We were talking about grain mills and I wanted to add something I experienced. My grain mill was jamming and I opened it for cleaning . I realized it was probably from milling at high speed which I think was heating up the flour and melting it to the rollers. I since been running the mill slower and have no issues. Also if milling 20 to 30#s it may actually be burning the grain a bit
I have disassembled my JSP a couple of times. Didn’t really have much gunk built up. Makes me think that hitting it with the air gun once in a while wouldn’t hurt. I will mill over 50lbs at a sitting with a 1/2" drill.
I do give the rollers a little shot of oil on the outside end but not often. There is also an O ring on one of the rollers that was supposedly just for show when it was new so if you spun them with the hopper empty both would turn. I found after it broke the first time it works much better with it and I can usually dig one out on my garage that fits.
Maybe my logic is off but the mills come with a hand crank so my thought is they’re designed to mill at hand crank speed. I try to run my drill at my best estimation of that. It seemed to me that going faster created quite a lot of flour. Patience Grasshopper…
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I’ve got mine tied to a platform with the drill attached… It has never been cleaned BUT I do hit it with air every time I use it… I see NorCal has a geared motor specifically for these mills… Its on my wish list… Sneezles61
I agree but even at 5 gallons hand cranking is not easy. When you go up to larger batch sizes it’s not even a consideration. I would hope the people that design and build mills realize almost everyone buying one is likely to motorize it.
I also try to go slow with my drill. Even using that after just hanging on to it and milling an entire sack of grain is tiring.
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Yes I always hang on to mine. One hand on the drill one one the mill. I had a mishap the first time i used it and that ended with a mess.
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I know exactly how you feel. No fun toppling like that.
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I use a zip tie to hold the trigger. Not the most elegant of solutions but it works. Mine is mounted to a 5 gallon bucket lid so the milled grain falls into the bucket. I put another bucket next to it to act as a reaction arm for the drill. Works great as long as you’re sure of the reaction direction. I had a mishap also once. Not pretty.
I use a hose clamp… You can adjust… I too had one of those… mis haps… ohh,
loss of ABV… Sneezles61
Kind of getting off the cleaning subject but…
My JSP is designed to sit on a 5 gallon bucket. I’m sure others are too. I get out a chair, set the sack of malt and any specialty grain next to it, a second bucket since usually one (sometimes 2) isn’t enough and pour or scoop into the mill. The drill is a 1/2" Makita corded drill that will about break your arm before it stops. Even with that kind of beef it gets warm. I hold the trigger through the entire process because I am afraid what might happen if I left it alone.
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