Automatic grain mill

Hi guys,


We are a small group of homebrewers who have been working on developing a grain mill for the past couple years during our free time. My friend is an engineer, and when he got into homebrewing he decided to build an automatic grain mill for us to use since there are no LHBS located near us, and we didn't have a basement or much space in our homes to set up an electric drill powered grain mill (and also our wives were not very keen on the idea). We have been just sharing this among ourselves for a couple years now, and it works great so far. It's really portable, so we also just take turns having it over in our homes. Here is a picture of our old prototype from a while back.





What do you guys think of this? It's all stainless steel to prevent rusting. The grain falls out the back instead of the bottom cuz we usually place it on a countertop instead of a cart. You can also control the mill gap and speed. (The iron valve wheel on the side controls the mill gap, and the knob on the control board is for speed adjustment.) Any thoughts?

 

Hello! This thread has not been abandoned, I was just away for a bit. Sorry about that. My friend who engineered the product is away, and he has the product with him, but he will be back by the 30th of October and hopefully we can get a video up for you guys then!

You're right. The picture has been photoshopped (very badly and in a rush). But like @utahbeerdude said, it is just for basic presentation purposes. No ill intent. The background was not relevant at all -it was just a meeting room, so we took it out. The cord is just a cord, and even in the full picture it doesn't show completely. I can post the raw image here if you'd like. But it's pretty much going to be the same thing.

In terms of size, it is pretty compact. If I remember correctly, it was about 14 inches tall by 12 inches long, and then about 10 inches wide? We made it compact because, like I mentioned, we didn't have a lot of space for homebrewing in general. We also didn't brew in huge batches, so this is why the hopper is not as big. But again, this is why we want to get the opinions of a few more homebrewers, because we really want this to be something that a dedicated homebrewer could use. Would other homebrewers prefer a bigger hopper? Or maybe a hopper that is detachable and can be replaced with whatever hopper size you want? We would appreciate any type of feedback, tips, suggestions so we can better improve this product before putting it out there.

And here is the original image:

 

As it is right now, we are planning to sell it for around $400-500. But it really depends on what other changes we might make to the product based on suggestions from other homebrewers.

 

Thanks for letting us know. We will see if there's a way to add a detachability function to the hopper, and also provide hoppers of different sizes.

 

Yes, my friend just told me about it as well. It looks good. But I think their product is different from us in terms of the materials used. We plan on using food grade stainless steel for all parts that touches the grain for the final product. Including the rollers, the hopper, the outlet slide, etc. Our design is also smaller and lighter, the design style is also more vintage military-inspired; (based on a tank design). Our final price will be much cheaper as well - probably around 400 dollars. If you have any suggestions on the design or functions, please feel free to let us know. We want to design something that would work well for the majority.

 

We are working on filming a casual and short home made, introductory video for the product. It’s still in a “prototype” phase since we have just been using it among ourselves. We will post it soon. Would love to get some feedback from you guys on the design and functions.

 

Here’s a short demonstration of our prototype:

We will continue to make adjustments and improvements based on ideas we get from the homebrewing community. We’ll likely be making the hopper removable so users can have more options on hopper size. For the final version, all parts/mechanisms that come in contact with the grain will be made with food grade level stainless steel. The dimensions for our current grain mill is about 12.5 inches in length, 13.2 inches in height, and 10.6 inches in width. It weighs about 40lbs. Let us know what you think, and what kind of improvements/modifications you’d like to see.

 

Not sure if it helped our marriages either, but at least our wives aren’t complaining about it. We didn’t have much space for milling from the first place, and usually just used the kitchen for milling instead of a garage or outdoors. That’s where the conflict came in initially. But the way it’s designed now, it’s compact enough that it doesn’t take up too much space and blends in just right with the apartment. Doesn’t stand out like a bulky piece of equipment. (We designed it based on vintage military styles) It’s also just more efficient for us. A simple switch and it starts milling. We just stand there and it’s all done by itself, and it’s just soothing to watch the grain mill.