[coastsidemike]

One of my goals is to DIY my homebrewery as much as practical; and in this case I put together this grain mill in a one step at a time "just get it done" mode.  That is to say, functional & good enough so I can get onto brewing.  The second goal is to recycle and spend as little as possible.  I'm in about $15 on this one for wingnuts, bolts, and an adapter to fasten a gear to the drill.



I need to finish the hopper, replace the drill/motor, and fine tune it a little bit, yet I'm good for somewhere around 70%-73% efficiency and no mash-tun clogging with two batches so far.  I really really really want to go with larger rollers and the 4" aluminum rollers was the best I could do.

Learned lessons:  the mill does best when going as slow as possible.  I tried a few different drills to power it, but fell back on the smallest drill I had and kept the feed light.  Using a voltage regulator to keep the speed as minimal as possible.  Cutting the gears out of plywood was easier than imagined and I'm surprised it runs as smooth as it does.  Gap setting is for a credit card to pass through but not where the numbers are printed, thinking this is slightly larger than 1/64".

The start of batch one of two for NHC Club Night.  Cheers Yo.

[69franx]

Looks great mikeg

[hopfenundmalz]

I would put a safety shield around the gears.

Nice involutes on the gears, how did you cut those?

[The Professor]

Dude...WOW.
That's pretty damned impressive!   You've taken DIY homebrew kit to a whole new level.
Really, really nice.

[coastsidemike]

Thanks all for the positive feedback.

I would put a safety shield around the gears.

I let it run for an hour while measuring out and milling about 40 lbs of grain, yeah it needs to be covered up as much as possible in fear of clothing et cetera being caught. In particular the barley dust needs containment.

Nice involutes on the gears, how did you cut those?

This template generator is a gem: 
https://www.woodgears.ca/gear_cutting/template.html

The person who built that woodgears site has it all figured out.  Print and glue the templates, start with a drill press to get the inner corners, then to a bandsaw to cut the teeth.  Took a second try to get the hang of it.

[HoosierBrew]

Yeah, great build !

[cblitzstein]

Looks great. My only concern is that the wood gears will need replacement far more often than metal ones.


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[jimmykx250]

Nice build. I can tell you put some effort into that. I wouldnt mind having a bad boy like that!

[coastsidemike]

Nice build. I can tell you put some effort into that. I wouldnt mind having a bad boy like that!

Hey Jimmy.  Thank you, it was fun to make.

Looks great. My only concern is that the wood gears will need replacement far more often than metal ones.

Hi Cblitzstein.  On the gears, it's fitted 3/4"-thick 5-layer high-grade ply, with a polyurethane finish (wipe-on), and then 3-1 oil. The gears run smooth albeit a little loud.  It's good.  Getting the gap setting in place was more of a concern. 

[cblitzstein]

Looks great. My only concern is that the wood gears will need replacement far more often than metal ones.

Hi Cblitzstein.  On the gears, it's fitted 3/4"-thick 5-layer high-grade ply, with a polyurethane finish (wipe-on), and then 3-1 oil. The gears run smooth albeit a little loud.  It's good.  Getting the gap setting in place was more of a concern.
[/quote]

Great. May you get many years of service from it, and many compliments.


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