Mill Mounting Designs

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pbrosnan

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Hi all,

Have recently taken delivery of a Monster Mill as part of the bulk buy. Have had it on the corner of my desk for a couple of days and I've found it induces a Zen-like state as one searchs for the perfect mill design. But that's too time consuming so I was hoping that people would be kind enough to put up a few pics and ideas that allowed them to enter mill nirvana.
I know there are a few bits of info scattered about but as usual things are hidden away in nooks and crannies and it's healthier to have this kind of thing out in the open.
I plan to make this my mill for the foreseeable future so I'm looking at a freestanding, motorised unit with 4-5kg capacity hopper.

cheers

Patrick.
 
I mounted my monster mill in an old cupboard, the motor is direct drive and was purchased here I run it using a 12v car battery that turns the mill at about 160 rpm, it crushes 4 kilo of grain in under a minute and has more than enough torque to do a standing start with the hopper full.


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Andrew
 
I mounted my monster mill in an old cupboard, the motor is direct drive and was purchased here I run it using a 12v car battery that turns the mill at about 160 rpm, it crushes 4 kilo of grain in under a minute and has more than enough torque to do a standing start with the hopper full.


View attachment 19506View attachment 19507

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

Yep, I saw your design and I'm thinking along similar lines. I'm wondering whether to mount the mill on top of the base rather then under simply because it might make adjusting the gap a bit easier. Don't suppose you could post another couple of pics showing more detail of the mounting setup?
 
Patrick

I mounted mine on the top and blocked it in with a few bits of wood as covers. Only takes 5 minutes to pull apart and clean. Hopper is a large plastic funnel from a Winemaking supplier with a bucket glued in.

Frame is some Bunnings dexion type angle iron that I had laying around from a previous project. The wood is just cheapie Melamine. Probably not ideal for the job but will do for the interim.

Motor I got from Ebay for $25 and the pulleys were probably the most expensive part (besides the mill itself obviously) at $60.

I made a quick and easy box chute on the bottom that lets the crushed grain drop into a modified plastic cube. Basically I just got a Dremel and cut the spout from the cube into a rectangular shape which catches the grain with minimal dust floating around the garage.

Hope this helps. You'll probably become confused with the array of choices to get the thing running. :)

If you can find the direct drive type of motor like Andrew did you're ultimately making a safer setup if you have kids running around or you consume too much while you mill. The pulleys and belt work perfectly but to be honest can be a little unnerving at times.

Warren -

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Wally got them from;

Australian Power Transmissions Pty Ltd
Factory 4/ 1968 Hume Hwy Campbellfield VIC 3061
Ph: (03) 9357 0201

It was $60 for a 12 inch bushed for a 3/8 shaft. Price also included a 1.5 inch for the motor. This puts the RPM somewhere around 150-180. Chugs along nicely.

Belt was around a tenner (from the same place).

Warren -
 
I mounted my monster mill in an old cupboard, the motor is direct drive and was purchased here I run it using a 12v car battery that turns the mill at about 160 rpm, it crushes 4 kilo of grain in under a minute and has more than enough torque to do a standing start with the hopper full.


Andrew

BTW, does anyone know any other Aus suppliers of similar motors, Oatleys appear to be out of stock. I was looking at the SC200 but all except the SC100 are showiing as out of stock.

cheers

Patrick.
 
hi
wish i had asked before starting, -asume nothing

pulley wheel holes and tracks can all be different, belts different widths and lengths, drive shafts on motors different

we found a filing cabnet type draws at vinnies
found a cheap belt and set the wheels to suit
wheels came from the dollar type hardware shop on ansey hill sydney rd (mel) around $5 for a small and $30 for the large
motor came from the trash and treasure at the drive in movies $10 , though not sure how much longer it will last
hopper is rough as guts, just knocked together from the draws holds about 6kg
motor is mounted on the draw slides from the unit, and can slide up and down for the tension
wired a plug on the side to have a switch.
there is a good calculator on the web to sort wheel size out from the motor speed.
hole in the bottom of the hopper was to big , so put a slide thing in and always start and stop it with no grain on the rollers
nick

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Since I don't have a variable speed drill, I decided to try a more 'low tech' approach on my Monster Mill. It actually works pretty well and only takes a few minutes to get through 4-5 kg of grain (well it would only take a few minutes if I didn't have to keep refilling the hopper).

grain_mill_2.jpg

Dave
 
I mounted my Monster on top of a board very similar to warrenlw63 - but I'm driving it with a cordless drill.

