Tipsy grain mill

I have a Victoria, not totally sure of the name, and I clamp it to a 2by 4 and that sits on top of a bucket. Fairly sturdy, but am working on bench mounting the mill and running it with a electric motor. Getting tired of changing batteries. Will put a rheostat of the mother to control speed.

 

I use a wimpy drill with my cereal crusher. Maybe 12 v? It has a smallish internal battery, but it holds the charge long enough for me to double crush my grains for a five pound batch. It's not really the sort of drill you would buy if you were the sort of craftsman that needed the best drill, but it is the sort of drill that is inexpensive and occasionally gets bundled as a deal with some other item you kind of need.

 

mine is is a craftsman about 8 years old. Works for now, but i have many old electric motors, so, if one has the room, why not make a bench mounted mill with a dedicated motor. Hopefully will have it done by spring

 

I use my left hand to prevent tipping

 

I use a bungee cord to strap the mill to the bucket...no more tippy

 

Make sure your drill is on the side with the most gap between the base and grain mill. You may have it the other way and it's not balanced?

 

I put a second bucket with a lid under the drill and let the drill rest on it sideways, like a gangsta. Works great.

 

I do something similar. I grind into an empty David Sunflower Seed "team bucket" with the mill mounted to the bucket lid. The bucket goes in the chair so that the grain mill sitting on top of the bucket is fairly level with table. The square edge of the bucket tucks against the table and the drill sits on the table.

 

Find yourself an *old* TV stand. Old enough so it's made from solid wood rather than particle board and used to house an old tube set rather than a flat screen! If you're lucky, it'll even be on wheels. Cut a hole in the top, mount your mill with some wood screws so that it's centered over the hole and put your bucket in the area underneath where the TV used to go. Your mill will never tip again.

 

I didn't realize people were adding more grain on the fly. I crush 5-6#, stop, add more grain, rinse, repeat. It only adds a few minutes to a process that takes less time than heating the strike water anyway, so I personally won't be investing any time/money/effort into a solution.

@VikeMan gave me some sage advice early in my brewing career. If a piece of equipment doesn't allow you to make better beer or make your brew day shorter/easier, then it's not worth the investment.

 

Crankandstein 3-roller with 10 lb hopper mounted to old TV stand (messy because I just used it and haven't run the shop vac yet). The stand was in my garage when I bought my house. As soon as I saw it, I knew exactly what I'd do with it! It's almost like it was purpose-built.

 

On a BarleyCrusher, all 3 feet must be inside the bucket (by design) and as long as you are not using a cordless drill with a battery that weighs more than the drill itself you are gold.

 

@DunkelFester Great pic and love that hopper.