Had zero experience w/ mills/augering equipment before installing ours, so pardon my stupidity: Does there have to be a certain amount of grain in the bottom of the auger before it actually starts augering? It seems like we hooked everything up correctly but only tried augering a couple pounds and it all seemed to stay at the bottom.
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Really stupid auger question.
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We had it going the wrong direction at first (which caused the bearing at the bottom of the auger to blow out the back!), but pretty sure it's going the right way now. Even double checked w/ the manual as well.
We only put maybe 2-3 lbs in at most. Should it still all have made it up the auger?
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Did you pre-tension the spring during install? I don't have the manual in front of me but Chore-time recommends pulling the flex auger 1" per 10 feet. When you operate the auger, is the auger exceptionally loud? Could it be that the auger is bouncing around, allowing the grain to fall back? I would test with a full bag rather than just a few pounds. You'll want to sacrifice a bag or two anyways to coat the auger with dust to avoid oil pickup. Speaking of oil pickup, did you de-grease the auger and coat with mineral oil prior to install? If not, then I would certainly want to run a few sacrificial bags.
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auger and mill
Definitely need a full bag of grain. The auger is usually covered in food grade grease that can be removed by running the sacrificial bag of grain 4 or 5 time through. What degree are you running the auger? It won't move grain straight up!
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We did tension the spring as directed in the manual and it really isn't that loud, but I suppose we can't rule that out completely. As far as the angle, we shot for 45 degrees but it's probably closer to 50 in reality. Fortunately it's only a 10-12 ft run, however.
I was expecting to have to run a few bags through to adjust our mill gap anyways, so that's good to hear we might not have screwed up too badly! Thanks guys.Last edited by CharlosCarlies; 01-23-2014, 07:10 PM.
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Our auger has a double 90° bend and goes through the vertical as it heads into the second bend. It's this way out of necessity as any slope would have impinged on a fork-lift through-way. I'm sure we lave a few kilos in the auger, but it works well enough to move half a ton in 25 minutes.Regards,
Chris Mills
Kereru Brewing Company
http://kererubrewing.co.nz
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Yes, my experience is that it will take about 50 lbs of grain in the auger before any starts coming out. Run about 100 lbs through and get all the rust or grease off, and discard the grain. Then finish all of your milling runs with your base pale malt so that's all that is left in the auger for the next batch.
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I just wanted to resurrect this thread because we are experiencing an abnormally loud auger after 2 years of service. Is it time to re-stretch the spring? What kind of preventative maintenance should I perform?
I presume the metal spring has stretched itself out over time. We run about 75-100 feet with 1-90 degree bend.
Cheers!Justin Baker
Great Raft Brewing
Shreveport, LA
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Is it the spring in the pipe that is loud or the motor that turns the spring. The motor has gearing and bearings that can go bad, that will get really loud. I have had 19 year old Chore time spring actually wear through the pvc housing on a turn and it never made any loud noise, grain just started coming out of the side of the pipe.Joel Halbleib
Partner / Zymurgist
Hive and Barrel Meadery
6302 Old La Grange Rd
Crestwood, KY
www.hiveandbarrel.com
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