Grain Mills In General

[Drewch (Drew C.)]

@CounterPressure

There’s some math involved in determining the correct gear cutter. It’s not rocket science, but it is important.  Any gear (involute gears) will require one of 8 cutters depending on what size, shape and tooth count they have.  The cutters are numbered 1-8, with 1 for the smallest gear of that pitch and 8 being the largest, or for making a straight gear rack.  Using the wrong one for the diameter will result it a gear that makes a lot of noise, at least for a while.  In steel, likely it’ll make noise forever.

I remember covering gears in my undergrad machine design courses. It still blows my mind that people figured all this stuff out on paper by hand … some of these design standards even predate slide rules.

[CounterPressure]

@Drewch

I remember covering gears in my undergrad machine design courses. It still blows my mind that people figured all this stuff out on paper by hand … some of these design standards even predate slide rules.

The geometry involved is otherworldly.

If you’d like to have your mind blown watching a gear making process, check this out. Yes it’s long, it is well worth it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-kFF76bNqw

[brewthru]

@CounterPressure

@Drewch

I remember covering gears in my undergrad machine design courses. It still blows my mind that people figured all this stuff out on paper by hand … some of these design standards even predate slide rules.

The geometry involved is otherworldly.

If you’d like to have your mind blown watching a gear making process, check this out. Yes it’s long, it is well worth it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-kFF76bNqw

Makes me think of those very smart individuals whom designed/built bridges, etc in the late 1890s/early 1900s. Amazing people.

[TechBrew (Richard)]

@skyler

Timely post for me. I bought a crankandstein adjustable 2-roller mill back in 2010, and it worked splendidly until very recently. I’m not sure if it is the malt (Admiral Feldblume is made from a uniquely-grown barley cultivar) or the mill. But it is not catching the malt, I am not getting a good crush, and I brewed to beers side by side and got wildly different efficiencies.

I’m not sure if I need to replace my mill or if I should take it apart and clean it (something I’ve never done). It is a 14 year-old mill that has been well-used for a long time, so I’m considering cleaning it without taking it apart (flashbacks to when I repaired my fresh pasta maker that never worked right again) and maybe just keeping it as a backup.

Even if I do buy a new mill, I’m not sure what I want. I know I want it to work and to be able to run off a corded electric drill. Any thoughts?

I know this is a bit late, but I think your problem is the malt. A few years ago I started using Admiral malts and had the same problem. I thought it was my mill, but could generally get it to work if I mixed in other grains, especially dark or roasted grains at the same time. Of course, that doesn’t work for all recipes. The Admiral malts became unavailable to me for a year or two and I forgot about milling problems. I recently started getting Admiral malts again and my problem is back. I have found that I need to open my mill gap. Last brew it worked at 0.035" gap with Admiral Pils, but today I had to open even wider to get Gallagher’s Best to feed properly. After milling at that gap I reduced the gap to 0.028" and fed everything through again, with no problems at all. A bit of a pain to do, but I like Admiral malts and if that is what I need to do, I will do it.