How I MacGyvered Motorizing My Grain Mill

Introduction

I have been looking to motorize my Cereal Killer malt mill that I purchased for a long time. I have seen some elaborate setups while researching how to motorize my less than $100 mill. All of them would be substantially more than the mill itself. Why is it so expensive and complicated? When milling grain, you need lots of torque at very low RPM’s. This can be done with reduction gearboxes or through pulleys (I’m not going to get into that because I’m no engineer and don’t really understand it myself). I wanted something simple. I have been using an older Craftsman cordless drill. It has a low setting that reduces RPM but still gives enough torque to turn the mill. This is how I MacGyvered it for just about $30 using stuff I already had and purchasing just one item.

Items Used

• Craftsman Cordless Drill (had already)
• Cereal Killer Malt Mill with a wooden base (had already)
• Amazon Rack (bought)
• Zip ties (had already)
• Bucket (had already)

Setup

Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best way to go. I left the base on the mill and positioned it on the rack so malt could fall through into the bucket but at the same time have the end of the drill accessible for the battery. Once I found the perfect position, I removed the base and then reattached the base to the mill making sure the bolts grabbed part of the wire rack. I then locked down the drill chuck onto the shaft of the mill. I zip tied the drill to the rack to ensure it didn’t kick during milling. I used zip ties to set the trigger pull to my desired speed. Just to make sure the mill did not tip over, I drilled holes into the wooden base and zip tied it to the wire rack.

Process

  1. Weigh out grain (using bucket)
  2. Pour grain into the mill hopper
  3. Place the same bucket under the mill
  4. Insert battery into drill which starts it (zip tied trigger)
  5. Mill grain
  6. Remove battery after milling
  7. Roll cart (because it has wheels) back into the garage

Conclusion

That’s it. My simple solution to motorize the milling of my malt. I don’t care if you call it low-tech or red neck engineering. All I care about is that it works for me and my setup. Cheers!