You can't see it in this post, but I cut a small rectangle out of the base board so the drill could attach to the mill shaft at the correct angle, then just a block of wood with a long screw through it to use to push the trigger on the drill. A pilfered springwater container as hopper (holds about 7kg of grain)

The whole lot just sits ontop of a bucket or whatever without needing to be held in place.

Thirsty
 
Cheers for all the effort. I've got plenty of time to get this right as I already have a Marga that does an excellent job. Like most things in home brewing it's the planning that's important hence my (re)quest for inspiration. Once again thanks to all for going to so much trouble.
 
Since I don't have a variable speed drill, I decided to try a more 'low tech' approach on my Monster Mill. It actually works pretty well and only takes a few minutes to get through 4-5 kg of grain (well it would only take a few minutes if I didn't have to keep refilling the hopper).

View attachment 19522

Dave
Hey Dave,

Nice and simple!
Where did you get the crank handle for the MonsterMill? ...and is it 10mm or 13mm?
 
Sorry to go a little :icon_offtopic: folks but has anybody seen the new 2" Monsters?

Impressed! :eek:

Warren -

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Looks like the prices for the SS upgrades have come down on the 1.5" models and there's free shaft upgrades

It means a 1.5" 2 roller is $197AUD and a 3 roller is $267AUD with all the perks landed

The 1.5" 3 roller was heavy enough to move about - I imagine the 2" will be heavier + and require a little more torque to drive

Very impressive though :)

Truly Monstrous!

Cheers
 
Just wondering, when most grain suppliers can mill the grain for you, is there any advantage to having your own mill? Does it ensure freshness to mill only what you need from a big bag? Or is it just about being complete with the home brewery and owning everything? (Genuine question, not having a dig at feeling complete, I will own a mill as soon as I have a garage to put it in).
 
Just wondering, when most grain suppliers can mill the grain for you, is there any advantage to having your own mill? Does it ensure freshness to mill only what you need from a big bag? Or is it just about being complete with the home brewery and owning everything? (Genuine question, not having a dig at feeling complete, I will own a mill as soon as I have a garage to put it in).

:icon_offtopic: its the convenience factor for me as I buy a few 25kg bags of grain at a time and crush when and how I like. Nothing at all to do with wanting to own everything.
Cheers
Steve
 
Just wondering, when most grain suppliers can mill the grain for you, is there any advantage to having your own mill? Does it ensure freshness to mill only what you need from a big bag? Or is it just about being complete with the home brewery and owning everything? (Genuine question, not having a dig at feeling complete, I will own a mill as soon as I have a garage to put it in).

It can be all those things , but the main thing is being able to adjust the mill gap settings yourself which directly effects mash efficiency.

Cheers,
BB
 
Just wondering, when most grain suppliers can mill the grain for you, is there any advantage to having your own mill? Does it ensure freshness to mill only what you need from a big bag? Or is it just about being complete with the home brewery and owning everything? (Genuine question, not having a dig at feeling complete, I will own a mill as soon as I have a garage to put it in).

In my case economics played a big part.

Buying grain on a per batch basis was costing a lot more than by the bag. Purchasing by the bag brought the costs down by around 1/3. The next big thing was travel costs to go to the HBS every couple of weeks to get several batches of grain. Based upon these costs I've figured that I will start saving money after around 12 months.

It also looks really cool in the brewery too. :D

gary
 
I just thought about the 25kg bags and since I am buying in on the Adelaide bulk buy, I now need a mill haha. So what is the cheapest mill set up? I brew so infrequently that a crank set up would do me well. Any help appreciated :)

-Joseph.
 
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