Bike Powered Grain Milling

[colinthehippie]

I may get laughed down for suggesting this, but my guess is that someone out there has tried this or is actively doing it. I'm wondering if it's conceivable to run a grain mill for a 5-7 bbl system with bike power. I will grant you that there would likely be a lot of pedalling involved, but do you think you could gear it well enough to make the process feasible? I'm thinking 30 minutes is the max I'd want any one/two/three people to have to pedal to finish the grain for a batch. I realize I'm not providing any detail, I'm just curious what others think.

[Natrat]

I think huffing and puffing with all that grain dust sounds relatively unpleasant. Can I suggest solar PV, wind, or water power instead? Or maybe 1,233 hamsters in a progressive wheel?

[Trickster]

Get a real mill

You have enough hard work to do as a brewer, I would say bite the bullet and get a real electric mill. Trust me milling in is tiring enough I would not want to add in any extra work into the process. Also, what kind of room would this contraption take up on your floor where you could be putting more tanks or other useful equipment.

[Scott M]

Colin...

Hook the bike up to an automotive Alternator. Use that to charge a bank of batteries. Connect the batteries to an inverter to power your electric mill. Ride the bike when you want, use a battery charger when you don't, or just plug the motor into the wall outlet. Invite anyone who wants to peddle to get on the bike and go for it!! Peddle Powered Brewing... I Like It!!

[OneMoreBrewer]

Colin...

Hook the bike up to an automotive Alternator. Use that to charge a bank of batteries. Connect the batteries to an inverter to power your electric mill. Ride the bike when you want, use a battery charger when you don't, or just plug the motor into the wall outlet. Invite anyone who wants to peddle to get on the bike and go for it!! Peddle Powered Brewing... I Like It!!

I like this idea best, but maybe skip the inverter and go with a direct current motor. DC should have won, I blame the politicians! I don't think we would have enough leg power even here in Bellingham to bike in a mash. I'd hate to see how you make them deliver kegs. Good luck.

[CopperKettle]

Denver Beer Co did a bike powered mill for a day

http://www.westword.com/slideshow/denver-beer-co-uses-pedal-power-36529483/#1

[Bainbridge]

I used to have a small hand crank mill. 25lbs of grain in that typically did my arms in, can't imagine peddling in 500lbs. Guess you'd have gearing though.

Trick would be to get your taproom patrons to do it for you, night before you brew. Like "Peddle 15 minutes and we'll trade you a pint."

Also yeah: grain dust inhalation hazard. Maybe a DC motor isn't a bad idea.

[colinthehippie]

Trick would be to get your taproom patrons to do it for you, night before you brew. Like "Peddle 15 minutes and we'll trade you a pint."

This is our idea, to have volunteers hit it in sequence so one person doesn't kill themselves. I think you could gear it so that it wasn't unbearable. I'll have to think about how we would deal with the dust. And I'll give the battery charging idea some thought.

[yap]

Do you honestly expect to get a steady stream of people to line up to do this activity every time you need it? What happens the first time your brew schedule changes and you realize you need to mill tonight instead of tomorrow and there's no one around but you?

Your idea is neat and could be "fun" to do in the taproom from time to time but I would not rely on it as part of your standard production process....

Maybe setup a small homebrew mill on the bike and let people mill some specialty grains here and there for fun but have an actual mill in the back to use for the other 98% of your milling activities...

just a thought..

[biosonik]

Grain dust?

Put the mill inside a plexiglass enclosure, then just run a long chain through a small opening. They'll get to see it in operation, and you won't give them Brewers' Lung.

[colinthehippie]

Put the mill inside a plexiglass enclosure, then just run a long chain through a small opening. They'll get to see it in operation, and you won't give them Brewers' Lung.

This is an awesome solution! And I do expect people to line up if there's a free pint in it.

[schmidder]

Often thought about this kind of mill setup in my home brew shops....doing 10-20# at a time wouldn't be too bad. I don't think it would be too bad, heck if you can do it with your arm, with the right gearing would be easier pedaling....and sprockets and chain would be easy to acquire.