough estimates:
This motor/speed controller from motiondynamics: http://www.motiondynamics.com.au/home-brewer-special-worm-drive-motor-dc-speed-controller.html $140
A 1/2" lovejoy L075 coupling ( http://www.lovejoy-inc.com/products/jaw-type-couplings/l-type.aspx )
with urethane spider (the blue one), from BSC Bearings in Clayton http://www.bsc.com.au/ (I work at monash uni, so it was easy). Set me back $70 for both.. a bit steep, you can get them much cheaper O/S - but I bought local for the convenience.
A steel rod to fit that 1/2" shaft of the motiondynamics worm gear motor, from bunnings.. $7 I cut a groove in it with a dremel clone from jaycar which I already owned: http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=TD2459 ($40)
Then the ABS case like this http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=HB6132 , rack front blank panel http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=HB5420 which was cut to size, holes drilled out for the PWM knob.. a couple of power switches from jaycar (1x 240VAC, 1x12vDC LED illuminated). A gutsy 240VAC to 12VDC transformer off of EBAY (the first one I got failed). So don't **** around with anyhting less than a 20Amp transformer, as the Motiondynamics 20nM wormdrive motor will just overload it in my experience.. so http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/240V-12VDC-30-AMP-Driver-Transformer-Power-Supply-for-Led-lighting-fridge-30A-/151001121454?pt=AU_B_I_Electrical_Test_Equipment&hash=item23285e42ae&_uhb=1
would suit (I paid about $60-$80).
Then there was the ikea kitchen trolley, which Ikea ran out of stock of, so I bought it off of ebay in desperation. The bastards have them in stock now though http://www.ikea.com/au/en/catalog/products/10240349/
but I cut two of the legs off, and bought four casters for it from bunnings, with breaks - these ones http://www.bunnings.com.au/products_product_castor-heavy-duty-swivel-50mm-grey-brake-cd1-15129_P3941538.aspx?search=castors&searchType=any&searchSubType=products&page=4
So there goes another $20. 
Then there was the bin from KMart which was $5. A funnel which was cut off and put inside the bin, cost $7. Polyfilla to hold it in place, $7, then some Bondo type stuff to make the gap between the funnel and the walls of the bin baby bum smooth. That was about $8.
So that's about $426.. then there was the Mashmaster minimill which I bought from Craftbrewer http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=1987 and is still the "new product special price" 1 year later lol.. 
$239 + delivery.. so all up about $670 all up.

That is about the complete shopping list.. absolutely everything.. christ don't tell the wife.
I could've cut a ton of corners and saved a packet, but I'm stoked with the way it came out.


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## lael

That's awesome. I think you've cured my jealousy though  I think I might go with the $90 ozito drill


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## Spiesy

My build is now done. Thank the Lord above.




=

More photos here:
http://aussiehomebrewer.com/gallery/album/1030-spiesys-mill/


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## matho

Blue Baggers said:


> Evening Spiesy,
> Sorry for the delay in the pics. Basically a piece of board screwed to the top of the mill with a hole cut to direct the grain. I added a slide so that I can fill the hopper, start my drill and then let the grain go as my drill won't start with grain in the rollers. I put a couple of boards with the appropriate sized hole inside the piece of 100mm DWV pipe to locate the bottle neck and the pipe supports the rest of it. A few screws through the whole lot to keep it all together. I think my mill cost me about $5 if you ignore the 20 lunchtimes in the workshop making it!! All scrap or recycled materials.
> Hope this helps.



you have to love foreign orders, I have a lathe at work but find 30min a very short time to do any work. I made my mill for about $20 (the bushings cost $15).

cheers steve


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## Spiesy

good chats


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## matho

hey spiesy, your setup looks awesome, well done

cheers steve


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## Spiesy

thanks Steve


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## Cocko

Amazing mate, well done.

:super:


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## Edak

Yeah looks Like a quality build indeed, good job mate.


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## jeddog

Tried out my mill and motor today. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UwHV4zFYNc

Nothing like sipping a home poured beer in the shed on a Sunday arvo trying to nut out shit..
This mill keeps changing the more I build it, and I'm loving it

A stolen quote from someone.

Homebrewing..
An expensive way to make cheap beer. :lol:


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## Khellendros13

Choice music jeddog


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## Thefatdoghead

jeddog said:


> Tried out my mill and motor today.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UwHV4zFYNc
> 
> Nothing like sipping a home poured beer in the shed on a Sunday arvo trying to nut out shit..
> This mill keeps changing the more I build it, and I'm loving it
> 
> A stolen quote from someone.
> 
> Homebrewing..
> An expensive way to make cheap beer. :lol:


Hey Jeddog, where did you get your shaft from? The one from the Gbox to the coupling? 
Cheers 
Gav


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## Spiesy

I just went to a local metalworks place, that sells metal... got a solid round cut and drilled to my specs.


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## Thefatdoghead

Oh I thought it had a keyway on the coupling end? Just a couple of shear pins ay?

Cheers


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## Spiesy

Gav80 said:


> Oh I thought it had a keyway on the coupling end? Just a couple of shear pins ay?
> 
> Cheers


My coupler has a grub screw that seems to fix itself to the shaft nicely.

The mill spindle has a keyed shaft for the keyed coupler.


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## Thefatdoghead

Sweet as, thanks for the info. You guys still stoked with the setup? I really like the whole idea and Speisys rig looks mean as. I usually mill 11kg at a time so it will be we'll worth it.

Cheers

Gav


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## Thefatdoghead

It's definitely something ill take into consideration. So many times specialty malt get stuck in the first roller and the drive roller just spins and nothing happens so I have to reach underneath to spin the stuck roller to get it going. It's a pain so ill make the mill easy access. 
Thanks again for your insight.


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