I just wanted to put this out to our group as it starts to warm up and critters and bugs start to show up in Chicago. A few of us put a lot of work into securing our brew space for everyone to keep out critters and we haven't seen any in a really long time.
One big concern I have right now is that, I have randomly shown up to the club during the day in the past 2 weeks to find our grain mill half ass cleaned up. Grain dust and full pieces of grain=food! I don't care if there are 4 people brewing after you on the schedule, clean that mill up like you would vacuum up your own house. Don't just run the vacuum wand in there quickly, move the board that your bucket sat on, tap the mill so all the dust falls out, and clean up behind the middle shelf, where grain could have spilled.
If you want a demonstration how it should look, grab me next time you see me here and I'll show you what a cleaned mill looks like. We don't use a cleaning service at Chaos so keep it clean so others don't have to pick up the slack for those who are lazy.
BTW: the grain mill is screeching something fierce!
--james
^ yea, I've noticed this too. Anyone know what we can oil in that thing before it goes ka-put?
I’m not sure where the squealing is coming from. The motor, the axel, or the crushing wheels. Does the manufacturer of the motor have any care and maintenance tips? Maybe we should start but taking it apart, compress air all the parts and put it back together?
--james
I'll give 'er the usual simple clean when I'm there tomorrw to see if it helps any. If not, we can take it apart.
Thanks Todd.
We might want to take a look and see if it's got the ability to be oiled. Maybe time for another disassembly and general cleaning Brandon? We should also look at the gap and the mill teeth... it missed a lot of my grain when I used it yesterday. I can help Tuesday if you want Brandon.
I did the "quick" cleaning of the mill before my brew day last week and still got the squeel (took off the bottom, vacuumed it out, used a wire brush on the "teeth" to clean the stuck-on grain). So something needs to be oiled. I'll try to dive deeper into it today or tomorrow before the meeting.
As far as the gap goes - I check it / adjust everytime before I mill. I believe after a few millings it can move slightly. The adjustment knob is to the left parallel to the milling teeth. All else fails, run the grain through the mill again.
Ok, thanks for checking. I did run it 2x and it turned to powder. I'd like to see if we can re-think the mill and that whole area this spring.
The gap does form a "V" shape - it can be narrowed closest to the adjustment knob, but spreads out wider the closer you get to the motor. It would be nice if it could be uniform the whole way across to ensure an even crush.