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Author Topic: Corana mill  (Read 2479 times)

Offline denny

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Re: Corana mill
« Reply #15 on: December 31, 2019, 04:11:40 pm »
    The 1st batch I did after resuming brewing was 13# grain through my old Corona mill, the next day I ordered a JSP Maltmill. After trying a couple other drills for power, I settled on an old [late 50's or early 60's] 1/2" chuck, 5 amp, 525 rpm Sioux drill that weighs about as much as a Buick, but boy will it mill the grain. The mill as shipped is equipped with clear plastic "baffles" that block off all but about 3" of the rollers, even with that limited mill area the other smaller drill I tried really chugged down, and were pretty hot by the end of the run. With the Sioux I removed the shields/baffles, exposing the full 10" of mill face, and the drill doesn't bog down at all, it'll mill ~20# grain in about a minute and a half. My arm would fall off before I could get through that much grain with the Corona. Gotta love those old tools from the Eisenhower era! ;D

Just a reminder.  JSP is no longer in business if anyone is looking to buy one of his mills.  He had a fire in his shop a couple years ago that destroyed everything and he is not going to rebuild.  Told me that in response to an e-mail I sent to him.

I wondered about him.  Good to at least know what happened,  but a bummer that he wont be making mills any more.
LHBS owner told me a number of years ago he had already retired and stopped manufacturing, but LHBS could still occasionally buy spare parts he had in inventory, though he wouldn't take any new orders for mills or cheese supplies.  But it seems the fire finally eliminated the inventory too.  I was surprised that the whole operation was just Jack in the workshop and his wife in the office, all in their home, and that with such a successful product there was no succession plan for the business.  Sure, there are arguably better mills out there now, but not only was his the best available in its time, it still hasn't been matched (not even close) by anything currently in its price bracket.

Yeah, I haven't see  any current mill that can match the JSP.  Mine is nearly 20 years old and has had literally tons of grain through it and still works like a charm.  I had heard a rumor at one point that he had a son that was taking over the biz, but that was obviously incorrect.
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

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Offline ynotbrusum

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Re: Corana mill
« Reply #16 on: December 31, 2019, 06:09:25 pm »
He was based out of Marengo, Illinois, which is only a few miles from my home, so I bought the mill and still have it today, mounted on a table with a low rpm high torque motor.  Works great and it’s at least 15 years old...a tank.
Hodge Garage Brewing: "Brew with a glad heart!"

Offline jeffy

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Re: Corana mill
« Reply #17 on: December 31, 2019, 07:14:48 pm »
My notes seem to tell me that I got a new JSP mill for Christmas 1992.  I’m still using it.
Jeff Gladish, Tampa (989.3, 175.1 Apparent Rennarian)
Homebrewing since 1990
AHA member since 1991, now a lifetime member
BJCP judge since 1995

Offline Visor

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Re: Corana mill
« Reply #18 on: January 01, 2020, 10:04:18 am »
   So does that mean that my mill will last as long as the old drill? :D
I spent most of my money on beer, tools and guns, the rest I foolishly squandered on stupid stuff!

Offline voigt.mike

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Re: Corana mill
« Reply #19 on: February 25, 2020, 04:07:29 pm »
I don’t know if you got this answer already, but if you want to minimize the mess and effort in minimizing that mess, tear a hole in the side of a zip-lock bag. Slip it over the end of the mill so that it covers the burrs. The weight of the ziplock mechanism helps to keep it opening-side down. I looked for a photo, but I just have a video.

Last Friday night, I brewed my first batch in over a decade. I still have all my stuff after a few moves, including my corona mill. I’ll come up with a more elegant solution someday, but on Friday I kept it simple. I clamped and drywall screwed my mill to a scrap of 2x4 and clamped that into my bench vise. I used an eye-bolt that I cut into a hook, chucked into my cordless drill to drive the eye that I have threaded where the crank used to be.

Eventually I’ll dedicate a crummy old corded drill that I have and rig something up so that I can have both hands free for loading the grain into the hopper and drinking a beer. “Alexa, grind the grain”


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Offline Tim

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Re: Corana mill
« Reply #20 on: February 26, 2020, 03:54:30 pm »
I know this is a couple months old, but I wanted to interject my $.02.  I have been using a cheap $23-$25 Corona mill, run by a drill, for years. Once it was set up it works great and I don't see the need to change to a roller mill.

It is mounted with screws on a 2x4 screwed to the inside a 5 gallon bucket (I curved the ends for a tight fit). It is at a level that a hole cut into a lid allows attachment of the hopper through it.  The hopper serves to keep the lid on, so I don't really have to fully close it. I do snap the opposite side closed to keep it down. Having the lid on keeps dust to a minimum.  I then extended the hopper with a tube made out of the outside of a 100 disk writable DVD stack.  It fits inside it perfectly and gives it an extra 5" or 6" of height.

I would post pictures, but am not home now.  When first putting it together I took the auger to my local hardware store and bought an 8mm (I think) 3" bolt that extends through a hole in the side of the bucket and has a 14mm hex end.  I have a 3/8" socket to hex shaft adapter and a 14mm deep socket that I store inside it when not in use.  I run it with an 18v cordless drill or a regular variable speed electric drill.  I don't run the drill at full speed, it is probably at about 40%-50%.  I think that gets a better crush..

To set the grind width I used a feeler gauge at either .032" or .035" (credit card width).  I don't 100% remember the width, but I have never needed to change it.  I did have to put a few thin washers on the adjuster to allow the width to be wider than what it allows stock.  I tightened the crap out of it with hammer tapping a screwdriver on the wingnuts.  It has never come loose in 5 or 6 years and I never change it.

I can mill around 14lbs of grain before it fills the bucket. It crushes just as fast as if I was crushing at my LHBS.  Lately I have been doing more and more BIAB and will typically double crush.

Good luck.  Cheers!

« Last Edit: February 26, 2020, 04:19:14 pm by Tim »