Jack Schmidling Enterprises
18016 Church Rd
Marengo Illinois 60152
Ph# 815-923-0031
fAX# 815-923-0032
Adjustable or fixed rollers, good throughput/grind. Concerns
about the unequal adjustment of the rollers. The most expensive but
viewed very favourably by most.
Glatt Manufacturing
P.O. Box 116
5 Port Way
Dayton, WA USA 99328
tel: 509-382-4356
Adjustable 2 roller mill. Considered a good mill. Concern about
the plastic gears but not a serious problem. Most mills have a follower
roller but this one drives both rollers.
Brewers Resource
409 Calle San Pablo #104
Camarillo, CA 93012
Ph# 1-800-827-3983
1-805-445-4100
A new 2 roller adjustable mill that I have not received
independent comments on. Brewtek claims comparable/favourable results
when compared to other rollers. $90 US+.
Listerman Manufacturing Company
1776 Mentor Ave.
Norwood, OH USA 45212
tel: 513-731-1130
Adjustable 1 roller/plate mill. Concern about the single roller
have been voiced. $75-$80 US+ makes it the least expensive roller.
Corona Mill
Columbia, South America
A very common (not a roller) and inexpensive ($40-$50 Can) mill
on the market. Quality and quantity of grind is a concern. I have
actually seen one of these, believe it or not.:)
No connection blah, blah, blah. If I had bought one it probably would have been the valley roller mill. Cost, quality, US exchange, local product, etc etc. check them out yourself.
Terence Tegner(tegbrew@iaccess.za)
Andrew Keegan (akeegan@averroes.helios.nd.edu)
Chris "Barny" Barnhart's (clbarnha@lettterkenn-emh1.army.mil)
Tom Clifton
Will Self(wself@viking.emcmt.edu)
Wellington County Brewery(Guelph, Ont. Can)
The shape of the "roller" need not be an actual roller. Wheel shaped
"rollers" and a non-centered design could also be considered. In
addition larger diameter rollers(4"-6"?) do not need the same/any
texturing. The relatively flat crushing "profile" can draw the grain
without Knurling. This is important when looking for a roller if you
don't have access to the proper equipment for the texturing job.
Fabricating a roller will only work if you or someone you know has access
to the right tools and the skills to use them. Having a shop make a pair
of first run rollers is as or more expensive than buying a hobby mill.
You can look around for the "Homebrew loving fabricating shop owner" and
trade some brew for the work. But unless he's your buddy or
brother-in-law it's his business and livelihood($$$). A roller made by
hand will not do, it must be turned on a lathe (wood or metal) to insure
that it will be perfectly true.
Premade rolllers are available from conveyor belt companies and the like
but are still a specialty item when new ($$$). Used ones can be found at
scrap yards, old factories, used junk dealers etc. You will most often
find small diameter, thin walled, and rusted rollers that aren't
suitable. However if you look hard enough you might come across a drive
roller(s) from a conveyor belt, Printer rollers(toxic inks?), or the oat
rollers from an old agricultural mill. Look for textured or large
diameter rollers that will not need further modificatio and spin true.
A fixed shaft roller with bearings or bushings is simple to attach
a crank handle to. But if both your your rollers are the spin
around the shaft type a means of driving at least 1 is needed. I
suggest welding or bolting a cog/pulley around the shaft directly on
the end plate of the roller. You can then drive it with a chain or
pulley belt that runs in between the frame and roller, to either a
hand crank or motor. This allows the roller to still spin on
it's internal bearings smoothly and precisely.
Wheels, consider the "wheeler" mill. Large diameter (6"+)(No Knurling)and
smaller length (2.5"-3"+) may be more easily found either used(cheap) or
new($$$). Old agricultural or Industrial material handling equipment
(carts/fork trucks) have solid broad/flat faced tires. Caster centers
and farm supply shops etc will have suitable($$$) new ones. You can
remove the rubber/plastic coating (if any) and check that it has a
flat/true surface. These will probably be mild steel and will need to be
coated or regularly maintained to remove the rust.
A wheels cracking length is smaller, but the larger diameter will
make up the surface area difference with every revolution/turn of the
crank. Two shaped grain guards will hold the grain in place. A
much thinner frame with a standard adjusting mechanism, hopper
and crank handle should be relatively easy to fabricate once
you've found your "wheelers".
Non-centered design (similar to Will Self's) may also be a consideration.
The main requirement here is to maintain a constant gap for the grain to
be drawn through.
Tubing or solid stock with a constant diam could be held or jockeyed"
in place with casters/wheels held on a surrounding framework. One side
of the frame can be hinged for adjustment and a crank handle and
simple gearing system will drive the rollers.
