There is no way in hell you are turning your mill more than 100 RPM by hand. At least not for any length of time.


There is an optimum speed for milling your grain and I believe it is in the 100-125 RPM range. Cordless drills turn much too fast and are not the best choice to run your mill for this reason.

Edit: Just realized you are advocating the use of a corded drill. As long as you can keep the speed down, I guess this is OK. Just doesn't have the coolness factor that motorizing your mill does.

Before I motorized my mill with a gearhead motor, I used a 1/2" drill from harbor freight. Usually 1/2" drills will have a speed control dial so you can have them turn slow. This worked fine.

The problem I always had, and the main reason I built a cart (and added the motor), is that I am usually milling grain by myself, and it takes 3 hands or two people with a drill that is not bolted down or mounted to something. I've spilled grain more than once trying to hold the drill with my foot and pouring grain in with my hands.

The motor works the same for me as well. I can weigh out the different grains and dump them in the hopper and walk away and get others things ready - so the slower speed does not bother me. It's grinding away as my water gets up to strike temp and I am getting other equipment and supplies organized for the brew day.

My first motorized mill runs at 53 rpm. Yes, it could be faster, but like bcmaui, I fill it up and walk away and otherwise get set up for the brewing day, so it doesn't really bother me. Found that motor cheap on eBay. Mill version 2 is a bit faster, but I'm not building version 2 for more speed, but because I co-own the first with two other people and I want my own dedicated setup.

Well, there's a lot to be said for the Cool Factor.
I mean it is a fucking Hobby and there's a fine line between madness and hobby. That's if there's any line at all, it's gotta be fine.

I think that if I get a grinder (and with a 14.5 gallon Fermentor I may just) I'll make a wood top that'll fit over and clamp to the handles of my mash tun which is a 20 gallon SST pot and grind the grains directly into the MT. Using a hand drill makes sense 'cause it'll be lighter and easier to manipulate.

Plus I'm building my brewery in my weight room and space is an issue. I can't find room for yet one more piece of furniture. Garage brewing is out of the question as I have a GoZillion dollars worth of woodshop hobby equipment in there and plans for yet more.

Well now you got me thinking. Professional systems often have a hopper so they can drop the grain in at the same time they are filling the MT with water. I was thinking of setting up something like that above my mash tun. Now I wonder, would my new mill be fast enough to grind right into the MT at the same time I'm pumping water into it? That would be sick.

Now I wonder if I can get one of those mini-auger systems like I saw at the CBC a few years ago. It was just a scale model of a company's system, but it would work on a homebrew scale. It didn't use a solid screw, but had disks that were pulled through a tube by a central cord, allowing bends in the path.

I've thought of this (and wet milling) but was afraid the condensation coming off of the mash tun would create a long term rust problem on the steel rollers on my mill.

Should have gotten stainless steel rollers. No, I didn't get them either.