Alternatively thin "C shaped buschings" could be cut to the diameter of
the tubing. The "C's" would face each other to create a suitable grinding
surface. One side would be adjustable(hinged or sliding) the other crank
driven with a gearing/o-ring system for drive transfer. The materials
used would have to be smooth to allow rotation without to much
resistance. I have a pair of 1" diam X 3" knurled barbell handles with
grooves appropriate for a "C bearing". This mini-roller was very close
to becoming a reality.
Tubing with a constant wall thickness (even oval or egg shaped profiles
would do) of suitably large diameter can be used. By inserting small
wheels or rollers in the tubing the grinding surface of the tube can be
held from the inside at the desired position. This would be essentially
an oddly centered roller that would require a somewhat trickier drive
mechanism.
The off-centered rollers are a round about way of construction no
doubt. But the materials (common tubing/wheels/casters/etc) are
inexpensive (even new) and found at any hardware/handyman store.
Will's design works (plans available) and I believe the other
off-center designs could work as well. It would just take some
work and ingenuity.
I (with some invaluable help, Thanks Wayne) cut down the original frame
and remounted the Knurled roller thusly, [roller], the frame has a "squared C
profile". Pieces of angle iron were mounted midway in the frame to form
a 3-sided adjusting track along the upper edge of the "C" shaped frame. The
2 rollers now sit at the same height. I/we tapped a threaded rod into the
bearing housing, put plates on the adjustable/small roller end, and
bolts on the rods on eitherside of these plates. The mills small roller is
adjustable and can be slightly angled to be parallel with 1/2 of the
Knurled roller, creating an 8" grinding surface. A simple handle was
fashioned and the test grind worked:). Later I built a simple hopper out of
spare materials at home.
The mill works very well, good adjustable crush and fast throughput.
Approximetely 15 turns of the handle for 1 pound (15rev./lb). Even on a
lazy day a 5 gallon batch should take only 2-3 minutes of grinding at the
most. It's almost a shame, I spent so many hours searching and planning,
and I will probably only use it an hour or so every year. But then
making the toys is almost half the fun, it is a hobby after all the hours
spent are hours enjoyed.:)
Apologies for any innacuracies, vagueness, bad grammar, etc etc. Any
questions, comments, or rude remarks can be directed to me or posted, I will
reply in turn from my thermally protected lurking chamber.
Yep, this is the guy from Africa. Terence engineered a 2 roller mill
that will handle 10kg/min.
Forwarded me 2 roller designs but omitted his own as "experimental".
Either a great loss of ideas or a plot of some kind, I'm not sure which.:)
They are(in short):
Made a roller with 2" diamond knurled rollers. He feels that around the
4"-8" mark a smooth or only roughened roller is necessary. This seems
reasonable to me and of important design consideration.
Made a roller mill of hard maple that were 4" in diameter with axial
grooves to provide grip. He also noted a give in his bearings when
crushing and would consider simple brass bushings considering the
infrequency and low rpm's of use.
Forwarded me a design for a non-centered roller mill. This design used 4"
diam, 40 schedule PVC tubing held in place by furniture casters fastened
to the frame. A simple hand crank and cog(screw head + hole) system was
used to drive both rollers. Knurling was applied with a Knife and a
quality grind was the end product.
Obviously not a homebrewer(Micro) but the only other mill I have Knowledge
of(and have actually seen). This agricultural mill is best described as
2 wagon wheels which run against each other. Good crush, Good beer the
final product tells me this design works.
BUILDING A MILL
There are numerous considerations but some very simple/basic ones. A mill
must draw grain (sufficiently fast/throughput) between 2 "plates" which
will crack the contents while leaving the husk as intact as possible.
Beyond these points you should not be constrained by the designs of
agricultural/commercial/hobby mills as available materials will be the
most limiting factor in producing a functional mill. Those with access
to a full blown fabricating shop should consider themselves lucky and in
the minority.
DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
Wait to finalize your Plan until you have the rollers in hand. A
plan is easy to change but try and find the rollers to fit your plan!
MY ROLLER MILL
After long searching and planning I found a conveyor belt with 2 suitable
rollers ($10, nice guys, good deal). The drive roller is 4" diameter
knurled aluminum with shaft and bearings in good condition. The follower
is a 2" diameter smooth SS roller with square bearing housings. They are
both 18" long but the knurled roller is very subtly tapered from the
center (like "<4" diam>" but only a few fractions from center to ends). This
gives me 1 of 2-8" useable "planes" as a grinding surface (the SS roller
is true).
Sorry about the bandwidth, atleast none of the dreaded never ending
threads were brought up.:) I just hope that more than a quick description
of my final design will generate more ideas. Ideally, I would like the
HBD collective to come up with the elusive "home roller" design. a
reliable mill that can be reasonably made at home.